Chapter 4 - The Hidden RoomRobert had Oliver moved to a private floor of the mansion.
Security sealed every entrance.
Yet Oliver refused to sit down.
“You said they tried to erase me.”
Robert nodded.
“Whoever called knows you’re here.”
“Then I’m staying.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No. You don’t.”
Oliver stepped closer.
“For thirty years my mother carried the consequences of your decision. I grew up watching her work until her hands bled. I watched her hide food so I would have enough. I watched her pretend everything was fine.”
Robert lowered his eyes.
Oliver continued.
“You don’t get to protect me now because you feel guilty.”
Robert looked at him.
“I know.”
Oliver’s anger faltered.
“You know?”
“I know.”
Robert walked to a wall lined with portraits.
He stopped beneath an old painting of his father.
Then he pressed a hidden latch.
A section of the wall opened.
Victoria stared.
“What is that?”
Robert looked at her.
“A room my father built.”
Inside were file cabinets.
Boxes.
Old photographs.
And a safe.
Oliver stepped forward.
“Why did you never show anyone this?”
“Because I was afraid of what I might find.”
He opened the safe.
Inside was a single leather folder.
On the cover:
C. MORGAN
Oliver stopped breathing.
His mother’s maiden name.
Robert opened it.
Inside were hospital records.
Financial transfers.
Surveillance photographs.
Letters.
There were dozens.
Oliver grabbed the top file.
It contained a photograph of Clara leaving the hospital.
Behind her, several meters away, a man watched.
His face was obscured by shadow.
Oliver turned to Robert.
“This was taken after I was born.”
Robert nodded.
“How do you know?”
Robert pointed to the date.
“Two days after your birth.”
Oliver found another document.
A payment record.
A massive sum transferred to a private investigator.
Recipient:
Elias Vance.
Oliver’s hands shook.
“He hired someone to follow her.”
Robert nodded.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Oliver found another letter.
The handwriting belonged to Elias.
Robert read it aloud.
“The woman refuses to surrender the child.”
Robert stopped.
Oliver’s eyes widened.
“What child?”
Robert continued.
“She insists the boy is yours and threatens to expose the arrangement if anyone approaches him.”
Oliver froze.
“What arrangement?”
Robert turned the page.
The next paragraph had been blacked out.
Someone had deliberately destroyed it.
Oliver looked at him.
“You knew my mother was being watched.”
“I didn’t.”
“You should have.”
Robert closed the file.
“I was young.”
“You were twenty-nine.”
Robert flinched.
“You were old enough to know.”
Silence.
Then Victoria noticed something.
A photograph had fallen from the folder.
She picked it up.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Oliver asked.
Victoria showed them.
It was a picture of Clara.
But she was not alone.
She was standing with an older woman.
Victoria whispered:
“She knew my mother.”
Robert took the photograph.
“That’s Anna Bell.”
“Who?”
“My mother’s personal nurse.”
Victoria frowned.
“She’s still alive.”
Robert turned toward her.
“You know where?”
Victoria nodded.
“In a private care facility outside the city.”
Oliver looked at Robert.
“Then we go tonight.”
Robert nodded.
But before they could move, every alarm in the mansion began screaming.
Security rushed into the room.
“Mr. Hale!”
“What happened?”
“The west gate was breached.”
Robert’s face hardened.
“How many?”
“We don’t know.”
A gunshot echoed through the mansion.
Then another.
Oliver looked at Robert.
“We’re out of time.”
Robert grabbed his arm.
“Stay behind me.”
Oliver shook him off.
“No.”
For the first time, Robert looked directly into his son’s eyes.
Not as a billionaire.
Not as a stranger.
As a father.
“I lost your mother because I chose fear.”
He swallowed.
“I will not lose you the same way.”
The door burst open.
A gunman entered.
And Oliver saw the tattoo on the man’s wrist.
It was the same symbol printed on the black folder.
A silver ring pierced by a black arrow.
Oliver whispered:
“My mother saw that symbol.”
May you like
The gunman raised his weapon.
Then the mansion went dark again.
