Chapter 10 - The Father Who Stole His SonVictor did not raise his hands.
He didn't need to.
The police surrounded him instantly.
But he smiled.
Not at Reed.
Not at Evelyn.
At me.
“Son.”
I felt nothing.
No anger.
No relief.
Just a strange emptiness.
“You kidnapped Evelyn.”
“No.”
“You ordered her imprisoned.”
“No.”
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
“Then tell me one thing you did.”
Victor looked at me.
“I took you back.”
The words hit harder than a confession.
“When?”
“When you were six months old.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard was going to kill you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Victor looked at Evelyn.
“She has the final memory.”
Evelyn froze.
“What memory?”
“The night your mother disappeared.”
My mother had not died.
She had escaped.
Victor claimed she had tried to expose Richard.
Richard responded by taking me.
Victor intervened.
He kidnapped me first.
Then Richard retaliated by forging my identity.
That's how Adrian became Nathan.
Two brothers.
Two identities.
One erased.
One fabricated.
I stared at Victor.
“Then why didn't you come for me?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Every year.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He showed me photographs.
School events.
Birthdays.
Graduation.
A stranger standing in crowds.
Me.
Always watching.
Never approaching.
“Why?”
“Because Richard had threatened your mother.”
“And Bianca?”
Victor looked away.
“Bianca was forced into the plan.”
“She helped imprison Evelyn.”
“She believed she was saving you.”
“Was she?”
Victor shook his head.
“She delayed the inevitable.”
I turned toward Evelyn.
“Why didn't you tell me everything when we found you?”
“Because I needed proof.”
“Of what?”
“That Victor wasn't telling the whole truth.”
She looked at him.
“Because he wasn't.”
Victor's expression hardened.
Evelyn pulled a photograph from her coat.
It showed Victor meeting my father.
Years earlier.
They were shaking hands.
“Your father and Victor weren't enemies,” she said.
“They were partners.”
Victor said nothing.
Evelyn continued.
“They created the entire identity system together.”
My head snapped toward him.
“Is that true?”
Victor finally nodded.
“Yes.”
He admitted it.
They had built the network together.
Stolen identities.
Controlled businesses.
Erased enemies.
Then my father betrayed Victor.
Victor retaliated.
My mother discovered the truth.
She tried to expose them.
That's when the family war began.
“Then why keep Evelyn alive?”
Victor's answer chilled me.
“Because she had something I needed.”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“The names.”
“What names?”
“The names of every person your father planned to eliminate.”
Evelyn's face changed.
She had remembered.
Not the entire list.
One name.
She whispered:
“Reed.”
Everyone looked at the inspector.
Reed's face became unreadable.
Victor smiled.
“You see?”
“What is this?”
Evelyn looked at Reed.
“You were on the list.”
Reed drew his weapon.
But it wasn't pointed at Victor.
It was pointed at us.
“Everyone drop your phones.”
Nobody moved.
Reed's voice became cold.
“Now.”
Bianca stepped into the doorway.
She looked at Reed.
Then at me.
Then at Evelyn.
And whispered:
May you like
“He's one of them.”
The room exploded into chaos.
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