Chapter 5: The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Nathan couldn't move.
The man standing beneath the basement light looked older than the photographs Nathan remembered.
His hair was almost completely gray.
His face was thinner.
There was a scar running from his left temple to his jaw.
But there was no mistaking him.
Nathan's voice barely came out.
“Dad?”
The man said nothing.
Nathan took a step backward.
His shoulder hit the basement door.
“No.”
The man slowly walked forward.
“It's been a long time, Nathan.”
Nathan stared at him.
“You died.”
“I was supposed to.”
Nathan's breathing became uneven.
“My father had a heart attack.”
“That was the story.”
“You were buried.”
“A body was buried.”
Nathan's mind struggled to process what he was seeing.
For twelve years, he had believed his father was dead.
He had stood beside the coffin.
He had watched the grave being covered.
He had carried that grief into adulthood.
And now the man standing in front of him was telling him none of it had been real.
Nathan's voice hardened.
“Why?”
His father looked at him.
“Because if I stayed, they would have killed you too.”
“Who?”
Before his father could answer, the timer sounded from the ceiling.
04:12
Nathan looked up.
His father smiled bitterly.
“They're watching.”
“Then let them watch.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“You knew about Grace.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Lily.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was her father.”
His father hesitated.
“I knew she was your daughter.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Then why did you let me believe she didn't exist?”
“I didn't.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“What?”
“I tried to tell you.”
“Then why didn't I know?”
His father looked toward the ceiling.
“Because Charles got to you first.”
Nathan felt his anger rise.
“Charles told me Grace abandoned me.”
“I know.”
“He told me she left with another man.”
“I know.”
“He told me Lily wasn't mine.”
His father's face tightened.
“That was the biggest lie of all.”
Nathan stared at him.
“Why?”
His father reached inside his coat.
Nathan immediately tensed.
But instead of a weapon, the older man pulled out a small envelope.
He held it out.
Nathan didn't take it.
“What is that?”
“Your original DNA test.”
Nathan's eyes widened.
“My what?”
“Five years ago, Charles arranged a private test.”
Nathan remembered it.
At the time, Charles had claimed he was protecting Nathan from a false paternity claim.
The results had supposedly shown that Nathan wasn't Lily's father.
Nathan had believed him.
His father shook his head.
“The result you saw was fabricated.”
Nathan's stomach dropped.
“Then what does the real test say?”
His father looked directly into his eyes.
“Lily is yours.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
For a moment, he couldn't hear anything except the blood pounding in his ears.
Four years.
Four years stolen from him.
He opened his eyes.
“Who changed the result?”
His father didn't answer immediately.
Then he said,
“Victoria.”
Nathan went completely still.
“Victoria?”
“She was told to do it.”
“By Charles?”
“No.”
His father looked toward the basement stairs.
“By someone even more powerful.”
A sharp sound came from upstairs.
Grace screamed.
Nathan spun toward the door.
“Grace!”
He slammed his shoulder against it.
Nothing.
He tried again.
The lock didn't move.
His father grabbed him.
“Don't waste time.”
“My daughter is upstairs!”
“So is the person who knows how to stop this.”
Nathan looked at him.
“Who?”
His father pointed toward the old steel safe embedded in the basement wall.
“The blue file.”
Nathan remembered Victoria's warning.
Don't read the last page.
He rushed toward the safe.
The small blue key Grace had given him fit perfectly.
Click.
The door opened.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Hospital files.
Property transfers.
Nathan grabbed the thick blue folder.
His hands shook.
His father watched him.
“Start with the first page.”
Nathan opened it.
The first document was dated twelve years earlier.
A financial transfer.
Millions of dollars had been moved from Cole Holdings into a private Whitmore account.
Nathan turned the page.
Then another.
His father's signature appeared repeatedly.
But something was wrong.
The signatures were identical.
Perfectly identical.
Nathan frowned.
“These were forged.”
“Yes.”
“Who forged them?”
His father looked at him.
“Daniel.”
Nathan's eyes widened.
“Daniel?”
“He was working for Charles.”
Nathan shook his head.
“Daniel saved my company.”
“He also helped destroy your family.”
Nathan turned another page.
A photograph fell onto the floor.
It showed Nathan and Grace at the lakeside cabin.
On the back was a handwritten date.
The same date Grace had disappeared.
Nathan picked it up.
Underneath the photograph was a note.
SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE HEIR.
Nathan frowned.
“What heir?”
His father didn't answer.
Nathan turned the page.
A birth record appeared.
Not Lily's.
Someone else's.
The name at the top made Nathan's face drain of color.
NATHAN COLE.
Beneath it was a second name.
A name Nathan had never seen connected to his family.
MATTHEW WHITMORE.
Nathan stared.
“Who is Matthew Whitmore?”
His father looked away.
“My older brother.”
Nathan's eyes widened.
“You had a brother?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared before you were born.”
Nathan looked at the documents again.
Then something caught his attention.
A small red stamp appeared on the final page.
PATERNITY FILE — SUBJECT: LILY BENNETT
Nathan's heart began pounding.
He turned the page.
And stopped.
There were two DNA profiles.
One belonged to Nathan.
The other belonged to someone else.
Nathan stared at the second name.
His hands went cold.
Because the name was not Daniel Mercer.
It wasn't Charles Whitmore.
It wasn't anyone Nathan expected.
It was Matthew Whitmore.
His father's supposedly dead brother.
Nathan looked up slowly.
“Dad…”
His father didn't respond.
“Why does your brother's DNA appear on my daughter's paternity file?”
The older man's face changed.
Before he could answer, the basement television suddenly turned on.
A live image appeared.
Grace was on the screen.
She was standing in the kitchen.
Lily was gone.
Nathan's blood turned cold.
Grace was screaming something, but there was no sound.
Then the camera shifted.
A gloved hand entered the frame.
It held a knife against Lily's throat.
Nathan lunged toward the screen.
“NO!”
A message appeared beneath the video.
02:00
Then another line appeared.
BRING THE BLUE FILE UPSTAIRS.
Nathan looked at his father.
His father whispered,
“Don't.”
Nathan gripped the folder.
“That's my daughter.”
His father shook his head.
“If you take that file upstairs, they won't kill Lily.”
Nathan stared at him.
“Then what will they do?”
His father's eyes filled with something Nathan had never seen in them before.
Fear.
“They'll make sure you never discover who Lily really is.”
The timer dropped again.
01:37
And upstairs, Lily finally spoke.
One sentence.
May you like
A sentence that made Nathan's father close his eyes.
“Grandpa… why did you leave Mommy five years ago?”
