Chapter 8 - THE MAN WHO SAVED MY MOTHER
Mom arrived before sunrise.
Dad confronted her immediately.
"Nathan worked for you?"
"Once."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he saved my life."
The room went silent.
Mom explained.
After the crash, Nathan had arranged her first safe house.
He found doctors who didn't ask questions.
He moved money through accounts Malcolm couldn't trace.
For nearly a year, he was the only person who knew Evelyn Hale was alive.
"Then something changed," Mom said.
"Nathan became frightened."
"Of Malcolm?" I asked.
"No."
She looked at Dad.
"Of someone above Malcolm."
Dad frowned.
"There was no one above Malcolm."
"That's what we believed."
Mom opened another file.
Cross Atlantic had been part of a larger network of shell companies.
Someone had financed Malcolm's operations.
Someone had arranged the false dental identification.
Someone had pressured police to close the investigation quickly.
Nathan discovered the name.
Then refused to tell Mom.
"He disappeared from my life," she said.
"Until years later, when he somehow became Victor's attorney."
Dad looked stunned.
"He came to me after my previous counsel retired."
"Exactly."
"You think he positioned himself near Claire?"
"I think someone ordered him to."
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then breathing.
"Nathan?"
Mom motioned for silence.
A whisper came through.
"Claire."
It was him.
"Where are you?"
"I don't have much time."
"What happened to the archive?"
"I took it."
Dad stepped closer.
"Why?"
"Because Damian was coming."
"Where are you?"
Nathan coughed.
"Listen carefully."
I put him on speaker.
"I did things I can't justify."
His voice shook.
"I told myself I was protecting Evelyn."
"Who were you working for?" Mom demanded.
Silence.
Then Nathan said something none of us expected.
"Victor's brother."
Dad froze.
I stared at him.
"You don't have a brother."
He looked at me.
"Not anymore."
Mom whispered, "Thomas."
Victor sat slowly.
Thomas Hale.
My uncle.
A name I barely remembered.
He had supposedly died before my mother's crash.
A private plane accident in Alaska.
Mom's eyes filled with disbelief.
"Thomas was alive?"
Nathan answered.
"For years."
Dad grabbed the phone.
"Where is he?"
"Dead now."
"How do you know?"
"Because I watched him die."
My skin prickled.
Nathan continued.
"Thomas built the network Malcolm used. Malcolm thought he was a partner."
A pause.
"He was an employee."
Mom closed her eyes.
The conspiracy had moved backward one generation.
Family against family.
"Why?" I asked.
Nathan's voice softened.
"Because Thomas believed Hale Holdings belonged to him."
Dad said nothing.
I looked at him.
"Why would he believe that?"
Victor didn't answer.
Nathan did.
"Because Victor wasn't supposed to inherit the company."
The room went silent.
"Thomas was."
Dad looked toward the window.
I suddenly understood another piece of my family's history.
Grandfather had changed his will six months before his death.
He had given control to Victor.
Nobody ever explained why.
Nathan continued.
"Thomas spent decades building a way back."
"Through Malcolm?"
"Yes."
"Then Damian?"
"Eventually."
Mom's expression hardened.
"Where are the files?"
Nathan breathed heavily.
"Safe."
"Where?"
"I'll trade them."
"For what?"
"My protection."
Rebecca entered the room just as Nathan said the next words.
"Federal immunity."
Then a loud sound came through the phone.
Nathan gasped.
The connection cut.
I stared at the screen.
"Nathan?"
Nothing.
Rebecca took the phone.
"Trace it."
One of her agents began working.
Thirty seconds later, he looked up.
"The call came from Hale Memorial Hospital."
My stomach turned.
That hospital had one secure private floor.
Owned personally by my father.
Mom grabbed her coat.
But Dad didn't move.
"Victor?"
He looked at us.
"Nathan knows the hospital."
"So?"
"So does Damian."
Rebecca checked her phone.
Then her face changed.
"What?"
May you like
She looked at me.
"Damian's security badge was used there seven minutes ago."
