Chapter 40 - THE ANNIVERSARY OF BETRAYAL
Daniel entered Richard's anniversary party with Noah and Abigail.
He wore a borrowed suit, while Abigail concealed a pistol beneath her coat.
Emma stood beside Richard on the staircase.
She was alive.
Daniel rushed toward her.
“Emma!”
She looked down, terrified.
Richard slapped Daniel before he could reach the stairs.
“Get him out!”
Daniel punched Richard in the jaw.
Guests screamed as security attacked him.
Noah rushed forward, but a guard struck him in the ribs and knocked him down.
Abigail drew her weapon.
“Back away!”
The ballroom fell silent.
Richard seized Emma and dragged her behind him.
“Shoot me,” he challenged. “Then explain to the police why you brought a gun into my home.”
Abigail hesitated.
Security disarmed her and struck her across the mouth.
Daniel struggled against the guards.
“Stop hitting her!”
Richard smiled.
“You still believe love makes you powerful.”
Then he turned toward the guests.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this man abandoned his children, falsified medical records, and has been stalking my wife.”
Whispers spread.
Emma looked at Daniel.
“I'm sorry.”
He shook his head.
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Richard leaned toward her.
“Tell him to leave.”
Emma's expression hardened.
“Go away, Dad.”
Daniel felt his heart break.
But as the guards dragged him toward the exit, Emma slipped a small key into his pocket.
Outside, Daniel opened the note attached to it.
THE BRIDAL SUITE. NOW.
He returned through the kitchen and climbed the stairs.
Inside the suite lay a woman wearing Claire's wedding ring.
Blood covered her white dress.
Daniel rushed to her side.
“Claire?”
He checked her pulse.
Nothing.
Richard appeared in the doorway.
“You should have stayed outside.”
Daniel lunged at him.
They crashed against the wall, trading punches until Richard seized a lamp and struck Daniel across the head.
Daniel fell.
Richard knelt beside him.
“You always mistake desperation for courage.”
Then he left.
Daniel struggled to his feet and examined the body.
The woman's face resembled Claire, but a small scar beneath her chin was missing.
It wasn't his wife.
It was a replacement.
A phone rang beneath the bed.
Daniel answered.
Emma whispered, “Dad, listen carefully. The woman in the bridal suite was a decoy. Claire is alive, but Richard has taken her to the vault.”
“Where are you?”
“Running.”
A gunshot sounded.
Emma screamed.
The call ended.
Daniel seized the key and rushed toward the basement.
Behind a hidden door, he found a staircase leading underground.
At the bottom stood a steel vault.
He inserted the key.
The door opened.
Inside, monitors displayed dozens of rooms.
One showed Emma running through the estate.
Another showed Abigail chained to a chair.
A third showed Claire unconscious on a hospital bed.
And the final screen showed Richard standing beside an older man.
Michael Vale.
The man everyone believed dead.
Michael turned toward the camera.
“Daniel, you've finally arrived.”
He lifted a document.
“Before you rescue your wife, you need to learn who fathered your son.”
The screen displayed a genetic report.
The biological father's name was Richard Hale.
Daniel stared in horror.
Noah had been told that Richard was his grandfather.
But the report suggested something far worse.
Michael smiled.
May you like
“Your family tree is about to become very uncomfortable.”
If Richard was Noah's biological father, what had happened between Richard and Claire—and why had Daniel been chosen to raise the child?
