Chapter 45 - THE SON WHO BELONGED TO ANOTHER MAN
Daniel stared at Noah.
“Tell me exactly what you know.”
Noah handed him a paternity report.
The father's name had been erased.
A handwritten note remained:
SUBJECT FOUR IS NOT A HALE BY BLOOD.
Daniel shook his head.
“That's impossible.”
Noah looked away.
“Margaret told me when I was twelve. She said Claire had an affair with Michael Vale.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Did you believe her?”
“I wanted to.”
“Why?”
“Because believing her was easier than believing you never came looking for me.”
Daniel reached for his son.
Noah stepped back.
“Don't.”
Before Daniel could respond, Sarah entered the room.
“Michael Vale is alive,” she said. “And he's the only person who knows what happened to Noah.”
A black envelope lay on the table.
Inside was an invitation to Richard's anniversary party.
Noah examined it.
“That's where he'll be.”
Daniel nodded.
“We go together.”
At the estate, hundreds of guests filled the ballroom.
Richard stood beside Emma, wearing a diamond necklace.
Daniel pushed through the crowd.
“Emma!”
Richard slapped him across the face.
Security seized Daniel.
Noah attacked one guard, but another struck him in the ribs.
Abigail drew her pistol.
“Let them go!”
Richard grabbed Emma and dragged her behind him.
“Shoot me,” he challenged. “Then explain why you murdered my family.”
Abigail hesitated.
Security disarmed her and struck her across the mouth.
Daniel fought back, but a guard punched him twice before forcing him to his knees.
Richard crouched beside him.
“You've always been weak, Daniel.”
Daniel spat blood onto the floor.
“And you've always been afraid.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
Daniel continued.
“You're afraid that everyone will learn what you did.”
Richard rose and ordered the guards to drag Daniel outside.
As Daniel was thrown onto the pavement, Emma slipped a folded note into his pocket.
MIDNIGHT. THE OLD CHAPEL.
At midnight, Daniel entered the chapel.
Emma stood beside an empty coffin.
She handed him the necklace.
“The real records are inside.”
Daniel opened the pendant.
A memory card rested within it.
Before he could examine it, headlights swept across the windows.
Richard entered with armed guards.
“Give it back!”
Emma raised a pistol.
“You stole my life!”
Richard lunged.
A gunshot rang out.
Daniel watched Emma collapse.
He screamed and rushed toward her.
Richard ordered the guards to seize him.
As Daniel was dragged toward the basement, Emma's voice played through the chapel speakers.
“Dad, don't believe what you saw.”
Daniel froze.
“The body isn't mine.”
The stone door slammed shut.
In the darkness, a screen flickered on.
Michael Vale appeared.
“Daniel, you've finally arrived.”
He held up a genetic report.
“Before you rescue your daughter, you need to learn who fathered your son.”
The screen displayed a name.
RICHARD HALE.
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Daniel stared in horror.
If Richard was Noah's biological father, why had he forced Daniel to raise the boy—and what secret would the original paternity records reveal?
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