Chapter 6 - The Son Behind the Door
Marcus had negotiated acquisitions with ministers, rivals, and men who had threatened to destroy him. None had made him as uncertain as the child seated across from him in the morning room.
Sawyer did not fidget. He studied the model ship on the mantel, the family photographs, and finally Marcus.
"How old are you?" Marcus asked.
"Nine."
"Your birthday?"
Sawyer told him.
Marcus counted backward without meaning to. The date landed six months after Elena left, exactly where Edmund's recording said it would.
"What has your mother told you about me?"
"That you are my biological father. That you did not know me. That not knowing and not asking are different things."
The precision of the answer stung.
"Did she tell you I refused her letters?"
"She told me they were returned. She did not say you did it."
"Do you want me to be your father?"
Sawyer looked toward the open door where Elena stood beyond hearing distance but within sight.
"I wanted Grandfather Edmund to live," he said. "Wanting does not make things happen."
Marcus leaned back. The boy had Edmund's talent for refusing the question beneath the question.
"Do you believe I abandoned you?"
"I believe you abandoned my mother. Everything after that happened because you did."
Marcus felt anger rise, then recognized it as shame seeking somewhere else to live.
"I was shown evidence."
"Did you ask her for evidence?"
Marcus had no answer.
Sawyer stood. "My five minutes are finished."
At the door Marcus said, "I would like a chance to know you."
Sawyer turned. "Then start by finding out who stole the letters."
He left Marcus alone among the polished furniture of a room built to impress visitors.
In the corridor, Elena knelt to adjust Milo's bracelet. Marcus approached her.
"He knows."
"He knows the truth appropriate for his age."
"You told him I chose not to ask."
"You did."
"I trusted my family."
"You trusted the version that cost you the least."
Brielle appeared at the far end of the hall. Her expression was wounded and patient, as if she had been waiting for Marcus to remember which woman belonged beside him.
"Conrad says the codicil can be frozen tomorrow," she said. "We should move the children to the guest wing and keep the family away from them."
Elena rose. "The children stay with me."
"Of course," Brielle replied. "I only meant for their safety."
June began humming under her breath.
Elena knew that sound. June sang when she detected a lie as reliably as some people smelled smoke.
Marcus noticed too. "What is it?"
June stopped. "Nothing."
"June," Elena said gently.
The girl looked at Brielle. "She said children. On the phone before. But she didn't say our names. She said take one."
The hallway went still.
Brielle smiled at the child. "You must have misheard me speaking about the charity auction."
"There isn't an auction tonight," June said.
Marcus held out his hand. "Your phone."
"Excuse me?"
"Give me your phone."
Brielle's eyes hardened. "You are allowing a frightened child to turn us against each other."
"If there is nothing on it, you will have it back in thirty seconds."
She took the phone from her clutch, but before placing it in his hand, she pressed the side button. The device shut down.
"The battery is dead," she said.
At that instant, somewhere above them, a door slammed.
Owen counted the children.
May you like
Then he counted again.
"Where is Milo?"
