Chapter 6 - the watcher across the street
Maya collected the children before the school day ended.
She told the teacher there was a family emergency.
There was no time to explain why her hands shook while signing them out.
Across the street, a man sat inside a parked SUV pretending to read a newspaper.
Maya recognized him from the Vale estate.
He had been one of Conrad’s security officers five years earlier.
She placed the children in the car and drove directly to Jamie’s workshop.
“We’ve been found.”
Jamie wiped grease from his hands.
“By Adrian?”
“By Conrad.”
Elias arrived ten minutes later.
Jamie stepped between him and Maya.
“I remember you.”
“I’m not your enemy.”
“You worked for them.”
“I worked for Adrian.”
“Same family.”
“No,” Elias replied. “That distinction is why I’m here.”
He explained that Conrad had commissioned background reports on the children. Their birth records were protected, but school photographs had been easier to obtain.
“He knows they resemble Adrian,” Elias said. “He may seek custody to control the family trust.”
Maya laughed without humor.
“He threatened them before they were born. Now he wants to claim them?”
“Conrad wants anything that increases his power.”
Jamie glanced toward the office where the children were coloring.
“What does the trust have to do with them?”
Elias opened his briefcase.
Adrian’s grandfather had created a generational trust before his death. If Adrian had biological children, control of several voting shares would transfer away from Conrad and into an independent guardianship structure.
The children’s existence could remove Conrad from power.
Maya finally understood.
“He didn’t only want me gone. He wanted Adrian to appear childless.”
“Exactly.”
“Then why not harm us?”
Jamie’s voice sharpened.
“Maya.”
She did not look away from Elias.
“I need to know.”
Elias answered carefully.
“Because Conrad believed you had accepted the false identity documents and disappeared permanently. As long as the children remained hidden, they were useful only as potential leverage.”
Maya felt sick.
Her children had been reduced to clauses in a contract.
“What happens if Adrian learns the truth?” she asked.
“The trust activates after verified paternity.”
“And Conrad loses control?”
“Within thirty days.”
Jamie looked at the DNA kit in Elias’s briefcase.
“You planned this.”
“I prepared for the possibility that Maya would agree.”
Maya stared through the workshop window.
Noah was helping Finn sharpen a blue pencil.
Lila had drawn five figures holding hands.
Three small children.
A woman.
A tall man with gray eyes.
Maya had never described Adrian’s height.
Lila had copied it from the newspaper photograph she had seen for only a few seconds.
“What happens after the test?” Maya asked.
“We tell Adrian privately.”
“No.”
Elias waited.
“I won’t take them into Vale Tower. I won’t hand Conrad a chance to surround us with lawyers.”
“Then choose a public location.”
Jamie looked toward the street.
“The park festival is this weekend. Adrian is scheduled to attend.”
Maya shook her head.
“That’s too dangerous.”
“It may be safer than staying hidden,” Elias said. “Conrad already knows where you are.”
Maya studied the watcher inside the SUV.
The man lifted his phone.
A second later, Maya’s own phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered without speaking.
Conrad’s voice came through the line.
“You have raised them well.”
Maya turned away from the children.
“If you come near them, I will expose everything.”
“You have spent five years hiding. Do not pretend you suddenly became brave.”
“I was never afraid for myself.”
Conrad paused.
“Bring the children to me, and Jamie’s old debts remain buried.”
Maya looked at her brother.
“What debts?”
May you like
Conrad ended the call.
Jamie’s face told her the threat had not been empty.
