Chapter 7 - the debt Jamie never owed
Jamie locked the workshop doors.
Maya held up the phone.
“What was he talking about?”
“Nothing.”
“Conrad does not threaten people with nothing.”
The children were taken upstairs by Jamie’s business partner, leaving the adults alone.
Jamie sat heavily on a metal chair.
“Five years ago, I didn’t owe money to criminals.”
Maya stared at him.
“You came to the bus station injured.”
“Conrad’s men did that.”
“You told me they were debt collectors.”
“They told me what would happen if you stayed with Adrian.”
Maya stepped backward.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were pregnant and terrified. I thought getting you away was the only thing that mattered.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“Did they make you sign anything?”
Jamie nodded.
“A confession saying Maya used me to sell Vale company documents.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Every piece of Conrad’s story had been manufactured.
The bank account.
The access logs.
Jamie’s supposed debt.
Her disappearance.
“He built evidence against both of us,” she said.
Jamie looked ashamed.
“I thought Adrian would believe his father.”
“He did.”
“You believed the fake message from Adrian.”
The words hurt because they were true.
Maya sat across from her brother.
“Where is the confession?”
“Conrad kept the original. I stole a copy before we left.”
He retrieved a weathered toolbox and removed the false bottom.
Inside was a folded document.
The signature was Jamie’s.
The statement was false.
But in the lower corner appeared the name of the witness who had certified it.
Celeste Laurent.
Maya looked at Elias.
“She knew from the beginning.”
“Maybe not everything,” he said.
“She watched Jamie sign a false confession. Then she came to my hospital room with a forged declaration.”
Elias took a photograph of the document.
“This may be enough to force her cooperation.”
Maya shook her head.
“I don’t want cooperation. I want the truth.”
She agreed to the DNA testing that evening.
Elias collected samples from the children using simple cheek swabs. He described it as a science game so they would not be frightened.
Lila watched him seal the containers.
“Will this tell us who our daddy is?”
Maya’s heart tightened.
Elias glanced at her before answering.
“It may help the adults understand something important.”
“I already understand,” Lila said. “It’s the man in the newspaper.”
Noah frowned.
“We don’t know that.”
“He has our eyes.”
Finn touched Maya’s hand.
“Would he like us?”
Maya knelt before them.
“You never have to earn a parent’s love. Remember that.”
“But would he?” Finn asked again.
Maya could not lie.
“I don’t know.”
The samples were sent to two independent laboratories under coded names.
Elias promised to keep the results offline until he personally collected them.
The following day, Celeste called Maya.
Her voice was calm, but her breathing was uneven.
“You need to cancel the test.”
Maya looked across the street at the SUV that had followed her home.
“How did you know about it?”
“Conrad knows everything.”
“Did you witness Jamie’s false confession?”
Silence.
“Answer me.”
“I was twenty-four.”
“So was I.”
“I was trying to protect my family.”
“You helped destroy mine.”
Celeste lowered her voice.
“You do not understand what Conrad is capable of.”
“I understand better than you think.”
“If Adrian learns those children are his, Conrad will not stop at threats.”
Maya’s grip tightened around the phone.
May you like
“Is that a warning?”
“No,” Celeste whispered. “It is the first honest thing I have ever told you.”
