Chapter 13 - The Son She Never Raised
When the emergency lights flickered on, Emma was gone.
Robert found blood on the stairs.
Not much.
Margaret nearly collapsed.
Cole locked down the property.
One deputy had been shot in the upper hallway.
Another was unconscious.
The attacker had entered through the side door using Margaret’s security code.
Security footage had been erased.
But a neighbor’s camera recorded a black sedan leaving.
Inside sat a man.
His profile looked like Daniel.
Margaret knew better.
“My son.”
Robert stared at her.
“Your biological son.”
She nodded.
“Ethan.”
Emma woke inside a moving car.
Her wrists were tied loosely in front of her.
She had not been hurt.
A man drove.
His hair was darker than Daniel’s.
His jaw slightly narrower.
But the resemblance was disturbing.
Not because he looked like Daniel.
Because he looked like the Hayes family.
“Ethan?”
He glanced at her in the mirror.
“So she finally told you.”
“You kidnapped me.”
“I removed you.”
“Untie me.”
“No.”
“My baby—”
“Is safe.”
“You hit me.”
“I caught you. You hit the doorframe.”
Emma looked down.
No blood.
Sophia moved.
Relief washed through her.
“Where is Daniel?”
Ethan said nothing.
“Did you kill Thomas?”
“No.”
“Did Daniel?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“Trying to fix something that cannot be fixed.”
Emma stared.
“You’re part of the board.”
“I was raised by the board.”
That sentence silenced her.
Ethan drove into the hills.
“My adoptive parents were Henry and Judith Black.”
Attorney Henry Black.
One of the trustees.
“My father told me I was adopted when I was sixteen. He told me my biological mother was dead.”
“Margaret.”
“Yes.”
“When did you find out?”
“Three years ago.”
“Why didn’t you contact her?”
Ethan laughed.
“You met Margaret.”
Emma almost smiled despite the terror.
Then he became serious.
“I watched her.”
“The barn?”
“Some of it.”
“You photographed me?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Wren.”
Emma felt sick.
“Why?”
“He believes Sophia is evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
Ethan looked at her in the mirror.
“That the program failed.”
Emma frowned.
Ethan continued.
“Thomas believed behavior could be engineered through upbringing. Wren believes blood determines everything.”
“This is insane.”
“Correct.”
“So why are you helping them?”
“I’m not.”
“You kidnapped a pregnant woman.”
“To keep you out of the hospital tomorrow.”
Emma stared.
He knew about the induction.
“Wren intended to deliver Sophia.”
“I already knew.”
“No.”
Ethan’s eyes met hers in the mirror.
“You know he intended to switch her.”
Emma waited.
“He intended to kill you too.”
Silence.
Ethan continued driving.
“Postpartum hemorrhage. Tragic complication. Daniel becomes grieving widower. Six months later Rachel Wynn reappears.”
“Rachel is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“With Daniel.”
Emma’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“Daniel found her before they took him.”
“Where is he?”
Ethan turned onto an unmarked dirt road.
“I’m taking you there.”
Emma struggled with the rope.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
He smiled without humor.
“That family rule has saved me several times.”
They reached an old hunting cabin.
Ethan stopped the car.
Before he could open his door, Emma heard a gunshot.
The windshield cracked.
Ethan ducked.
“DOWN!”
Emma dropped across the seat.
More gunfire.
Ethan pulled a handgun from beneath the dashboard.
“Who is that?”
He looked toward the trees.
“Either Wren’s people or your husband.”
Emma stared.
“Daniel would shoot at you?”
“He thinks I killed Thomas.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Another bullet struck the hood.
Then a man ran from the cabin.
Daniel.
Alive.
Bearded.
Bruised.
Holding a rifle.
Emma screamed his name.
Daniel froze.
His rifle lowered.
“Emma?”
She pushed the door open.
Daniel ran toward her.
For five seconds, nothing else mattered.
He pulled her into his arms.
She sobbed against his chest.
Then Daniel looked past her.
At Ethan.
His face became murderous.
“You.”
Ethan raised both hands.
Daniel lifted the rifle.
Emma stepped between them.
“No!”
Daniel stared at her.
“You don’t know what he did.”
Ethan answered.
“And you don’t know what Thomas did.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
Rachel Wynn appeared in the cabin doorway.
Alive.
Bandaged.
Terrified.
Emma looked at her.
Rachel said one sentence.
“Thomas wasn’t killed because he knew about the babies.”
Everyone turned.
May you like
Rachel continued.
“He was killed because he finally found out who was financing them now.”
