Chapter 13 - The Father Emily Chose to Keep)
Claire remembered pieces.
A man entered her apartment.
She fought.
She was taken in a vehicle.
She woke in a warehouse.
Someone asked repeatedly where Daniel's files were.
Where was the card?
What had Daniel told her?
Where was Sophie?
Claire refused to answer.
At some point she escaped through a broken bathroom window.
She remembered woods.
A road.
Then nothing until the hospital.
"Was it Michael?" Brooks asked.
Claire closed her eyes.
"I saw him."
"You're certain?"
"Yes."
"After seven years?"
"I'd recognize him anywhere."
"Was he the man who took you?"
"I don't know."
"What does that mean?"
"There were two men."
"Did you recognize either?"
"One."
"Michael?"
Claire shook her head.
"Michael came later."
Damian leaned closer.
"What did he say?"
Claire stared at him.
"He apologized."
That surprised everyone.
"For what?"
"For letting things go this far."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Did he hurt you?"
"No."
"Did he help you escape?"
Claire looked uncertain.
"I think so."
Brooks stopped writing.
"Why would the man behind this help you?"
Claire's eyes filled with fear.
"Because I'm not sure he's the man behind it."
The room became quiet.
Damian thought of eight years of assumptions.
Every time they thought they found the center, another circle appeared.
Claire rested.
Later, Damian sat beside her alone.
Neither knew how to begin.
Claire finally smiled faintly.
"You still hate olives?"
He laughed.
"Emily told you?"
"She remembers everything."
"So I've learned."
Silence returned.
Damian looked at her hands.
"I thought you took the money."
Claire's expression tightened.
"I thought you signed papers saying you never wanted to see me again."
"I never signed anything."
"I know."
"When did you find out?"
"Three years ago."
"How?"
"Arthur Hargrove got drunk at a charity dinner."
Damian almost smiled.
"He admitted the signatures were forged?"
"Not directly. He said something that didn't make sense. I started investigating."
"Why didn't you come to me?"
"I tried."
Damian looked at her.
Claire continued.
"I called Vance headquarters. Letters disappeared. Emails bounced. Twice men followed me home."
"Marcus?"
"No."
"You trusted him."
"Eventually."
"Why?"
"Because Daniel trusted him."
That surprised Damian.
"Daniel knew Marcus?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Marcus helped him copy records from the old research project."
Damian sat back.
"So Marcus was investigating Michael."
"At first."
"At first?"
Claire looked toward the door.
"I stopped knowing who was investigating whom."
Damian felt the old frustration.
"Claire, I need the truth."
"I'm trying to give it to you."
"Then tell me about Sophie."
Claire closed her eyes.
"Daniel was Sophie's father."
"Biologically?"
"Yes."
"Why does Michael want her?"
"Because Daniel discovered genetic data connected to her."
"What kind?"
"I don't understand all of it."
"Try."
"Daniel said Sophie carries a rare marker inherited from his family."
"And?"
"It matched samples from one of Michael's unauthorized studies."
"How?"
"That's what terrified Daniel."
Damian waited.
Claire looked at him.
"The sample was supposedly collected before Daniel was born."
"That's impossible."
"Exactly."
Damian felt cold.
"Meaning records were falsified."
"Or identities were."
"Whose?"
"Daniel never finished explaining."
"Then he died."
Claire nodded.
"Two days later."
Damian looked toward the hall where Emily was drawing with Sophie.
"Did Daniel know Emily was mine?"
"Yes."
"How did he feel about that?"
"He never tried to replace you."
Damian looked back.
"He raised her?"
"For four years."
A strange pain moved through Damian.
Jealousy would have been easy.
Gratitude was harder.
"He was good to her?"
"Very."
"Then I owe him more than I can repay."
Claire's eyes filled.
"He would have liked hearing that."
Damian reached for her hand.
Stopped.
Claire noticed.
She turned her palm upward.
He placed his hand in hers.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Maybe never.
Something deeper.
Recognition.
"We lost eight years," Damian said.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry."
"So am I."
"I should have searched harder."
"I should have tried harder."
"We were manipulated."
"We also gave up."
Damian nodded.
That truth hurt, but it belonged to them.
Claire looked at him.
"What happens now?"
"I don't know."
"Victoria?"
"The wedding is permanently canceled."
A tiny smile appeared.
"I heard."
"Hard to keep private."
"Emily apparently entered dramatically."
"She has timing."
Claire laughed.
Then cried because laughing hurt her ribs.
Damian stood.
"I'll get the nurse."
Claire caught his hand.
"Damian."
He turned.
"Thank you for taking Sophie too."
"Emily made the rule very clear."
"What rule?"
"They come together."
Claire smiled.
"Good."
That afternoon the laboratory returned Sophie's independent DNA analysis.
Daniel Reed was confirmed as her biological father using preserved medical records.
No Vance biological relationship was detected.
The result eliminated one theory.
It created another.
If Sophie was not Michael's child, why was he risking everything to find her?
At the same time, police arrested Arthur Hargrove at a private marina in Florida.
The retired attorney immediately requested immunity.
In exchange, he offered documents proving Richard Vance had authorized the forged separation agreement.
He also offered something unexpected.
A ledger.
Payments made over eight years.
To Victoria.
To Celeste.
To several Vance employees.
And one recurring recipient identified only by initials.
M.V.
Damian assumed Michael.
Hargrove laughed.
"No."
"Then who?"
Hargrove looked at the federal agents.
"I want the agreement signed first."
Hours passed.
The agreement was negotiated.
Then Hargrove finally answered.
"M.V. wasn't Michael Vance."
Damian's stomach tightened.
"Who was it?"
May you like
Hargrove smiled nervously.
"Marcus Vale."
