Chapter 13 - The Bloodline Samuel Wanted)
Ethan laughed.
It was instinctive.
Not amusement.
Rejection.
“No.”
Olivia didn’t speak.
“Samuel is my uncle.”
“Maybe.”
“Thomas is my father.”
“He raised you.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Olivia’s expression hurt him.
“What evidence?”
“Samuel obtained your DNA.”
“The unknown sample.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“It suggests a closer relationship than uncle and nephew.”
Ethan stared.
“How close?”
“Father and son.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.”
Lucy stirred on the couch.
Both lowered their voices.
Ethan walked into the kitchen.
Olivia followed.
“My mother gave birth to me.”
“Yes.”
“So how could Samuel be my father?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s convenient.”
“Ethan.”
“No. I’ve had enough of everyone knowing pieces of my life.”
“I agree.”
“Then give me facts.”
Olivia nodded.
“Margaret is your biological mother.”
“Good.”
“Thomas may not be your biological father.”
Ethan’s hands tightened around the counter.
“Did he know?”
“I think so.”
“How long?”
“Possibly since you were born.”
Ethan turned away.
His entire identity had become a room full of hidden doors.
Thomas.
Samuel.
Northstar.
Victoria.
Now this.
“What does Samuel want from me?”
“Recognition.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
Olivia hesitated.
“He wants Pierce Meridian.”
“Why would my DNA give him that?”
“It wouldn’t.”
“Then?”
“He believes Thomas stole both his child and his fortune.”
Ethan stared at her.
“That sounds insane.”
“Samuel is dying. Insane people don’t become less dangerous when they run out of time.”
Ethan’s phone rang.
Reed.
Samuel had regained consciousness and requested to speak to Ethan.
Alone.
Ethan went.
Samuel lay in a guarded hospital room.
Machines surrounded him.
For the first time, he looked fragile.
“You came.”
“Am I your son?”
Samuel smiled.
“Straight to it.”
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
Ethan waited.
Nothing inside him accepted it.
“Proof.”
Samuel nodded toward a drawer.
An officer opened it and handed Ethan a sealed file.
Inside was an old photograph.
Margaret holding newborn Ethan.
Samuel standing behind her.
Thomas nowhere in sight.
Another document.
A private DNA test from seventeen years ago.
Probability of paternity between Samuel Pierce and Ethan Pierce: 99.98 percent.
Ethan stared.
“You tested me.”
“Many years ago.”
“How?”
“You were careless with cigarettes when you were twenty-one.”
Ethan almost laughed.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
Samuel’s smile faded.
“Thomas stole you.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your mother believed I was dead.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
“Obviously.”
“Thomas told her I died in the Lake Briar fire.”
“Why?”
“Because she loved me.”
Ethan went still.
“Mom?”
Samuel nodded.
“She was supposed to marry me.”
Ethan felt sick.
“Thomas married her after you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And raised me.”
“Yes.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Guilt.”
“Or love.”
Samuel’s expression hardened.
“He always took what belonged to me.”
Ethan leaned closer.
“I am not property.”
Samuel smiled.
“That sounds like him.”
“Did you threaten Olivia?”
“Yes.”
“Lucy?”
“I never intended to hurt the girl.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I watched her.”
“You abducted her mother.”
“I needed the vault opened.”
“You had Victoria abduct Lucy.”
“Victoria made choices.”
“So did you.”
Samuel’s eyes sharpened.
“And so did Thomas.”
Ethan stood.
“This changes nothing.”
“It changes everything.”
“No.”
“You are my heir.”
“I want nothing from you.”
Samuel laughed weakly.
“You already have it.”
“What?”
“Northstar.”
Ethan frowned.
“I don’t own Northstar.”
“You do.”
Samuel’s smile returned.
“Thomas transferred controlling interest eleven years ago.”
“To whom?”
“You.”
Ethan stared.
“I never signed anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“How?”
“A trust.”
Samuel began coughing.
A nurse moved closer.
He waved her away.
“Your father thought putting Northstar under your beneficial ownership would prevent Conrad from taking it.”
“My father?”
Samuel’s expression darkened.
“You still call him that.”
“Yes.”
Samuel’s face hardened.
“He lied to you.”
“So did you.”
“I was absent.”
“That’s a convenient word for terrorizing everyone around me.”
Samuel stared at him.
Ethan continued.
“You could be my biological father. I don’t know yet.”
He placed the DNA report back on the bed.
“But Thomas raised me.”
Samuel’s mouth tightened.
“So blood means nothing?”
Ethan thought about Lucy.
“No.”
He answered carefully.
“Blood means something.”
Then he looked directly at Samuel.
“But it doesn’t mean everything.”
He left.
Outside the room, Thomas was waiting.
Ethan stopped.
Thomas looked exhausted.
“You heard.”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“When?”
Thomas had no answer.
Ethan almost walked away.
Then he stopped.
“Did you steal me?”
Thomas’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“Then explain.”
“Samuel disappeared before you were born.”
“He says you arranged it.”
“I helped him disappear because Conrad was going to kill him.”
Ethan frowned.
“Samuel was already working with Conrad.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would Conrad kill him?”
“Because Samuel tried to take over.”
The brothers had turned against each other long before Ethan understood the world.
Thomas continued.
“Your mother believed Samuel had died. I didn’t tell her the truth because Samuel asked me not to.”
“Why?”
“He wanted her safe.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps using safety to justify lies.”
Thomas looked down.
“I know.”
“Did Mom know Samuel was my father?”
“Yes.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Another person who had known.
“She lied too.”
“She was twenty-six. Pregnant. Terrified. Samuel had disappeared. I loved her.”
“So you married her.”
“Yes.”
“And raised me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you love me?”
Thomas looked stunned.
“More than anything.”
Ethan swallowed.
He believed him.
That was the worst part.
Thomas reached toward him but stopped.
“You were never something I stole.”
Ethan stared at the man he had mourned.
“Then why did you disappear seven years ago?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“Because Samuel came back.”
“And?”
“He gave me a choice.”
“What choice?”
“My life.”
May you like
Thomas looked toward the hospital room.
“Or yours.”
