Chapter 12 - The Brother Nobody Mentioned
Claire laughed.
It was an involuntary response.
A brother.
There were certain lies too large for the mind to accept immediately.
She looked at Ethan, expecting him to say Mercer had misunderstood the document.
He did not.
Margaret looked terrified.
“My brother?”
Margaret nodded.
“I was nine when Mom had a miscarriage.”
“No.”
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“I remember it.”
“No, Claire.”
“My mother was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“She lost the baby.”
“That’s what Robert told everyone.”
Claire stared.
“The child survived?”
Margaret wiped her face.
“I don’t know the whole story.”
“How can you not know?”
“Because I had already disappeared.”
Mercer continued reviewing the file.
“Daniel Bennett was born April 8, 2004.”
Claire calculated instantly.
She had been nine.
“He’d be twenty-two.”
“Yes.”
“Why did I never see him?”
Margaret whispered, “Linda was told he died.”
Claire looked toward the attorneys.
“Where is my mother?”
Linda arrived at the bank twenty-three minutes later.
She refused to enter the vault at first.
Then Claire held up the page.
“Who is Daniel?”
Linda stopped.
Her face changed in a way Claire had never seen.
Not guilt.
Recognition.
Pain.
“Where did you get that name?”
“Grandma’s trust.”
Linda grabbed the doorframe.
“No.”
“Mom.”
“No.”
“He lived?”
Linda began shaking.
“My baby died.”
“Did you see him?”
Linda looked at Claire.
“Did you see him after delivery?”
“I was sedated.”
“Did Dad tell you?”
“The doctor did.”
“Which doctor?”
Linda opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Claire suddenly understood.
“You don’t remember.”
“I was sick.”
“Who arranged the hospital?”
“Your father.”
“What happened?”
Linda sat down.
“I started bleeding early. We went to St. Catherine’s.”
The same institution where Eleanor would later be hidden.
Claire exchanged a look with Margaret.
Linda continued.
“They performed an emergency delivery. When I woke up, Robert told me the baby lived for seventeen minutes.”
“Did you hold him?”
Linda began sobbing.
“No.”
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
“Funeral?”
“Robert said the hospital handled cremation.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“My God.”
Claire felt sick.
Mercer looked at the trust records.
“Eleanor created Bennett Children’s Holdings nine months later.”
“So she knew?”
“Possibly.”
“Why didn’t she tell Mom?”
Nobody answered.
Ethan turned another page.
“There are distributions.”
“To Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Monthly payments until age eighteen.”
Mercer leaned closer.
“These weren’t going directly to him.”
“Then where?”
“A guardianship account.”
“Whose?”
Mercer read.
“D. Hale.”
Claire stared.
“Hale?”
Patrick Hale.
Samuel Hale.
The same family connected to Eleanor’s hidden medical records.
Ethan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No one spoke.
“Hello?”
Breathing.
Then a male voice.
“You opened the vault.”
Ethan switched to speaker.
Claire stepped closer.
“Who is this?”
The man ignored her.
“You shouldn’t have opened Box Seven.”
Claire said, “Are you Daniel?”
Silence.
Then:
“My name isn’t Daniel.”
“What is your name?”
Another long pause.
“Luke.”
Claire’s heart pounded.
“Luke what?”
“Luke Hale.”
Margaret gripped the table.
Claire asked, “Where are you?”
“I need to speak to Robert Bennett.”
“He’s under arrest.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Luke’s breathing changed.
“Because before Eleanor Bennett died, she told my father something.”
Claire waited.
Luke said, “She said Robert didn’t steal me.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Then who did?”
May you like
Luke answered.
“Your mother.”
