Chapter 12 - The Son Nobody Mentioned
Gabriel had never told Nathaniel he had another son.
Adrian was thirty-five, a former military contractor who had spent years working overseas. His younger brother, Lucas Cross, had disappeared ten years earlier.
According to Gabriel, Lucas had been brilliant, reckless, and obsessed with the history of the Vale family.
“He worked with Elara,” Gabriel admitted after Adrian was restrained. “They investigated the Hawthorne companies together.”
“And you never thought that was relevant?” Nathaniel demanded.
“Lucas was declared dead before Ruby was born.”
Adrian laughed from the chair where Marcus had secured him.
“That’s what our father wanted everyone to believe.”
Gabriel faced him.
“I watched them recover the vehicle.”
“You watched them recover a burned vehicle containing a body no one could identify.”
“The dental records matched.”
“The records were replaced.”
Ruby stood beside June, listening.
“Is Lucas my father?”
Adrian looked at her.
“You have his eyes.”
“So does Nathaniel,” June said. “And Sebastian. And Catherine.”
Adrian’s smile faded.
“Elara loved Lucas.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Elara used Lucas to obtain evidence.”
“You never knew your own son.”
“I knew he wanted power.”
“He wanted the company your family helped build.”
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian leaned back.
“Gabriel Cross did not begin as your employee. Our grandfather helped Augustus Vale create the Architecture.”
Gabriel looked away.
Nathaniel understood.
The Hawthorne network had not been created by one family.
It had been passed between the Vales and the Crosses.
“Lucas believed the company belonged to both bloodlines,” Adrian continued. “He wanted Elara because marrying her would unite them.”
Ruby’s face tightened.
“People aren’t companies.”
Adrian looked at her with unexpected interest.
“That is exactly what your mother told him.”
Nathaniel knelt beside Ruby.
“You do not have to listen to this.”
“Yes, I do.”
She faced Adrian.
“Did Lucas hurt my mother?”
Adrian remained silent.
Ruby repeated the question.
“I don’t know,” he finally said. “The last time I saw them together, Elara was trying to escape him.”
“Then why did you say he was my father?”
“Because he told me you were his child.”
“That doesn’t make it true.”
Nathaniel almost smiled despite the circumstances.
Ruby was frightened, but she refused to let fear make decisions for her.
Marcus’s team returned from Hawthorne Lane.
They carried the wooden base of the cradle.
A sealed envelope had been hidden beneath it.
Claire opened the envelope carefully.
Inside was Ruby’s original birth certificate.
The father’s section contained a name.
Lucas Adrian Cross.
Adrian leaned forward.
“There. Now you know.”
Claire examined the ink.
“This document was signed before Ruby was born.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“How is that possible?”
“It was prepared in advance.”
“Then it proves nothing.”
A folded note was attached to the certificate.
Elara’s handwriting covered both sides.
A name on paper is not the same as the truth. Lucas demanded his name be used. Gabriel offered his instead. Catherine changed the record to protect Ruby.
The person Ruby should call her father is the one who chooses her after learning what she carries.
Ruby looked at June.
“What do I carry?”
The floor beneath Adrian’s chair exploded upward.
A hidden charge broke through the service tunnel below the estate.
Marcus threw himself between Ruby and the debris.
Adrian’s chair tipped backward.
Through the opening, masked figures climbed into the room.
They did not attempt to free Adrian.
They shot him with a tranquilizer and carried him toward the tunnel.
One attacker dropped a radio.
A woman’s voice came through it.
“Leave the child. Take the Cross heir.”
Gabriel grabbed the radio.
“Elara?”
The channel closed.
Nathaniel stared at the dark tunnel.
May you like
For the second time, a voice that sounded like his daughter had ordered someone taken.
This time, she had chosen Adrian over Ruby.
