Chapter 18 - Nathaniel’s Hidden Son
Nathaniel had a son.
The words should have been impossible.
I had spent my entire life believing I was his only child. Every trust document, family photograph and public biography supported the same history.
Rebecca opened a metal cabinet inside the former bedroom.
She removed a stack of letters tied with a faded blue ribbon.
Nathaniel had written them to a woman named Eleanor Cross.
Julian’s mother.
Before Nathaniel built Harcourt Development, he and Eleanor had a child. Her family forced her to give the baby away before Nathaniel could claim him publicly.
The boy was named Daniel.
Julian Cross was Eleanor’s younger brother.
“My uncle,” I whispered.
“Not by blood,” Rebecca said. “But Julian raised Daniel after Eleanor died.”
Anthony examined one of the letters.
“Nathaniel believed Daniel died overseas.”
“That was what Julian told him.”
Daniel had lived under another surname. He married, had a daughter and avoided every connection to Harcourt.
That daughter was Rose’s mother.
“Where is she?” I asked.
Rebecca’s expression changed.
“Missing.”
“Name?”
“Elise.”
I looked at the legal page again.
“Why place Rose under my identity?”
“Because Nathaniel never completed Daniel’s legal acknowledgment. Rose had Harcourt blood, but no document connected her to the trust. Julian needed a shortcut.”
“So he forged my name as her mother.”
“With Patricia’s help.”
Claire sat on the edge of the empty bed.
“Why did you care for Rose?”
“Because Patricia brought her here. She told me that cooperating was the only way to keep you alive.”
Rebecca reached for Claire’s hand.
“I watched another little girl grow up while mine believed I was dead.”
For the first time since we found her, Claire allowed her mother to touch her.
Agent Ruiz collected the records.
“Where is Rose now?”
Rebecca had arranged for the child to attend a small private school under the name Rosie Bell. Only two staff members knew Rebecca was her guardian.
We drove there immediately.
The director met us in the entrance hall.
When Rebecca requested Rose, the woman’s face went pale.
“She was collected this morning.”
“By whom?”
“A child welfare officer.”
“No one was authorized.”
The director retrieved the paperwork.
The order declared that Rebecca Bell had been using a false identity and that the child required emergency protective placement.
At the bottom was the signature of a family court judge.
Julian Cross.
“He isn’t an active judge,” Ruiz said.
The director shook her head.
“The officer verified it through the court system.”
Cross still controlled people inside the courts.
I examined the security recording.
A woman wearing a gray coat had entered the school with two officials. Rose walked beside her without resisting.
Before leaving, the child looked directly at the camera.
She raised one hand.
Around her wrist was the silver Harcourt bracelet.
Then she pointed toward the pocket of the woman’s coat.
The woman briefly turned.
Her face appeared on the recording.
Rebecca gripped the desk.
“Elise.”
Rose’s missing mother had collected her.
Elise stopped beneath the camera and looked upward.
May you like
Then she silently formed four words.
DO NOT TRUST MY FATHER.
