Chapter 5 - The Night at the Lake
The first shot hit the wall above Nathan’s head.
Eli pulled Grace down.
Nathan rolled behind the stone fireplace.
A second round shattered a lamp.
Darkness swallowed half the room.
Grace crawled toward the recorder.
Nathan grabbed her ankle.
“What are you doing?”
“The tape.”
“Leave it.”
“No.”
She tore free.
Another shot hit the floor.
Grace reached the recorder and shoved the cassette into her bra.
Nathan almost laughed from disbelief.
Even now.
Grace looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Eli returned fire through the side window.
“Two shooters.”
“Maybe three.”
Nathan searched for another exit.
The cabin had a rear mudroom door.
Too exposed.
Grace pointed toward the old trapdoor beneath the rug.
Nathan remembered.
A storage crawlspace leading toward the boat shed.
He lifted it.
“Go.”
Grace shook her head.
“You first.”
Nathan stared.
“Why?”
“You’re bigger.”
“If the tunnel collapsed, I’d rather know before Lily loses both parents in one night.”
The words hit him.
Both parents.
Not Nathan.
Not Grace.
Parents.
He entered first.
Grace followed.
Eli covered them.
The crawlspace smelled like wet wood.
They crawled twenty yards.
Gunfire thudded above.
Nathan reached the boat shed.
He pushed open the hatch.
Rain had started.
Grace emerged.
They ran toward the trees.
A shooter appeared between the cabin and dock.
Grace saw him first.
“Nathan!”
She tackled Nathan behind an overturned canoe.
The bullet struck where his head had been.
Nathan stared at her.
“You saved me.”
“Later.”
She grabbed a stone and threw it toward the brush.
The shooter turned.
Eli fired from the cabin side.
The man dropped his weapon and ran.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
The remaining attackers fled.
One vehicle crashed through a fence.
The other escaped.
Police caught one shooter two miles away.
The second vanished.
The captured man carried a disposable phone.
Inside was a single text.
RECOVER TAPES.
NO WITNESSES.
The sender was untraceable.
Yet the payment app connected to a shell corporation.
Rebecca Sloan called Nathan at three in the morning.
“I ran the corporation.”
Nathan stood outside the cabin wrapped in a blanket.
Grace sat nearby while a paramedic checked a graze across her forearm.
“Who owns it?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Marcus Hale.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Proof.
Not suspicion.
Proof.
“Freeze his access.”
Rebecca said.
“I already did.”
Nathan opened his eyes.
Something in her tone bothered him.
“You already knew.”
Silence.
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“Rebecca.”
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
“Nathan—”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
Grace looked up.
Nathan moved away from the paramedics.
“You suspected Marcus was using shell companies to conduct illegal surveillance for three years?”
“I suspected financial misconduct.”
“And said nothing.”
“I was collecting evidence.”
“For who?”
Another pause.
“Your father.”
Nathan stopped.
“My father is dead.”
“His instructions survived him.”
Nathan felt dizzy from secrets.
“Where are you?”
“At headquarters.”
“Stay there.”
“Nathan—”
“Do not move.”
He disconnected.
Grace approached.
“Another betrayal?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Then stop deciding before you know.”
Nathan looked at her.
She held the tape.
“You have something real.”
“Deal with that first.”
Nathan nodded.
They listened to every cassette before sunrise.
Most were ordinary.
Business.
Arguments.
Some personal.
Then tape thirteen changed everything.
Richard was alone.
“If Nathan ever finds these recordings, then I either failed or died before I could fix what I helped create.”
Nathan sat.
Grace beside him.
Richard continued.
“Charles Whitmore and I spent years treating family problems like corporate risks.”
“I allowed him to relocate Elena Marsh when she became pregnant with my child.”
“I told myself I was protecting Margaret.”
“I was protecting myself.”
Nathan’s throat tightened.
Grace listened silently.
“Elena gave birth to a son.”
“Adam.”
“I have located them.”
“Oregon.”
“I intend to contact them.”
“Marcus opposes this because Adam has inheritance rights under my father’s trust.”
“I no longer care.”
Richard paused.
“If I die, find Adam.”
Nathan shut his eyes.
A brother.
His father had another son.
Grace touched his hand.
This time Nathan did not pull away.
Richard continued.
“And if Nathan ever has a child of his own, do not let Charles or Marcus turn that child into leverage.”
“They will.”
“They cannot help themselves.”
The tape clicked off.
Nathan sat frozen.
Five years before Lily.
Richard had predicted it.
Grace whispered.
“They did exactly that.”
Nathan nodded.
Then another tape started automatically.
Richard’s voice.
“Nathan.”
A direct message.
“If you hear nothing else, hear this.”
“You will be tempted to protect people by controlling their choices.”
“That is what I did.”
“That is what Charles does.”
“That is what Marcus does.”
“Fear can wear a very convincing suit and call itself protection.”
“Do better.”
Nathan stared at the floor.
Grace’s hand remained near his.
Not holding.
Available.
Nathan turned his palm upward.
Grace slowly placed her fingers in his.
No romance.
Not yet.
Something more fundamental.
Trust beginning at zero.
Eli entered.
“We got the DNA result.”
Nathan stood immediately.
Grace did too.
The independent laboratory had processed the emergency sample from Nathan and Lily.
Eli handed Nathan the report.
Nathan looked at Grace.
Then read.
Probability of paternity greater than 99.999%.
Nathan stopped breathing.
Grace covered her mouth.
Neither spoke.
For one minute the conspiracies disappeared.
No Charles.
No Marcus.
No trusts.
No dead father.
Nathan looked toward the room where Lily slept under guard.
“My daughter.”
Grace nodded.
“Yes.”
Nathan laughed once.
Then his eyes filled.
He turned away.
Grace let him.
He did not cry in front of board members.
Did not cry at Richard’s funeral until he was alone.
Did not cry when his mother died until days later.
Now his shoulders shook.
Grace stood beside him.
“Nathan.”
“I missed everything.”
“No.”
“I missed her first word.”
“Her first steps.”
“The time she broke her wrist at two.”
“She broke her wrist?”
“Fell off a playground ladder.”
Nathan stared at her.
“I wasn’t there.”
Grace answered gently.
“You weren’t allowed to be.”
“That doesn’t give the time back.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“What do I do with that?”
“You show up tomorrow.”
Then the next day.
And the next.
Nathan nodded.
They returned to the safe house.
Lily woke at seven.
She came into the kitchen wearing socks with tiny yellow ducks.
Nathan suddenly felt terrified.
Grace leaned against the counter.
“Tell her.”
Nathan crouched.
Lily looked at him.
“Did the cheek test come back?”
“Yes.”
“Did I do it right?”
Nathan almost laughed.
“You did.”
Lily waited.
Nathan swallowed.
“It says I’m your dad.”
Lily studied him.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Mommy knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell you?”
Grace came closer.
“She tried.”
Nathan said.
“Some people stopped us from talking.”
Lily frowned.
“Bad people?”
Nathan looked at Grace.
Grace answered.
“People who made bad choices.”
Nathan admired the answer.
Lily looked back at him.
“Do I have to live with you?”
“No.”
The speed of Nathan’s answer surprised everyone.
“No.”
“You live with your mom.”
“I hope I get to spend time with you.”
“But nobody is taking you anywhere unless your mom and I agree.”
Grace looked at him.
Something softened.
Lily considered that.
Then reached into a sticker book on the table.
She peeled off a purple star.
Nathan remained crouched.
She stuck it to his shirt.
“What’s that for?”
“For getting the test right.”
Grace laughed.
Nathan looked at the sticker.
“Thank you.”
Lily nodded.
Then returned to cereal.
Nathan stayed crouched for another second.
Grace whispered.
“You can stand now.”
“I know.”
His phone rang.
Rebecca.
Nathan’s expression changed.
He answered.
“You said stay at headquarters.”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“Marcus is gone.”
“Where?”
“We don’t know.”
Nathan tightened his jaw.
Rebecca continued.
“And he filed something before he disappeared.”
“What?”
“Emergency petition.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
Rebecca’s voice lowered.
“He’s challenging Lily’s paternity.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“We have DNA.”
“He claims the laboratory was influenced by you.”
“Of course.”
“That’s not the dangerous part.”
“What is?”
“He’s also submitted allegations that Grace abducted Lily from an undisclosed biological father.”
Grace went white.
Nathan stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Rebecca said.
“They named a father.”
Nathan’s blood chilled.
“Who?”
May you like
Rebecca answered.
“Daniel Price.”
