Chapter 4 - The Son My Father Hid
For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood her.
I looked at the child standing beside the hospital bed.
He had dark hair, a thin face, and eyes I had seen in the mirror above my father's desk a thousand times.
My father had been sixty-three when he died.
Samuel looked seven.
The dates were possible.
That made everything worse.
"Grace, are you certain?"
She nodded.
"I saw his birth certificate."
"Where?"
"In your father's private files."
Samuel watched us silently.
The stuffed rabbit hung from one hand.
I crouched in front of him.
"Samuel, do you know who I am?"
He looked at Grace before answering.
"She said you're Dante."
"That's right."
He swallowed.
"Are you my brother?"
There are questions a man can prepare himself to answer.
That wasn't one of them.
I looked at my wife.
She had tears in her eyes.
"Yes," I said finally.
"I think I am."
Samuel stepped closer.
"Then why did your mother say I wasn't supposed to exist?"
My chest tightened.
Before I could answer, Grace cried out.
Another contraction.
I turned toward Nico.
"Get the medical team down here."
"They're waiting upstairs."
"Then bring them now."
Grace grabbed my wrist.
"No."
I looked at her.
"Sweetheart, you need a hospital."
"Not your mother's doctors."
"Of course not."
She shook her head.
"You don't understand."
Her voice was weak, but her eyes were fierce.
"They were going to take him."
I glanced at her stomach.
"Our son?"
She nodded.
"After he was born."
I felt something inside me harden.
"What did they tell you?"
"That the baby would be transferred to a private neonatal facility."
"Why?"
"Because your mother said I had become mentally unstable."
I stared at her.
"She wanted to have me declared incompetent."
Grace's fingers dug into my arm.
"She wanted legal custody of our child."
Nico's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and looked toward me.
"Sir, we've found the physician who supervised the west wing."
"Bring him here."
"There's a problem."
"What?"
"He's dead."
Silence settled around us.
"How?"
"Single gunshot wound."
"When?"
"Within the last hour."
I looked toward the open door.
My mother had known I was coming downstairs.
She had warned me.
And while I searched for my wife, someone had begun eliminating witnesses.
"Lock down the grounds," I said.
"Nobody leaves without my authorization."
Nico nodded.
"Already done."
"Check the tunnels."
He hesitated.
"What tunnels?"
Grace looked at me.
"There's a map in your father's office."
I turned toward her.
"What map?"
She lowered her voice.
"The estate has three underground exits."
I had lived here for thirty-eight years.
I knew about the old wine cellar, the storage passages, and the reinforced security rooms.
I had never heard of three underground exits.
"Why would my father build them?"
Grace glanced toward Samuel.
"He didn't build all of them."
"Then who did?"
"Your mother."
I looked at the child.
He stared at his rabbit.
"What happened to Samuel's mother?"
Grace's expression changed.
"She disappeared."
"When?"
"Four months ago."
Samuel looked up.
"She didn't disappear."
Every adult in the room turned toward him.
He hugged the rabbit against his chest.
"She came here."
I crouched.
"When?"
He pointed toward the ceiling.
"The lady with the silver hair told her she'd get to see me."
My mother.
"What happened then?"
Samuel's bottom lip trembled.
"There was shouting."
He swallowed.
"Then Mommy stopped."
I felt a chill travel down my spine.
"Stopped what?"
"Talking."
Grace reached toward him.
"Samuel, you don't have to tell us right now."
But the boy kept speaking.
"The lady told the men to carry Mommy away."
I touched his shoulder.
"Did you see where they took her?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
"Where?"
His next words were almost inaudible.
"Behind the wall where the water makes noise."
I looked at Nico.
He understood immediately.
The underground pumping station.
An abandoned section of the estate that hadn't appeared on any maintenance schedule in years.
I stood.
"Find that room."
Nico signaled to his men.
Grace called my name.
I turned.
Her face had gone white.
"Dante."
I hurried back.
She looked down.
May you like
Blood had begun spreading beneath her dress.
"Dante, something's wrong."
