Chapter 6 - THE SECRET IN NOAH’S BLOODMarcus jerked the wheel.
A taxi missed them by inches.
Horns erupted.
Lena threw one arm across Noah’s car seat.
“Move!”
Marcus punched the accelerator.
The SUV shot through a yellow light.
The sedan tried to follow.
A delivery truck blocked it.
“Lost them,” Marcus said.
“For now,” Ethan answered.
They went to Ethan’s townhouse instead of his apartment.
Only four people knew the address.
Marcus checked every room.
Lena stood in the kitchen with Noah.
“You live here?”
“Sometimes.”
“This kitchen is bigger than my apartment.”
“Claire hated this house.”
“Why?”
“She said rich people build too many rooms because they’re scared of being close to each other.”
Lena gave him a strange look.
“That sounds like something my mother would say.”
Ethan turned away.
Again.
The resemblance wasn’t only physical.
It was unsettling.
Marcus placed the backpack on the table.
“We need to know what’s on that drive.”
Ethan plugged it into an offline laptop.
Password protected.
One hint appeared.
FIRST WORD SHE HEARD.
Ethan tried CLAIRE.
Wrong.
MOM.
Wrong.
LOVE.
Wrong.
Lena stared at the screen.
“What did Elena call her?”
“Lucia.”
“Try that.”
Ethan typed LUCIA.
The drive opened.
Folders appeared.
ADOPTION.
HART FAMILY.
MARGARET.
ACCIDENT.
NOAH.
Ethan’s stomach twisted.
He clicked NOAH first.
Medical records.
DNA results.
A voice memo.
Claire’s voice filled the room.
Ethan stopped breathing.
“If you’re hearing this, I probably failed to finish what I started.”
Lena sat slowly.
Noah looked toward the laptop.
Claire continued.
“Ethan, please don’t panic about the DNA report.”
“Wonderful,” Ethan muttered.
“The report does not say Noah isn’t your son.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Lena almost laughed despite herself.
Claire’s recording continued.
“But it does prove Margaret lied to me my entire life.”
Documents opened.
Genetic matches.
Claire had submitted her DNA and Noah’s to a private lab.
The results showed Claire had a full biological sibling.
Female.
Same age.
Likely identical or near-identical genetic relationship.
Lena.
There was also another match.
Daniel Hart.
Claire’s biological father.
Still alive.
Ethan stared.
“Where is he?”
Lena looked at the address.
“Connecticut.”
Then Claire’s voice changed.
More frightened.
“I confronted Margaret. She denied everything until I told her I had located Daniel.”
Ethan leaned closer.
“She said if I contacted him, I would destroy the family.”
A pause.
“Then she said something worse.”
Claire’s breathing trembled.
“She said Noah was the reason I needed to stop digging.”
Lena frowned.
“What does Noah have to do with this?”
Claire answered from the recording.
“Daniel Hart established a trust in 1998 for any biological descendants he might have. Margaret became temporary trustee because everyone believed Daniel was unstable.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
The documents showed the trust value.
One hundred eighty-six million dollars.
Lena stared.
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
Claire continued.
“If Daniel acknowledges me as his daughter, Margaret loses control of the trust.”
Ethan understood.
Money.
Of course.
Always money.
Then another file opened automatically.
A security recording.
Claire stood in Margaret’s library.
Margaret faced her.
Audio crackled.
Claire said, “You stole me from my mother.”
Margaret answered calmly.
“I saved you.”
“You destroyed her.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You gave me someone else’s life.”
Margaret stepped closer.
May you like
Then said six words that made Ethan’s blood run cold.
“Your sister was supposed to disappear too.”
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