Chapter 12 - The Brother They Buried Twice
Dominic remembered Peter Sloan as a quiet man.
Elena's younger brother never belonged comfortably inside the Vale family.
He disliked expensive watches, armed guards, and the habit powerful men had of speaking as though every room belonged to them.
He preferred spreadsheets to parties.
Libraries to nightclubs.
When Dominic offered him a position in the family business, Peter had refused twice.
Elena convinced him to accept on the third offer.
She said the company needed someone who cared about the numbers more than the people signing them.
For four years, Peter worked as an internal accountant.
Then, seventeen months after Elena died, his boat was found drifting near the Connecticut coast.
The police recovered his jacket.
His phone.
His wallet.
His body was never found.
Nathan arranged a memorial.
Dominic attended.
He remembered standing beside an empty coffin and promising Elena's parents that Peter would never be forgotten.
Now Detective Hayes was telling him Peter might be alive.
Dominic called Elena's father, Thomas Sloan.
The old man answered in a tired voice.
“Dominic?”
“Thomas, I need to ask you something.”
“Is this about Nathan?”
Dominic froze.
“You know?”
“Someone from the state police contacted me this morning.”
Dominic sat.
“Thomas, did Peter ever tell you he was afraid of Nathan?”
A long silence followed.
Finally, Thomas answered.
“Yes.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because my son said it would put Elena's remaining family in danger.”
“Peter knew she was murdered?”
“He suspected it.”
“Did he have proof?”
“Not then.”
Dominic heard the old man breathing.
“After Elena died, Peter kept asking questions.”
“He said Nathan controlled everything.”
“He said someone was changing the company's records.”
Dominic gripped the phone.
“And then Peter disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Thomas, there's evidence he may still be alive.”
The old man made a small choking sound.
“What?”
“An investigator is checking it.”
“Dominic.”
“Yes?”
“If my boy is alive, you bring him home.”
Dominic shut his eyes.
“I'll do everything I can to help the investigators find him.”
Thomas began crying.
For the first time, Dominic understood that his grief had not been the only grief Nathan exploited.
Elena's parents had buried a daughter.
Then they had buried a son.
And both times, Nathan had stood among the mourners.
That afternoon, Hayes brought Dominic to a secure interview room.
She placed a photograph on the table.
Peter Sloan stood outside a small bookstore.
His hair was gray at the temples.
His beard was longer.
The scar along his jaw remained unmistakable.
“This was taken five months ago,” Hayes said.
Dominic stared.
“Where?”
“Vermont.”
“Is he still there?”
“We're trying to make contact.”
“Why was he hiding?”
“We have evidence he assumed another identity after his disappearance.”
“Did Nathan know he was alive?”
“We don't know.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Then why would Peter visit Samuel?”
Hayes watched him.
“That's the question.”
She opened another file.
“We also received a sealed statement from a former Briarwood administrator.”
“What does it say?”
“That Rebecca was given medication without a clear medical justification and prevented from leaving.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“And the boy?”
“He was raised inside the facility for much of his life.”
“Did Peter know?”
“The statement suggests he did.”
Dominic looked up sharply.
“Then why didn't he take them out?”
Hayes nodded.
“We intend to ask him.”
For several minutes, she explained what investigators had learned.
Peter had apparently used false identities to access financial accounts connected to Bennett Development.
He had been tracing transfers.
Collecting proof.
And quietly sending information to regulators.
His disappearance may have been staged to protect himself.
But there was no evidence yet that he helped imprison Rebecca.
Dominic listened carefully.
Then asked, “Do you think Peter is Samuel's father?”
Hayes folded her hands.
“We've requested voluntary testing through legal channels, but there's another issue.”
“What?”
“Peter was married when he disappeared.”
Dominic remembered.
“Laura.”
“Yes.”
“She died of cancer.”
“That's what the family was told.”
Dominic's expression changed.
“What are you saying?”
“Laura Sloan is alive.”
He stared at her.
Hayes continued.
“She has been living under another name in Vermont.”
Dominic felt the room tilt.
Peter.
Laura.
Rebecca.
Samuel.
The story was becoming something far more complicated than one man's attempt to steal a company.
“Why would Peter and Laura abandon their lives?” he asked.
Hayes slid another photograph across the table.
It showed Peter and Laura standing in front of a modest white house.
Between them stood a young boy.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A serious expression.
Samuel.
The photograph was dated four months earlier.
Dominic studied it.
“Rebecca wasn't there.”
“No.”
“Then how did Peter get Samuel outside Briarwood?”
“We don't know.”
Dominic looked up.
“Was Samuel visiting them?”
“Possibly.”
“Does Rebecca know?”
“That's another question.”
He returned to the photograph.
The boy looked healthy.
Well dressed.
Comfortable beside Peter and Laura.
Yet Rebecca remained captive.
Something did not fit.
Dominic turned the photograph over.
On the back, someone had written:
The family Nathan can never know about.
Dominic looked at Hayes.
“Where did this come from?”
“An anonymous source.”
“Who?”
“We're attempting to establish that.”
He stared at the photograph.
For seven years, Nathan had controlled people through secrets.
Now those secrets were beginning to contradict one another.
And Dominic realized that the answer might not lie in who Samuel's father was.
It might lie in why Nathan believed the child belonged to him.
Hayes's phone rang.
She glanced at the screen.
Then answered.
“Yes?”
She listened.
Her expression hardened.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Secure the scene.”
She ended the call.
Dominic stood.
“What happened?”
Hayes looked at him.
“Peter Sloan has been located.”
Dominic felt a moment of relief.
Then he saw her expression.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then what's wrong?”
Hayes took a breath.
“He walked into a police station in Vermont twenty minutes ago.”
“And?”
“He brought a child.”
Dominic stared.
“Samuel?”
Hayes nodded.
“And he says Nathan Cross isn't the boy's father.”
“We know that.”
Hayes looked him directly in the eyes.
“Peter says Nathan already knows.”
Dominic went still.
“Then why is the boy in danger?”
May you like
Hayes's voice dropped.
“Because Samuel witnessed something at Briarwood that Nathan never expected him to remember.”
