Chapter 8: The Choice Vanessa Thought She Could Force
“Marcus.””
Vanessa's voice floated through the courtyard.
Noah immediately grabbed his father's hand.
Elias stepped beside him.
The two boys looked almost identical.
Same eyes.
Same dark hair.
Same narrow chin.
Same frightened expression.
Marcus looked from one boy to the other.
Then toward the window.
Vanessa stood below beneath the headlights of three black SUVs.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't pretending anymore.
“Send me the boys,” she called.
Lena stepped away from the window.
“She won't touch them.””
Marcus shook his head.
“Neither of them is going outside.””
Vanessa smiled.
“You still think this is about hurting them.””
“It is.””
“No.””
She looked directly at Marcus.
“This is about which child belongs to you.””
Marcus felt his chest tighten.
“They're both my family.””
Vanessa laughed.
“You don't even know which one is yours.””
Noah lowered his eyes.
Elias watched Marcus carefully.
Marcus stepped toward the window.
“You've spent seven years lying to me.””
“I protected you.””
“You blamed a seven-year-old for a vase you smashed.””
“I needed you angry.””
“You manipulated my son.””
“I needed you distracted.””
“You put a recording camera in my house.””
“I needed proof.””
Marcus stared.
“What proof?””
“That your father had lied about the boys.””
Lena spoke sharply.
“You're still lying.””
Vanessa looked up.
“You should thank me.””
“For what?””
“For keeping both of them alive.””
Marcus felt a flash of confusion.
“What did you just say?””
Vanessa pointed toward Elias.
“Your father wanted that one.””
Then she pointed toward Noah.
“And someone else wanted this one.””
Marcus looked at the two boys.
“Who?””
Vanessa smiled.
“You'll find out when you pick.””
Ethan moved closer to Marcus.
“Don't listen to her.””
Vanessa laughed.
“You think you know the whole story?””
“No,” Ethan said.
“But I know you.””
Vanessa looked at him.
“You know nothing.””
Marcus raised his voice.
“Where are the men?””
“Waiting.””
“For what?””
“For you to decide.””
“Decide what?””
“Which boy leaves with you.””
Noah's face crumpled.
Marcus immediately turned toward him.
“Don't listen to her.””
“But what if she means it?””
“She doesn't.””
“What if I'm not really your son?””
Marcus knelt in front of him.
He took Noah's face gently between his hands.
“Listen to me.””
Noah looked at him.
“I don't care what any certificate says.””
“But—”
“You are my son because I raised you, because I love you, because I've been there every day of your life.””
Noah's lips trembled.
“You promise?””
“I promise.””
Elias stood silently nearby.
Marcus looked at him too.
“And you.””
The boy stiffened.
“You don't have to prove anything to me.””
Elias looked confused.
Marcus smiled.
“You're my brother's son.””
Lena stepped forward.
“Marcus…”
He shook his head.
“No more secrets.””
He looked at both boys.
“Whatever happens tonight, neither of you is being abandoned.””
Outside, Vanessa shouted again.
“Time's running out!””
Marcus stood.
“Tell me the truth.””
Vanessa's expression changed.
“About what?””
“Why do you care which boy leaves with me?””
She didn't answer.
Marcus continued.
“You said someone wanted Noah. Your father wanted Elias. So why are you standing outside with three SUVs?””
Vanessa looked up at the window.
“Because one of them is worth more than the other.””
Lena went pale.
Marcus said, “Worth?””
Vanessa corrected herself.
“Not money.””
“What then?””
“Blood.””
Silence.
Vanessa continued.
“Your mother made a mistake.””
Marcus looked at Lena.
“What mistake?””
Lena shook her head.
“She didn't know.””
Vanessa smiled.
“She thought the twins had the same father.””
Marcus's face tightened.
“Daniel.””
“No.””
Vanessa's answer was immediate.
“Daniel wasn't their father.””
Lena stepped forward.
“Don't.””
Vanessa ignored her.
“One of the boys is Daniel's.””
She pointed toward Elias.
“The other isn't.””
Marcus stared.
“Then who is the other father?””
Vanessa looked at Noah.
“Noah was born with something your father needed.””
Marcus's voice dropped.
“What?””
“His blood.””
Elias stepped toward Noah.
“What does that mean?””
Vanessa laughed softly.
“It means the boy you've been protecting may have been the reason your father wanted the trust in the first place.””
Marcus felt the old pieces shifting again.
The inheritance.
The firstborn.
The altered records.
The two babies.
He suddenly realized the family had been lying about more than parentage.
There had been another reason.
Something genetic.
Something valuable.
Something worth killing for.
Marcus turned toward Collins.
“You know.””
The doctor looked at the floor.
Marcus stepped toward him.
“Tell me.””
Collins sighed.
“Your father believed one of the twins carried a rare hereditary condition.””
Lena stared at him.
“That isn't what you told me.””
“I had to keep you alive.””
Marcus frowned.
“Condition?””
“Your father's family carried a genetic disorder that had nearly disappeared.””
“Nearly?””
“The older generation had it.””
“Who?””
“Your father's sister. Your grandmother. Two uncles.””
Marcus looked confused.
“So what does that have to do with the boys?””
“Your father wanted to know which child inherited the gene.””
“And?””
Collins hesitated.
“We tested both.””
Marcus's stomach dropped.
“Results?””
Collins looked at Noah.
Then Elias.
“They were different.””
Nobody spoke.
Marcus felt his pulse in his ears.
“Different how?””
“One tested positive.””
The room went still.
“Which one?””
Collins looked at Noah.
“Noah.””
Noah's eyes widened.
Marcus immediately stepped in front of him.
“What does that mean for him?””
“It doesn't mean he's sick.””
“Then what?””
“It means your father thought Noah could eventually develop a condition that would give him leverage over the trust.””
Marcus stared.
“That's insane.””
“It gets worse.””
Collins reached into his coat.
He pulled out an old medical file.
“The test was done under a false name.””
Marcus took it.
The name on the file was:
*Elias Mercer.*
Marcus's head snapped up.
“No.””
Collins nodded.
“Noah was tested under Elias's identity.””
Marcus looked at Noah.
Then at Elias.
“So the results belong to the wrong boy.””
“Exactly.””
Marcus understood.
The entire family had been chasing the wrong child.
The father.
Vanessa.
Daniel.
Everyone.
Because someone had switched the medical records.
Marcus turned toward Lena.
“Did you know?””
She was crying.
“I knew there had been a switch.””
“You knew?””
“I didn't know which boy had which file.””
Vanessa called from outside.
“Now you understand.””
Marcus looked at her.
She smiled.
“I made sure you would never know.””
Marcus's voice became cold.
“Why?””
“Because your father needed the wrong child.””
“And you?””
“I needed both.””
“Why?””
She didn't answer.
Rachel suddenly grabbed Marcus's shoulder.
“Check the phone.””
“What?””
“The recording.””
Marcus pulled out the cracked phone.
Rachel rewound the audio from the diner.
There was Vanessa's voice.
Then the unknown man.
But Marcus noticed something he hadn't heard earlier.
A door opened.
Someone entered.
Vanessa said:
“Is the boy ready?””
The man answered:
“Which one?””
Vanessa replied:
“The real one.””
The recording continued.
Then a third voice whispered:
“Marcus can't know about Lena.””
Marcus stopped the recording.
He looked at Lena.
“Who is that?””
Lena shook her head.
“I don't know.””
Rachel leaned closer.
“I do.””
Marcus looked at her.
“Who?””
Rachel's expression hardened.
“That voice belongs to your mother.””
Marcus stared.
“My mother was dead.””
“I know.””
“Then that's impossible.””
Rachel shook her head.
“Not necessarily.””
Marcus looked at the audio file again.
The timestamp was seven years old.
Then another detail appeared.
A location tag.
*ST. CATHERINE'S — ROOM 317.*
Marcus's heart raced.
He looked at Collins.
“You were there.””
“Yes.””
“My mother was there.””
“Yes.””
“Lena was there.””
“Yes.””
“And Vanessa?””
Collins nodded.
“Yes.””
Marcus looked at the twins.
“Both babies were there.””
Collins's expression changed.
“One more person was in the room.””
“Who?””
“Your father.””
Marcus stared.
“He was alive then.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Collins swallowed.
“To watch which baby was taken.””
Marcus felt sick.
“Taken by whom?””
Collins looked at Vanessa through the window.
“Her.””
Marcus turned sharply.
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
“You stole one of them.””
“I saved one of them.””
“Which one?””
Vanessa stared at the two boys.
Then she whispered:
“I don't know anymore.””
A sudden gunshot shattered the night.
The classroom window exploded.
Marcus threw himself over Noah.
Elias grabbed Lena.
Everyone dropped.
Another shot.
Then shouting from outside.
Vanessa screamed:
“Stop!””
The gunfire ceased.
Marcus lifted his head.
Someone had fallen in the courtyard.
One of the men.
But Vanessa was staring at something else.
A figure was walking calmly through the gate.
An elderly man.
Marcus recognized him immediately.
His father.
Again.
Alive.
But this time he wasn't smiling.
He was carrying a small metal case.
He stopped beneath the window and looked up.
“Marcus.””
Marcus stood.
His father raised the case.
“You want the truth?””
Marcus stared down.
“Yes.””
His father nodded.
“Then bring me Noah.””
Marcus shook his head.
“No.””
His father opened the case.
Inside was a photograph.
A hospital room.
Two newborn babies.
Their mother standing beside them.
And written across the photograph was a date.
The day Noah was born.
But beneath it, another date had been written by hand.
A date six months later.
Marcus squinted.
“What is that?””
His father looked directly at him.
“The day your son was supposed to die.””
Marcus froze.
Noah gasped.
Lena covered her mouth.
His father continued:
“I didn't want Noah.””
He pointed toward the second boy.
“I wanted Elias.””
Marcus looked at Elias.
Then back at his father.
“Why?””
His father lifted the photograph.
“Because Elias was the child who inherited the Mercer bloodline.””
Marcus stared.
His father smiled coldly.
“And Noah…”
He paused.
“…was the child Lena was trying to hide.””
The words barely left his mouth before every light in the school went out.
In the darkness, someone grabbed Noah's wrist.
Noah screamed.
“DAD!””
Marcus lunged toward the sound.
His hand caught only empty air.
May you like
Then a vehicle engine roared outside.
And when the emergency lights finally came back on, Noah was gone.
