Chapter 9: What Thomas Hid
"Nobody move.""
Richard's voice came from the darkness.
I could hear footsteps.
Fast.
Then a door slammed.
"Adam!""
I reached for my son.
"I'm here.""
Sofia switched on her flashlight.
The beam swept across the archive.
The black metal case was gone.
So was Richard.
Graham stared at the closed basement door.
"He took it.""
I shook my head.
"No.""
"What?""
I looked at the shelves.
"He couldn't have.""
"Why?""
"Because I was holding it.""
Adam stared at me.
"Then where did it go?""
I didn't answer.
Something had happened during the blackout.
Someone had taken it.
And Richard couldn't have done it alone.
Sofia's flashlight moved across the floor.
"There.""
A small piece of paper lay near the shelving.
I picked it up.
It was a torn corner from one of the documents.
On it was a single number.
*000147.*
My membership number.
I looked at Sofia.
"Why would this be here?""
She shook her head.
"I don't know.""
Graham suddenly said, "The account.""
"What about it?""
"Thomas used the membership number as a key.""
I frowned.
"A key to what?""
"The archive.""
Sofia's eyes widened.
"Of course.""
She rushed to the wall.
"There's another compartment.""
She pressed a sequence of numbers into a keypad hidden beneath the shelving.
0-0-0-1-4-7.
A click sounded.
The wall opened.
Inside was a narrow drawer.
I pulled it out.
There was another envelope.
This one was marked:
*MARGARET — OPEN ONLY AFTER ADAM KNOWS THE TRUTH.*
My hands shook.
I opened it.
Thomas's handwriting filled the page.
Margaret,
If you've reached this letter, then Adam knows he was born to Claire.
That means the people I feared have finally found the archive.
I swallowed.
There is something I never told you because I didn't know how to say it.
I read the next line.
Adam was not merely the child Claire wanted you to raise.
I looked at my son.
He stared back.
He was the legal heir to Claire's controlling interest in Bellavita.
I stopped.
Adam whispered, "What?""
I continued.
But that interest was never meant to belong to him immediately.
It was placed in trust until his fortieth birthday.
I looked at the date.
He had turned forty months earlier.
The thirty-eight-thousand-dollar demand suddenly looked different.
Richard hadn't invented the inheritance.
The trust was real.
But why had he needed my account?
I read on.
The controlling shares were divided into two protections.
The first is Adam's.
The second is Margaret's.
I frowned.
Sofia leaned over.
"Keep reading.""
Margaret, your controlling position exists because Claire asked me to make you the guardian of the shares until Adam reached forty.
At forty, he becomes the legal beneficiary.
Adam's eyes widened.
"So I do own them?""
"Eventually," I said.
"Do I control them now?""
I read the next paragraph.
Only if Margaret willingly transfers control.
Adam looked at me.
I kept reading.
But never transfer the shares because someone pressures you.
Never transfer them because someone threatens you.
And never transfer them because someone promises Adam safety.
My stomach tightened.
Thomas had known.
He had known someone would try.
The next sentence made my blood run cold.
Richard will tell Adam that Margaret is keeping his inheritance from him.
Adam closed his eyes.
"That's exactly what he told me.""
I looked at him.
"And you believed him.""
"I was forty.""
"You could have asked me.""
"I was angry.""
"At me?""
"At everything.""
His voice broke.
"I thought you had always known.""
I stared at him.
"Known what?""
"That I wasn't yours.""
The words hurt.
I stepped closer.
"You were mine.""
He looked away.
"Not biologically.""
"I didn't say biologically.""
I touched his face.
"I was there when you had nightmares.""
His eyes filled.
"I was there when you broke your arm.""
He nodded.
"I was there when you graduated.""
"Yes.""
"I was there when your father died.""
His lips trembled.
"And you were the person I thought would always be there.""
He looked at me.
"I know.""
I pulled him into my arms.
He held me tightly.
For a moment, everything else disappeared.
Then Graham cleared his throat.
"I need to confess something.""
We separated.
Graham stood near the shelves.
"I knew about the trust.""
I stared at him.
"How?""
"Richard told me.""
"When?""
"Six months ago.""
Adam's face hardened.
"You knew and didn't tell me?""
"I was afraid.""
"Of Richard?""
"Yes.""
"Why?""
"Because he had evidence against me.""
"What evidence?""
Graham looked at me.
"I was the one who moved the first money.""
Silence.
"What?""
"I didn't steal it for myself.""
"Then where did it go?""
He swallowed.
"I moved it into a protective account.""
"Whose?""
"Claire's.""
I stared at him.
"You were helping her?""
"Yes.""
"Then why did Richard say you were involved?""
"Because I was.""
He looked ashamed.
"I helped Richard move the money initially.""
"Why?""
"He threatened my family.""
Vanessa began crying.
"You never told me.""
"I was trying to protect you.""
I almost laughed.
"Apparently everyone in this family has been protecting everyone by lying.""
Graham nodded.
"You're right.""
He reached into his pocket.
"I kept a copy.""
He handed me a flash drive.
"The original evidence.""
I looked at it.
"What does it prove?""
"That Richard diverted money from Bellavita into an offshore account.""
"Whose account?""
Graham looked at Adam.
"Claire's father's.""
My stomach dropped.
"The same man who tried to have Claire killed.""
"Yes.""
Adam stared at the drive.
"Why would Richard work for him?""
"Because he was paid.""
I looked at the envelope.
Then the flash drive.
Then the empty space where the black case had been.
Suddenly, the pieces began fitting together.
Richard wasn't trying to steal the restaurant.
He wanted the evidence.
The evidence that connected him to the original theft.
And Adam's inheritance had been the easiest way to force me to open the door.
But there was still something missing.
Claire.
I took out my phone.
I called the number Sofia had used earlier.
Claire answered immediately.
"Margaret?""
"Where are you?""
A pause.
"I can't tell you.""
"You need to.""
"Why?""
"Richard found the archive.""
Silence.
Then Claire whispered, "He knows.""
"Knows what?""
"The truth.""
"What truth?""
She started crying.
"The reason I gave Adam to you.""
I looked at my son.
"Tell me.""
"Claire," Adam said.
She went silent.
"Please.""
Her breathing became uneven.
"I didn't give you away because I wanted to.""
"Then why?""
"Because you weren't the only baby born that night.""
Adam frowned.
I felt a strange coldness spread through me.
"What do you mean?""
Claire whispered:
"There were twins.""
The room went completely silent.
Adam stared at me.
I couldn't speak.
Sofia dropped the flashlight.
Graham looked horrified.
Claire continued.
"Adam had a twin sister.""
My heart hammered.
"What happened to her?""
"I don't know.""
"You don't know?""
"I was told she died.""
"By whom?""
"The hospital.""
I remembered the altered wristband.
The false death certificate.
The second infant.
My hand began to shake.
"Claire, what was her name?""
She hesitated.
Then said:
"Emma.""
Adam looked at me.
"Mom...""
I could barely breathe.
"Why would Richard care about her?""
Claire's voice cracked.
"Because Emma wasn't the child they wanted.""
"What does that mean?""
"She was born with something.""
"What?""
"A birthmark.""
I frowned.
"What kind?""
"A small crescent-shaped mark beneath her left shoulder.""
I looked at Adam.
He shook his head.
"I don't have one.""
I already knew.
I'd bathed him thousands of times.
There had never been a mark.
Claire whispered:
"That's why they switched the babies.""
My blood ran cold.
"Who did?""
"The person who knew which child belonged to whom.""
"Who?""
Claire began crying.
Then she said the name.
"Evelyn.""
I looked toward Graham.
He shook his head.
"No.""
Claire continued.
"Evelyn took Emma.""
Adam's face went pale.
"Why?""
"Because she was supposed to protect her.""
"Where is she now?""
"I don't know.""
I closed my eyes.
Evelyn had vanished twenty-six years ago.
She had signed the custody papers.
She had known about the hospital.
She had access to the baby.
And Thomas had changed the beneficiary designation to her.
Maybe he hadn't trusted her.
Maybe he'd been trying to find her.
I opened my eyes.
"Claire, what did Evelyn do with Emma?""
Silence.
Then Claire whispered:
"She didn't take her.""
I frowned.
"What?""
"She was taking her to Thomas.""
"Then why did she disappear?""
"Because someone intercepted her.""
"Who?""
Claire's voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Richard.""
I looked at the basement door.
Then at the documents.
Then at Adam.
Richard hadn't been looking for the shares.
He had been looking for Emma.
The missing child.
The second heir.
The one person who could expose everything.
Suddenly, Sofia's phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
"Hello?""
She listened.
Then looked at me.
"Mrs. Whitmore...""
"What?""
"It's the police.""
My heart pounded.
"What happened?""
Sofia swallowed.
"They found a woman matching Evelyn Whitmore's description.""
"Where?""
"At a hospital.""
I stood.
"Is she alive?""
Sofia's eyes filled with shock.
"Yes.""
"Then why are the police calling us?""
She stared at the phone.
"Because she was found with someone.""
"Who?""
Sofia whispered:
"A young woman.""
My heart stopped.
"How old?""
"Twenty-six.""
Adam grabbed my hand.
Sofia continued.
"And she has a crescent-shaped birthmark beneath her left shoulder.""
I couldn't breathe.
My son's missing twin was alive.
And for twenty-six years, she had been somewhere in the same city.
Then Sofia said the one thing that made the entire mystery more terrifying.
"The young woman keeps asking for you.""
I stared at Adam.
He stared back.
And from somewhere upstairs, we heard a familiar man's voice.
Richard.
"Margaret!""
His footsteps approached the basement stairs.
"Bring me the drive.""
May you like
He paused.
"Or your granddaughter dies.""
