CHAPTER 8 — THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
CHAPTER 8 — THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The words followed Nathan long after the call ended.
Ask your fiancée what happened to the third child.
He stood in the middle of the warehouse, phone still pressed against his ear.
Daniel was staring at him.
“What third child?”
Nathan didn't answer.
He looked down at the photograph of Lily and Adrian.
Two infants.
Two lives.
Two secrets.
But now someone was claiming there had been a third.
Nathan's voice finally came.
“Victoria.”
Daniel's expression tightened.
“You think she knows?”
“She knew about Lily before I did.”
“She knew about Adrian.”
“She knew about the clinic.”
Nathan looked at the empty doorway.
“And now someone has told me to ask her about a third child.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Then don't confront her alone.”
Nathan picked up his coat.
“I'm not afraid of Victoria.”
“You should be afraid of what she's connected to.”
Nathan stopped.
Daniel continued.
“People have already forged medical records, manipulated financial accounts, hidden a child, and apparently maintained a dead man's identity for years.”
He looked directly at Nathan.
“This isn't about one woman anymore.”
Nathan nodded.
“I know.”
He looked at the photograph one last time.
“That's exactly why I'm going to ask her.”
Victoria was waiting in the mansion's library.
She had been there for almost an hour.
She knew Nathan would come.
She also knew what he would ask.
When the door opened, she looked up.
Nathan walked inside alone.
Victoria's hands trembled.
“You found him.”
“Adrian?”
She nodded.
“He's alive.”
“Yes.”
Nathan closed the door behind him.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of my father?”
“Yes.”
“Of your father?”
“Yes.”
“Of Richard?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Yes.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Who are you actually afraid of?”
Victoria looked away.
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
She closed her eyes.
“Nathan…”
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed the two newborn babies.
Then he placed another beside it.
A financial statement.
Then a third.
A medical record.
Finally, he placed his phone on the table.
The screen showed the recent call.
Victoria stared at the evidence.
“What did they tell you?”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
“The person who called.”
Victoria's voice had changed.
She sounded terrified.
“He mentioned the third child.”
Victoria went completely still.
Nathan leaned forward.
“Tell me.”
She said nothing.
“Victoria.”
Still nothing.
“Was there a third child?”
Her lips began to tremble.
“Yes.”
Nathan's chest tightened.
“Where is that child?”
“I don't know.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Who was it?”
Victoria looked at him.
“The child wasn't supposed to exist.”
Nathan stared.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria wiped her eyes.
“Your father had a son.”
Nathan's face went blank.
“My father had a son?”
“Not biologically.”
Nathan frowned.
“Then what?”
Victoria whispered:
“He adopted him.”
Nathan shook his head.
“My father never adopted anyone.”
“He did.”
“Who?”
“I don't know his real name.”
Nathan's voice hardened.
“Then what did you call him?”
Victoria swallowed.
“Daniel.”
Nathan froze.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“The lawyer?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Another Daniel.”
Nathan's mind raced.
“Where is he?”
Victoria looked down.
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Same time as Grace.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
Victoria stood.
“I am not.”
Nathan's voice became colder.
“You've lied to me for five years.”
“I know.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I have nothing left to lose.”
She reached into a drawer.
Pulled out another envelope.
Then she placed it in front of him.
Nathan opened it.
Inside was a photograph of a teenage boy.
Dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
A faint scar across his eyebrow.
Nathan stared.
“Who is he?”
Victoria whispered:
“Daniel Cole.”
Nathan looked again.
“He looks like my father.”
“He was raised by him.”
“Why?”
“Because Edward needed an heir he could control.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“And I wasn't enough?”
Victoria shook her head.
“You were never supposed to inherit everything.”
Five years earlier...
Victoria remembered the first time she saw Daniel.
She had been twenty-four.
Edward Cole had taken her to a private estate outside the city.
The house was surrounded by tall walls.
No neighbors.
No signs.
No visitors.
Inside, a teenage boy sat at a piano.
He was seventeen.
Quiet.
Pale.
He stopped playing when Edward entered.
“Daniel.”
The boy looked up.
“Yes, sir.”
“This is Victoria.”
Daniel nodded politely.
“Hello.”
Victoria smiled.
“Hi.”
He didn't smile back.
Edward placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
“Tell her who you are.”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“Daniel Cole.”
Victoria glanced at Edward.
“You said he wasn't your son.”
Edward's expression hardened.
“He is what I need him to be.”
Victoria didn't understand.
Not then.
Later, she learned the truth.
Daniel was the biological son of a woman who had once worked for the Cole family.
She had died under mysterious circumstances.
Edward took the boy.
Raised him.
Educated him.
Changed his identity.
And prepared him as an alternative heir.
Because Edward didn't trust Nathan.
He believed Nathan was too independent.
Too emotional.
Too attached to Grace.
So he created another option.
A hidden heir.
A boy who could be controlled.
A boy who knew nothing about his real past.
Until he learned the truth.
Nathan looked at the photograph again.
“Where is Daniel now?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He disappeared.”
“Who took him?”
“I think Richard.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel found something.”
“What?”
Victoria looked at the documents.
“The truth about the trust.”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“What truth?”
Victoria whispered:
“Your grandfather never created the trust for Nathan.”
Nathan stared.
“Then who?”
“For the children.”
“The twins?”
“No.”
Victoria shook her head.
“For the first child of the next generation.”
Nathan frowned.
“And that's Lily?”
“No.”
“Adrian?”
“No.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“Then who?”
Victoria's voice dropped.
“The trust was created for a child who hadn't been born yet.”
Nathan stared.
“What child?”
Victoria looked directly at him.
“The child of Nathan Cole and Grace Bennett.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
“But that's Lily.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
She pushed a document toward him.
Nathan read the heading.
ORIGINAL BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION.
Under it was a single line.
CHILD: FEMALE.
Then another.
SECONDARY BENEFICIARY: MALE TWIN.
Nathan stared.
The trust had been designed for twins.
Lily and Adrian.
But there was a third clause.
His eyes moved down.
In the event that either child is removed from the family, the trust shall remain frozen until the identity of the missing heir is confirmed.
Nathan looked up.
“That doesn't explain the third child.”
Victoria shook her head.
“It does.”
“How?”
“Because the trust was modified.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
The same year Grace disappeared.
Nathan drove straight to the old Cole family cemetery.
His father's grave stood beneath a large oak tree.
He stared at the headstone.
EDWARD MICHAEL COLE
1954–2021.
A successful businessman.
A loving father.
A respected philanthropist.
A respected philanthropist.
Nathan almost laughed.
He remembered the man behind the public image.
Cold.
Controlling.
Obsessed with legacy.
Nathan placed the documents on the grave.
“You ruined everything.”
The wind moved through the trees.
He continued.
“You separated Grace from me.”
Silence.
“You stole my children.”
Nothing.
“You stole millions.”
Nothing.
“And now I'm finding out you had another son.”
Still nothing.
Nathan's voice cracked.
“What were you hiding?”
A voice came from behind him.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
Nathan turned.
An elderly man stood several feet away.
He wore a dark suit.
Nathan recognized him.
Samuel Ortega.
His father's former personal physician.
Nathan hadn't seen him in twenty years.
“What are you doing here?”
Samuel looked at Edward's grave.
“I came to say goodbye.”
“He's been dead for years.”
“I know.”
Samuel sighed.
“But secrets don't die as easily as people do.”
Nathan stared.
“You know about Daniel.”
Samuel's eyes widened.
“So Victoria told you.”
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Samuel looked away.
“I thought he was dead.”
Nathan's heart sank.
“Why?”
“Because that's what I was told.”
“By whom?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Your father.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“Did you deliver Adrian?”
Samuel looked at him.
“No.”
“Did you treat Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the twins?”
“Yes.”
“And the third child?”
Samuel went silent.
Nathan's voice dropped.
“There was a third.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Nathan's heart hammered.
“Who?”
Samuel looked toward the grave.
“Edward's biggest secret.”
“Tell me.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because I promised your father.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“My father is dead.”
Samuel looked at him.
“That's exactly why I'm finally willing to speak.”
Samuel reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small key.
“Your father kept a second safe.”
Nathan took it.
“Where?”
“The family mausoleum.”
Nathan stared.
“Why would there be a safe in a mausoleum?”
“Because nobody searches the dead.”
That night, Nathan and Daniel entered the mausoleum.
Behind Edward's memorial plaque was a hidden compartment.
The key fit.
The door opened.
Inside was a metal box.
Nathan opened it.
Documents.
Photographs.
Medical records.
And one handwritten letter.
Nathan recognized his father's handwriting.
He began reading.
Nathan,
If you have found this, then the truth has escaped me.
I did what I believed was necessary to preserve the family.
Grace was never the threat.
The children were.
Nathan's hands tightened.
Daniel continued reading over his shoulder.
The letter went on.
Lily is innocent. Adrian is innocent.
But the third child is different.
That child carries a secret that could destroy everything I built.
Do not trust Richard.
Do not trust Victoria.
And above all, do not let the child find out who he truly is.
Nathan stopped.
“Who is the child?”
Daniel pointed to the next page.
There was no name.
Only a photograph.
Nathan lifted it.
A baby.
A newborn.
Beside the baby was a woman.
Nathan recognized her immediately.
Grace.
But she wasn't holding Lily.
She wasn't holding Adrian.
She was holding a third baby.
Nathan's breath caught.
“How?”
Daniel stared.
“This photograph was taken the same night the twins were born.”
Nathan looked at the baby's face.
Then at the woman's expression.
Grace looked terrified.
On the back of the photograph were four words:
THE THIRD CHILD SURVIVED.
Nathan's hands began shaking.
Then a sound came from the entrance.
Footsteps.
Nathan turned.
A figure stood in the darkness.
He raised his flashlight.
“Who's there?”
The figure stepped forward.
It was Victoria.
Nathan stared.
“What are you doing here?”
Victoria's face was pale.
“I came to warn you.”
“About what?”
She looked at the photograph.
Then whispered:
“They found him.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Victoria looked directly at him.
“The people who took Daniel.”
“And the third child?”
Victoria nodded.
“They have him too.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Where?”
Victoria's voice trembled.
“At the Cole Foundation.”
Nathan froze.
“The charity?”
“Yes.”
“The one receiving the missing money?”
“Yes.”
Nathan looked at Daniel.
Seventy-three million dollars.
A secret clinic.
A hidden heir.
A fake charity.
A dead man's identity.
Everything suddenly pointed to one place.
The Cole Foundation.
Nathan turned toward the door.
“We're going.”
Victoria grabbed his arm.
“You don't understand.”
Nathan pulled away.
“What?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“The foundation isn't controlled by Richard.”
“Then who?”
Victoria whispered the words Nathan never expected to hear.
“Your mother.”
Nathan went completely still.
“My mother died when I was six.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
A long silence.
“She didn't.”
Nathan stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
Victoria looked toward Edward's grave.
“Your father told everyone she died.”
She swallowed.
“But she was alive.”
Nathan's face went pale.
“She was the woman who helped hide the third child.”
And somewhere across the city, inside the Cole Foundation, a security camera showed a woman standing beside a young boy.
The woman slowly turned toward the camera.
May you like
And smiled.
Because she knew Nathan was coming.
