Chapter 7 — The Night Nathan Lied
Chapter 7 — The Night Nathan Lied
The message remained on Dominic's phone.
COME ALONE, LITTLE BROTHER.
He read it twice.
Then a third time.
Daniel stood beside him.
"You said nobody leaves."
"I changed my mind."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Sir, if Alexander wants you alone—"
"He doesn't."
"Then why did he say it?"
"Because he wants me to think he does."
Daniel looked at him.
Dominic slipped the phone into his pocket.
"That's the difference between a threat and a trap."
"What's the plan?"
Dominic looked toward the staircase.
"Make him believe I followed his rules."
Harper was asleep in the west wing.
Three guards stood outside her room.
Mia was still missing.
Claire was still under guard.
Nathan was still in the library.
And Dominic had one question he could no longer ignore.
Why had Nathan lied?
Not once.
Not twice.
For seventeen years.
Dominic entered the library alone.
Nathan was standing beside the fireplace.
He didn't turn around.
"You found the photograph."
Dominic stopped.
"How did you know?"
"Because I know Mia."
Dominic's expression hardened.
"You know everyone."
Nathan turned.
"That's my job."
"No."
Dominic stepped closer.
"Your job was to protect me."
"It still is."
"You failed."
Nathan nodded.
"Yes."
"Then explain."
Nathan looked exhausted.
"Which lie?"
"The night my father died."
Nathan's eyes changed.
Dominic saw pain.
Real pain.
"Tell me what happened."
Nathan sat down.
Dominic remained standing.
"It was twelve years ago," Nathan began. "Your father called me at two in the morning."
"Why?"
"He said Margaret had returned."
Dominic frowned.
"My father's first wife."
"Yes."
"She was supposed to be dead."
"That's what everyone believed."
Nathan rubbed his hands together.
"Richard told me she had been watching the estate for months."
"Why?"
"Because she wanted something."
"What?"
"The children."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Which children?"
"Alexander."
"And me."
Nathan nodded.
"She believed both of you belonged to her."
Dominic stared.
"How could I belong to her?"
Nathan hesitated.
"Because she believed Richard had stolen you."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"My father adopted me."
"That's what the records say."
"And the truth?"
Nathan looked at him.
"The truth is complicated."
"Try me."
Nathan took a breath.
"Richard wasn't your biological father."
Dominic had already heard it from Isabella.
But hearing it again made his stomach tighten.
"Who was?"
Nathan shook his head.
"Your mother never told me."
"You're lying."
"I don't know."
"You knew everything else."
"Not that."
Dominic walked toward him.
"What happened the night he died?"
Nathan closed his eyes.
"Richard ordered me to take you out of the house."
"Why?"
"He knew Margaret was coming."
"And Alexander?"
"He was already there."
Dominic froze.
"Alexander was at the estate?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"He wanted the ledger."
"The Project 17 ledger."
Nathan nodded.
"Richard refused to give it to him."
"What happened?"
"They fought."
"Where?"
"Downstairs."
Nathan's voice became quieter.
"I heard a gunshot."
Dominic stared.
"What did you do?"
"I ran."
"And?"
"I found Richard on the floor."
"Dead?"
"Not yet."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"What did he say?"
Nathan looked down.
"He told me to take you."
"That's it?"
"He said one thing."
"What?"
Nathan looked directly at him.
"Protect Dominic from his family."
Dominic's breathing slowed.
"And then?"
"He died."
"Who killed him?"
Nathan said nothing.
Dominic waited.
Finally:
"I did."
Silence.
Dominic stared at him.
"You said Margaret ordered you."
"She did."
"Then why?"
"Because she had a gun."
"She forced you."
"Yes."
"How?"
Nathan's face twisted.
"She had you."
Dominic frowned.
"Who?"
Nathan looked toward the door.
"Your mother."
Dominic's expression changed.
"Isabella?"
"Yes."
"She was there?"
"Yes."
"But she's been in that nursing home for twenty-seven years."
Nathan nodded.
"She wasn't."
Dominic stared.
"What?"
"She was moved there after Richard died."
"Why?"
"To keep her hidden."
"From whom?"
"Everyone."
Dominic walked to the window.
The snow had stopped.
The grounds were silent.
He remembered his childhood.
His mother disappearing.
His father's coldness.
Nathan arriving.
The years afterward.
Everything suddenly looked different.
"Why did you let me believe she was dead?"
Nathan's voice was quiet.
"Because Richard told me you would never be safe if you knew she was alive."
"Why?"
"Because you would search for her."
"Exactly."
"And whoever was watching her would find you."
Dominic turned.
"Who was watching her?"
Nathan's expression hardened.
"Alexander."
A phone vibrated.
Dominic looked down.
Unknown number.
A text appeared.
YOUR FRIEND IS STILL LYING.
Dominic looked at Nathan.
Nathan had seen it.
"Who sent that?"
"Alexander."
Nathan shook his head.
"No."
Dominic frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because Alexander doesn't text."
"How do you know?"
"Because he doesn't need to."
Another message appeared.
ASK NATHAN ABOUT THE NIGHT MIA GAVE BIRTH.
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
He looked at Nathan.
"What happened when Harper was born?"
Nathan didn't answer.
"Tell me."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"Dominic."
"Tell me."
"I can't."
Dominic walked toward him.
"You have five seconds."
Nathan sighed.
"Harper wasn't supposed to survive."
Dominic froze.
"What?"
"Your father ordered the doctors to terminate the pregnancy."
Dominic's expression turned cold.
"But Mia refused."
"Yes."
"Then why is Harper alive?"
Nathan looked at him.
"Because someone changed the medical records."
"Who?"
Nathan hesitated.
"Me."
Dominic stared.
"You saved her."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Nathan looked down.
"Because Richard was wrong."
"About what?"
Nathan's eyes filled with tears.
"He thought Harper was a weapon."
Dominic said nothing.
Nathan continued:
"I thought she was a child."
Dominic left the library.
He walked directly to Mia's room.
Her bed was still unmade.
Her photograph of Harper remained on the nightstand.
Dominic picked it up.
On the back was another message.
He had not noticed it before.
NATHAN WILL TELL YOU THE TRUTH WHEN HE THINKS YOU HATE HIM ENOUGH.
Dominic closed his eyes.
Mia had known.
She had planned for this.
Everything had been designed to force him toward the truth.
But why?
At 11:45 p.m., Nathan received a phone call.
He answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice.
"Did he believe you?"
Nathan froze.
"Alexander."
"Yes."
"What do you want?"
"The same thing I wanted twelve years ago."
"The ledger?"
"No."
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
"Then what?"
"Dominic."
Nathan's grip tightened.
"Leave him alone."
Alexander laughed.
"You've been saying that for seventeen years."
"You promised."
"I promised nothing."
"You said you'd protect him."
"I said I'd protect the family."
Nathan looked toward the library door.
"What happened to that?"
Alexander's voice became colder.
"The family is the problem."
"Alexander."
"You know what your mistake was?"
"What?"
"You thought Richard's rules still mattered after he died."
Nathan swallowed.
"He was your father."
"He was yours too."
"No."
Alexander laughed.
"You still don't understand."
"What?"
"You were never his friend."
Nathan's face went pale.
"What are you talking about?"
"You were his son."
Silence.
Nathan stopped breathing.
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
"Richard had two sons."
"No."
Alexander's voice became almost gentle.
"Richard had three."
The line went dead.
Nathan stared at the phone.
His hands trembled.
For the first time in seventeen years, he wondered whether the secret he had protected wasn't Dominic's.
It was his own.
At midnight, Dominic entered the basement alone.
He followed the passage to the hidden laboratory.
The door was open.
A candle burned on the table.
Someone had left a folder there.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was Nathan's birth certificate.
His name.
His mother's name.
His father's name.
Dominic read the document twice.
Then his heart stopped.
The father's name was:
RICHARD VALE.
Dominic dropped the paper.
Nathan was not just his oldest friend.
Not just his protector.
Not just the man who had lied to him.
Nathan was his brother.
But the date on the certificate made no sense.
Nathan had been born eighteen months after Richard's supposed vasectomy.
Dominic looked at the next page.
A handwritten note.
NATHAN IS NOT RICHARD'S BIOLOGICAL SON.
Dominic stared.
Then another note.
HE WAS CREATED AS THE THIRD KEY.
Dominic frowned.
"Third key?"
A voice came from behind him.
"Now you're finally getting close."
Dominic turned.
Nathan stood in the doorway.
His face was pale.
Dominic held up the certificate.
"You knew."
Nathan looked at it.
Then at Dominic.
"I knew there was something wrong."
"You're Richard's son."
"I don't know."
"You lied."
"Yes."
"You protected me."
"Yes."
"You helped Mia."
"Yes."
"You knew about Harper."
"Yes."
Dominic's voice became quiet.
"Then tell me the one thing you haven't told me."
Nathan looked at him.
"What?"
"Who is Harper's real father?"
Nathan's eyes filled with fear.
"You don't want to know."
"Yes, I do."
"Once I tell you, everything changes."
"It already has."
Nathan stepped closer.
"Harper's father isn't Alexander."
Dominic stared.
"Then who?"
Nathan's voice dropped.
"Your father."
Dominic froze.
"Richard?"
"Yes."
"That's impossible."
"I know."
"Richard was old."
"I know."
"Harper was born five years ago."
"I know."
"Then explain."
Nathan looked toward the ceiling.
"Because Project 17 wasn't about genetics."
Dominic waited.
"It was about cloning."
The room went silent.
Nathan whispered:
"Harper wasn't conceived naturally."
Dominic's face went blank.
"What are you saying?"
"She was created from Richard's DNA."
Dominic stared at him.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Nathan stepped closer.
"And that's why everyone wants her."
Dominic's voice trembled.
"Why?"
"Because Harper is the only living person who carries Richard's original genetic sequence."
Dominic shook his head.
"Then why did Mia give birth to her?"
"Because they needed a mother."
"Who?"
Nathan looked directly at him.
"Margaret."
Dominic's heart stopped.
"Margaret created Harper?"
"No."
Nathan shook his head.
"Margaret stole the embryo."
Dominic stared.
"From whom?"
Nathan whispered:
"From your father."
The lights suddenly went out.
Dominic raised his weapon.
Nathan turned toward the door.
A soft clicking sound came from the darkness.
Then a woman's voice.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
"That's enough, boys."
Dominic froze.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it in his childhood.
In dreams.
In memories.
A voice he had been told belonged to a dead woman.
"Margaret."
The lights came back.
She stood at the entrance.
Elegant.
Uninjured.
Smiling.
Behind her was Mia.
Her hands were tied.
And beside Mia stood Alexander.
Dominic raised his gun.
Alexander shook his head.
"Don't."
Dominic's eyes moved to Mia.
She looked terrified.
"Dominic."
He stepped forward.
"Let her go."
Margaret smiled.
"You still don't understand."
Dominic aimed at her.
"Explain."
Margaret looked at Nathan.
Then at Dominic.
Then at Mia.
"Your father spent his life trying to control the future."
She smiled.
"And he succeeded."
Her eyes settled on Harper's photograph in Dominic's hand.
"Until the child was born."
Dominic's voice became cold.
"What does Harper have?"
Margaret answered:
"Everything."
"Everything what?"
"The original Vale bloodline."
Dominic's finger tightened around the trigger.
Margaret continued:
"And the reason your father wanted her protected..."
She smiled.
"...is because Harper isn't the heir to the Vale empire."
Dominic stared.
"Then what is she?"
Margaret's expression became almost triumphant.
"She's the evidence that the entire empire belongs to someone else."
A long silence followed.
Then Alexander stepped forward.
"And that's why..."
He looked directly at Dominic.
"...your father never wanted you to know who you really are."
Dominic stared at him.
"Who am I?"
Alexander smiled.
"Ask Nathan."
Dominic turned.
Nathan was crying.
For the first time in seventeen years.
He whispered:
"You're not Richard Vale's son."
Dominic's world went silent.
Nathan looked at him.
"You're Alexander's."
Dominic's weapon lowered.
Mia closed her eyes.
Margaret smiled.
May you like
And Alexander whispered:
"Welcome home, little brother."
