Chapter 6: The Father Who Came Back from the Dead
I stood between Alexander Hale and the bed where Rebecca lay.
Lily clutched the back of my jacket, her small fingers twisting the fabric into knots.
Alexander didn't look like a monster.
That was the most disturbing thing about him.
He wore a perfectly tailored charcoal suit. His silver hair was neatly combed, his shoes polished, and his expression calm enough for a business meeting. He looked like the kind of man who donated millions to hospitals and had his name engraved on university buildings.
He also looked remarkably like me.
The same eyes.
The same straight nose.
The same stubborn line of the jaw.
If someone had shown me his photograph before the wedding, I might have assumed we were relatives.
Now I knew why.
“Get out,” I said.
Alexander glanced at Rebecca.
“I'm afraid this isn't a family reunion you can control.””
“Then explain why you have men attacking women and kidnapping children.””
He sighed as though I had disappointed him.
“Your mother has always been dramatic.””
Rebecca struggled to sit up.
“Don't call me that.””
Alexander's expression hardened.
“You're alive because I allowed you to be.””
“No,” she whispered.
“I'm alive because you failed.””
He ignored her and focused on me.
“You've inherited a great deal of misinformation, Marcus. Eleanor was never equipped to raise you properly, and Daniel was too young to understand what was happening. I can explain everything.””
“Start with Anna.””
His smile faded.
“Anna made a series of dangerous decisions.””
“Where is she?””
“She took something that belongs to me.””
“The ledger?””
“Among other things.””
I stepped closer.
“If you've hurt my wife, I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison.””
Alexander looked amused.
“Your wife? You mean the woman who concealed your children from you for three years?””
“She was hiding from you.””
“She was hiding evidence.””
Rebecca raised her voice.
“Stop lying to him!””
Alexander turned toward her.
“You have spent thirty-five years blaming me for choices you made yourself. You took Marcus away from me. You stole documents that belonged to my family. You helped Anna undermine everything I built.””
“What you built was a criminal empire,” Rebecca replied.
His face darkened.
For the first time, I saw the anger beneath his polished exterior.
He crossed the room and seized Rebecca's wrist.
“Tell him what happened to his real father.””
Rebecca gasped.
I grabbed Alexander's arm and forced him away from the bed.
“Touch her again, and I'll break your hand.””
He looked at me with cold interest.
“There he is. My son.””
I released him.
“I'm not your son.””
“You carry my blood.””
“That doesn't make you my father.””
Alexander straightened his cuffs.
“Blood is the only thing that matters when everything else has been taken from you.””
I glanced at Rebecca.
She looked terrified.
Not of his threats.
Of what he might reveal.
“Tell me about the accident,” I demanded.
Alexander studied me for a long moment.
“Three years ago, you discovered that Eleanor had been diverting funds from your company. You were preparing to expose her, and she panicked. She contacted me because she believed I could help her recover the evidence.””
“Did you arrange the crash?””
“No.””
Rebecca whispered, “He's lying.””
Alexander shot her a furious look.
“I arranged for you to be stopped. Eleanor arranged the rest.””
I felt sick.
“What does that mean?””
“Your car was forced off the road. The driver was instructed to frighten you, not kill you. But Eleanor wanted to make certain you would never remember what you had discovered.””
I remembered the rain.
The headlights.
The terrible impact.
“Why didn't you let me die?””
Alexander's face softened in a way that made my skin crawl.
“Because you were my son.””
“Then why did you let everyone believe I was alone?””
“Because a man without memories is easier to control than a man who knows the truth.””
Rebecca began to cry.
Alexander didn't look at her.
He had no need to pretend to care about the woman he had terrorized.
I understood then that his cruelty wasn't impulsive. He didn't lash out because he lost control.
He hurt people because he believed their pain was useful.
And he had spent thirty-five years perfecting that belief.
A nurse appeared in the doorway.
“Is everything all right in here?””
Alexander smiled at her.
“Family disagreement. Nothing more.””
The nurse looked at Rebecca's bruised wrists, then at me.
I shook my head slightly.
“Please call hospital security.””
Alexander's smile vanished.
He reached into his jacket.
I moved immediately, shoving him against the wall before he could draw whatever he was reaching for. His shoulder struck the plaster with a dull crack.
The nurse screamed.
Two security officers rushed into the room.
Alexander didn't fight them.
He simply looked at me while they restrained his arms.
“You think you've won,” he said quietly.
“But you still don't know what happened to your real father.””
I stared at him.
“You just told me you were my father.””
He smiled.
“I told you I was your biological father.””
My blood ran cold.
“What is the difference?””
Alexander leaned toward me as the officers pulled him away.
“Ask Eleanor why she adopted you. Ask Daniel why he spent his life pretending to be your brother. And ask Anna what she found in the original ledger.””
Then he was gone.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Rebecca lay back against the pillows, breathing hard.
I turned toward her.
“What did he mean?””
She closed her eyes.
“Alexander isn't your biological father.””
I stared at her.
“But you said—”
“I said he was the man who claimed you. I never said he was the man who conceived you.””
My mind raced through the photographs, the letters, and the lies.
“Then who is my father?””
Rebecca looked at me with exhausted eyes.
“Your biological father was a man named Thomas Reed. He worked for Alexander and discovered that Alexander was stealing from the people who trusted him.””
“What happened to him?””
“He disappeared before you were born.””
I gripped the bedrail.
“And Daniel?””
“Daniel is Thomas's son.””
I felt the room tilt.
“My brother is my half-brother?””
Rebecca shook her head.
“No. Daniel is your biological father.””
I stared at her, unable to understand.
She continued softly.
“Thomas Reed was Daniel's father. Daniel was seventeen when he became your father. He and I were both children in a world controlled by Alexander. Eleanor convinced me that giving you up was the only way to keep you alive.””
I thought of Daniel in the old house, his face twisted with shame.
He hadn't simply been hiding a secret.
He had been living beside his own son, watching him grow up believing they were brothers.
“Why didn't he tell me?””
“Because he believed the lie Eleanor told him. And because he was afraid you would hate him.””
I sank into the chair beside the bed.
My entire life had been built on a family tree drawn by people who wanted to control me.
Alexander had claimed me.
Eleanor had raised me.
Daniel had called me brother.
And Rebecca, the woman who gave birth to me, had spent decades hidden in the shadows.
“What about Anna?”” I asked.
Rebecca wiped her tears.
“She discovered the truth about Alexander. She found evidence that he had forged the original trust agreement and stolen the inheritance meant for you. She also discovered that he had been keeping records of every person who helped him.””
“Where are those records?””
“In the original ledger.””
“Then why didn't she give it to the police?””
“Because the ledger contains the names of people who would kill to keep it hidden.””
I looked at Lily.
She was sitting beside Rebecca now, holding the woman's hand.
“Where is Ethan?”” I asked.
Rebecca swallowed.
“I don't know.””
“Who took him?””
“Alexander's men, I suspect. But Anna had a plan. She said if anything happened to her, someone would contact you.””
“Who?””
Rebecca turned her head toward the window.
“Someone who has been watching you since the accident.””
A sudden knock interrupted us.
The nurse returned, holding a small envelope.
“This was left at the front desk for Mr. Hale.””
I took it.
Inside was a photograph of Anna standing outside a railway station, holding Ethan in her arms.
She looked directly at the camera.
On the back, written in black ink, were the words:
Midnight. Platform nine. Come alone if you want your son back.
Below that was a second sentence.
And Marcus, don't trust the woman wearing your mother's necklace.
I looked up at Rebecca.
Her fingers had gone rigid around Lily's hand.
Because hanging around Rebecca's neck was a silver crescent-moon necklace.
The same necklace Anna had worn in every photograph.
Rebecca stared at me, tears gathering in her eyes.
Then she whispered, “Marcus, I can explain.””
May you like
I took one step backward.
For the first time that night, I wondered whether the woman I had just rescued was really Rebecca Hale at all.
