Chapter 5: The Daughter of a Thief
Damon left Eleanor's room with his mother's letter folded inside his jacket.
He found Serena waiting in the reception area, pacing beneath a large wall clock. Her cream sweater was damp from the rain, and her hair clung to her cheeks. When she saw him, she hurried forward.
“Thank God.””
She grabbed his shoulders.
“I've been calling you for an hour.””
Damon removed her hands.
“How did you find me?””
Serena blinked.
“You left your location on in the car.””
He hadn't.
He had disabled location sharing months ago after a business dispute involving a former employee who had tracked his movements.
“Try again.””
Her expression shifted.
“Damon, this isn't the time.””
“It's exactly the time. How did you find me?””
Serena glanced toward the reception desk.
“Your father told me.””
The words landed between them.
Damon studied her face.
“My father told you where I was?””
“Yes.””
“When?””
“About forty minutes ago.””
“Why would he tell you?””
She looked toward the entrance.
“Because he wants you home.””
“That's not an answer.””
Serena stepped closer and lowered her voice.
“Calvin said you were looking for Eleanor. He told me to bring you back before you made a terrible mistake.””
Damon felt a bitter smile touch his lips.
“So my father knows I'm here, my wife knows I'm here, and apparently the security guard was warned not to let me inside. How convenient.””
“Please don't do this.””
“Do what?””
“Turn everyone into an enemy.””
Damon reached into his jacket and removed the photograph of Eleanor holding him as a baby.
“Do you recognize her?””
Serena's eyes fell on the image.
For a fraction of a second, something flickered across her face.
Then she looked away.
“She's an old woman.””
“That's all?””
“What do you want me to say?””
“Tell me why you knew about her before we got married.””
Serena's shoulders stiffened.
“I told you. I found documents.””
“Which documents?””
“Financial records. Letters. Things I wasn't supposed to see.””
“Where?””
“In your father's office.””
Damon stepped closer.
“You broke into his office tonight to retrieve a folder. Were you looking for these documents?””
Serena's silence answered him.
He took out the medical authorization form.
“Eleanor's legal guardian denied her request to contact her son. Calvin signed it. But the form also lists an outside legal representative.””
He pointed to the name.
“Richard Vale.””
Serena's face drained of color.
“Where did you get that?””
“From the folder you tried to hide.””
She looked toward the entrance again.
Damon caught the movement.
“Stop looking for an exit.””
“I'm not.””
“You've been doing it since I arrived.””
Serena pressed her hands together.
“Damon, I came here because I'm worried about you.””
“No. You came because you were afraid I'd learn something you couldn't control.””
She flinched.
He continued, “My mother left me a letter before she died. She warned me about your father.””
Serena went completely still.
“What did it say?””
“That Richard Vale helped Calvin take me from Eleanor.””
The color drained from Serena's face so quickly that Damon thought she might faint.
Then she whispered, “That's impossible.””
“Why?””
“Because my father was never involved with the Hayes family before I met you.””
Damon looked at her.
“You expect me to believe that?””
“It's the truth.””
“Then why did you recognize the legal authorization form?””
“I didn't.””
“You did. I watched you.””
Serena's jaw tightened.
“Maybe I recognized the handwriting.””
“Whose handwriting?””
She didn't answer.
Damon took a breath.
“I'm going back inside. You're coming with me, and you're going to tell Eleanor the truth about your father.””
“No.””
The answer came instantly.
Damon stared at her.
“Why not?””
“Because she'll lie to you.””
“About what?””
Serena looked around the empty lobby.
Then she stepped close enough that only he could hear her.
“Your mother didn't die because she discovered the truth about Eleanor. She died because she discovered what I had done.””
Damon felt his heart pound.
“What did you do?””
Serena's eyes filled with tears.
“I was twenty-two. My father had just told me that the Hayes family was going to ruin him. He said Calvin was planning to expose everything Richard had done with the trust.””
Damon said nothing.
“My father asked me to get close to you. He said you were the only person who could give him access to the family accounts.””
The words came slowly, each one sounding like a confession she had spent years trying to bury.
“At first, I refused. I thought he was insane. Then he showed me the debt notices, the legal threats, the letters Calvin had sent him. My father said he would lose everything if I didn't help.””
“So you married me for money.””
Serena shook her head desperately.
“I didn't expect to fall in love with you.””
“But you did marry me because your father told you to.””
“Yes.””
Damon looked away.
The reception desk blurred before his eyes. He blinked hard, trying to hold himself together.
“Did my mother know?””
Serena nodded.
“She found out three months before she died. She discovered that I'd used your login credentials to access a restricted account. She confronted me.””
“What did she say?””
Serena wiped her face.
“She told me she knew who I really was. She said she'd give me one chance to confess to you before she went to Calvin.””
“And what did you do?””
“I begged her not to tell you.””
“That isn't what I asked.””
Serena's lips trembled.
“I gave her a letter from my father. It was supposed to scare her into staying quiet. He told me it was harmless.””
Damon's voice dropped.
“What was in the letter?””
“I don't know.””
“Serena!””
“It said he had evidence that she had authorized illegal transfers. He threatened to expose her unless she stayed out of the family accounts.””
Damon took a step backward.
“My mother was dying. She had cancer. She was trying to protect me, and you threatened her?””
“I didn't know she was that sick!””
“But you knew she was frightened.””
Serena began to sob.
“I was young. I was stupid. I thought my father would stop once he got what he wanted.””
“And did he?””
She shook her head.
“No.””
Damon stared at her for a long time.
Then he asked the question that frightened him most.
“What happened the night my mother died?””
Serena covered her mouth.
“I wasn't there.””
“Who was?””
“My father.””
Damon turned away.
For a moment, he couldn't hear anything except the blood rushing through his ears.
Then he looked back at his wife.
“Did Richard Vale kill my mother?””
Serena shook her head frantically.
“I don't know.””
“Did he have anything to do with her death?””
“I don't know!””
“You keep saying that.””
“Because it's true!””
A door opened at the far end of the lobby.
Margaret Ellis, the nurse who had escorted Damon to Eleanor's room, approached them with a folded piece of paper.
“Mr. Hayes?””
Damon turned.
“Yes?””
“Your father called. He asked me to give you this if you arrived.””
She handed him the paper.
Damon unfolded it.
The note contained only one sentence.
*If Serena has told you about Richard, do not believe her confession until you know why she kept the original account ledger.*
Damon read it twice.
Then he looked at Serena.
“What original account ledger?””
She went rigid.
Margaret's expression changed.
“Mr. Hayes, perhaps you should read the rest.””
“There is more?””
The nurse nodded.
She reached into her pocket and produced a small brass key.
“Your father left this with the facility director several months ago. He said it belonged to a storage box that must only be opened by you.””
Damon took the key.
“What's inside?””
Margaret shook her head.
“I wasn't told.””
Serena stared at the key as if it were a loaded weapon.
Damon noticed.
“You know what this opens.””
“No.””
“Serena.””
She backed away.
“I swear I don't.””
Damon held up the note.
“My father says you kept an original account ledger. What ledger?””
Serena's eyes darted toward the corridor leading to Eleanor's room.
Then she whispered, “The one that proves who took the money.””
“Who?””
She looked at him, tears streaming down her face.
“Your mother.””
Damon felt as though the world had stopped.
“My mother was stealing money?””
“No. That's not what I meant.””
“Then what did you mean?””
Serena shook her head.
“Margaret discovered the transfers. She moved the original ledger to keep it away from Calvin and my father. She thought she could use it to force them to leave Eleanor alone.””
“Where is it?””
Serena closed her eyes.
“I don't know.””
Damon seized the edge of the reception desk.
“You said you had it.””
“I said I kept it safe!””
“Where?””
She looked toward the exit.
“My father's house.””
Damon immediately pulled out his phone.
“Give me the address.””
Serena stared at him.
“You can't go there.””
“Why?””
“Because he knows you've been asking questions. He'll destroy everything before you get there.””
“Then why did you come here instead of going to him?””
Her silence was answer enough.
Damon stepped closer.
“Were you planning to warn him?””
Serena began to cry harder.
“I was planning to make a deal.””
“What kind of deal?””
She looked at him with exhausted desperation.
“I would give him the folder, and he would tell me what really happened to your mother.””
Damon shook his head in disbelief.
“You're still protecting him.””
“I'm trying to find out whether he killed someone!””
“And what about me? What about the years you spent lying to me?””
Serena couldn't answer.
Damon turned to Margaret.
“Can you take me to Eleanor?””
The nurse nodded.
As he started toward the corridor, Serena grabbed his sleeve.
“Damon, wait.””
He stopped.
She swallowed hard.
“There is one thing I haven't told you.””
He looked at her without speaking.
“Your mother didn't just discover the illegal transfers. She found a second account in your name.””
Damon's stomach tightened.
“What account?””
Serena's voice fell to a whisper.
“An account that was opened the day you were born.””
She took a trembling breath.
“And the beneficiary wasn't you.””
Damon stared at her.
“Who was it?””
Serena looked toward the room where Eleanor waited.
“Your brother.””
For several seconds, Damon couldn't speak.
“I don't have a brother.””
Serena shook her head.
“That's what your father wanted you to believe.””
She reached into her purse and removed a photograph she had kept hidden inside its lining.
It showed two newborn babies lying side by side in a hospital bassinet.
One had a small white bracelet around his wrist.
The other had a blue one.
On the back, in faded handwriting, were two names.
*Damon Hayes. Daniel Hayes.*
Damon stared at the second name.
Then he noticed the date.
It was the same date his father had always told him he was born.
“Where is he?”” Damon whispered.
Serena's eyes filled with fresh tears.
“I don't know.””
Damon looked up.
“But your father does.””
Before he could ask another question, Eleanor's voice rang out from the corridor.
“Damon! Don't let her take that photograph!””
They turned.
Eleanor was standing in her doorway, gripping the frame with both hands. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with terror.
She pointed at Serena.
“That woman knows where Daniel is.””
Serena stumbled backward.
“No,” she whispered.
“You don't understand.””
Eleanor's voice broke.
“I buried one child without knowing whether he was alive. I will not let you take the other one from me.””
Damon looked from the photograph to Eleanor, then back to Serena.
Two babies.
Two names.
One mother who had spent forty years searching.
And a wife who had known more than she had ever admitted.
“Serena,” he said, his voice barely audible.
“Where is my brother?””
She opened her mouth.
Then the front doors burst open.
Two men in dark coats rushed into the lobby.
One grabbed Serena by the arm.
The other pointed a gun at Damon.
May you like
“Give us the photograph,” he ordered.
And from somewhere behind them, a familiar voice said, “Nobody moves until I get my son back.””
