Chapter 6 - MY FATHER WASN'T MY FATHER
The door finally broke open.
Adrian dragged us into the hallway.
I collapsed onto the floor.
Lucia was coughing.
I held her against my chest.
But my mind was somewhere else.
Daniel Bennett.
My father.
The man who had raised me.
The man who had attended my mother's funeral.
The man who had disappeared from my life shortly afterward.
The man who had supposedly died two years later.
Except now I knew something impossible.
He had been alive.
And he had just tried to kill us.
Adrian crouched beside me.
"Are you okay?"
"No."
I looked at him.
"My father."
"Your father?"
"He's alive."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"We need to get you somewhere secure."
"No."
"You don't understand."
"I understand perfectly."
I stood.
"I want answers."
"You'll get them."
"Tonight."
Adrian hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Tonight."
We went to the security room.
Every camera had been disabled except one.
The hallway outside the library.
At 1:23 a.m., a man walked past.
Tall.
Gray coat.
Slight limp.
I recognized him.
My father.
The video stopped.
Adrian rewound it.
"Where did he go?"
The security chief shook his head.
"Basement."
We went downstairs.
There was no one there.
But we found a car key.
A black key.
Engraved with the initials D.B.
I picked it up.
My hands shook.
"He's here."
Adrian looked at the security monitors.
"Lock down the property."
The gates closed.
Police surrounded the estate.
But Daniel was gone.
He had escaped through an underground tunnel.
And he had left one thing behind.
A file.
Inside were medical records.
My mother's.
My own.
And Lucia's.
I stared at my daughter's name.
"Why would he have Lucia's medical records?"
Adrian took the file.
His expression changed.
"What?"
"These aren't just medical records."
"What are they?"
"DNA results."
I froze.
"Whose?"
"Yours."
"And Lucia's."
I stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
I grabbed the paper.
The first result showed a parent-child relationship.
Mine.
Lucia's.
Confirmed.
I exhaled.
"She's my daughter."
"I know."
"Then why test us?"
Adrian turned the page.
There was another test.
Lucia and Adrian.
I couldn't breathe.
"Why did he test Lucia against you?"
Adrian read the result.
His face went blank.
"No."
"What?"
He looked at me.
"Lucia is not my daughter."
I almost laughed.
"Obviously."
"No."
He shook his head.
"That's not what I mean."
He handed me the paper.
The result wasn't showing fatherhood.
It was showing something else.
A genetic relationship.
Lucia was related to Adrian.
Not as a child.
As a close blood relative.
I looked at him.
"How?"
Adrian's voice was barely audible.
"She could be my niece."
"That's impossible."
"My brother."
"You don't have a brother."
He stared at me.
"I was told I didn't."
The room went silent.
Then Eleanor entered.
She had heard everything.
She looked at the DNA report.
And began to cry.
"My God."
I turned.
"Who is Lucia's father?"
Eleanor whispered:
"Daniel Vale."
Adrian's face went white.
"That's impossible."
"Daniel was your father's second son."
Adrian stepped backward.
"My grandfather had another child?"
Eleanor nodded.
"And he disappeared the same night Rose did."
I looked at Lucia.
She was asleep in my arms.
A tiny child who had unknowingly walked into a family war older than she was.
I looked at Eleanor.
"Who is Lucia's father?"
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"Your mother knew."
"Where is he?"
"Dead."
"How?"
"Your father killed him."
I felt the world tilt.
Then Adrian's phone rang.
He answered.
His security chief spoke rapidly.
Adrian's face hardened.
"What happened?"
A pause.
Then:
"Celeste is gone."
I looked at the empty hallway.
"What do you mean gone?"
"She left the property."
"With who?"
May you like
The security chief hesitated.
"Daniel Bennett."
