Chapter 5 - THE ABANDONED HOUSE
We reached the property just after midnight.
Elias drove.
I sat beside him.
Gemma remained at the hospital with a private security officer.
The abandoned property had once been a farmhouse.
Now it was little more than a collapsing shell.
Windows boarded.
Roof damaged.
Grass overgrown.
The blue sedan sat outside.
Maeve's car.
I stepped out.
“Stay behind me,” Elias said.
“I own this company.”
“And I own the responsibility of keeping you alive.”
We approached the house.
The front door was open.
“Maeve?”
No answer.
I entered.
The air smelled of dust and damp wood.
Then I heard something.
A faint tapping.
From downstairs.
We followed it.
A basement door stood open.
Elias drew his flashlight.
I descended.
At the bottom was a room.
And Maeve was sitting there.
Alive.
But terrified.
“Conrad.”
I rushed toward her.
“What happened?”
“Someone came.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Where did they go?”
Maeve pointed toward a table.
There was a laptop.
An old cassette recorder.
And a stack of photographs.
I picked one up.
It showed a young woman.
Vivienne.
Maybe twenty years old.
Beside her stood a man I recognized.
My father.
My father had died fifteen years earlier.
But that wasn't what shocked me.
Behind them stood Maeve.
And another woman.
Florence.
My mother.
I stared at the picture.
“What is this?”
Maeve closed her eyes.
“The truth.”
“What truth?”
“Your father knew me.”
I couldn't speak.
“You're saying my father knew Vivienne's biological mother?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Maeve looked at me.
“Because your father was the reason Vivienne was taken from me.”
My stomach dropped.
“Explain.”
Maeve's voice trembled.
“I was seventeen.”
She looked at the photograph.
“I became pregnant.”
“With Vivienne?”
“Yes.”
“But you said she was adopted.”
“She was.”
“By whom?”
“Your father's family.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“Because your father didn't want his name connected to me.”
I stared at her.
“He had a reputation to protect.”
Maeve continued.
“He paid someone to take my baby.”
“Who?”
“Florence.”
I couldn't breathe.
“My mother?”
Maeve nodded.
“She told me she would return Vivienne when I was stable.”
“But she never did.”
“No.”
I turned away.
The basement seemed to spin.
All my life, I had believed my father was a brilliant businessman.
A strict man.
A complicated man.
But not a monster.
Now I wondered.
“Why did Vivienne discover this only two years ago?”
“She found an old file.”
“What file?”
“Adoption records.”
“Where?”
Maeve pointed to the laptop.
“Your father kept copies.”
I opened the laptop.
A folder contained hundreds of files.
Financial records.
Bank transfers.
Medical documents.
Then I saw something that made my blood run cold.
A payment.
$750,000.
Recipient:
Dr. Lucas Albright.
Date:
December 16.
Two days before Vivienne's supposed death.
I opened another document.
It was a medical report.
Vivienne's name appeared at the top.
But the report was dated December 18.
It claimed she had suffered fatal cardiac arrest.
Except the signature belonged to someone else.
Not Dr. Albright.
A nurse.
I recognized the name.
Paige.
My sister.
I stared at the screen.
“Paige.”
Maeve nodded.
“She wasn't just your sister.”
“What?”
“She worked at the clinic.”
I didn't know that.
She had told everyone she ran a charitable foundation.
“She has medical training?”
Maeve shook her head.
“She learned enough to make people believe she did.”
I felt something break inside me.
My sister had signed my wife's death certificate.
My mother had arranged the adoption.
My brother had been present when Vivienne collapsed.
Brenda had organized the funeral.
And I had unknowingly helped them bury my living wife.
Then the laptop screen suddenly went black.
Elias looked up.
“Someone's accessing it remotely.”
“Can you stop them?”
“I'm trying.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Footsteps.
Maeve gasped.
“They're back.”
Elias turned toward the stairs.
I heard the front door slam.
Then a man's voice echoed through the house.
“Conrad!”
May you like
My brother.
Mason.
