Eleanor dropped the DNA report.<\/p>\n
It slid from her lap onto the wooden floor.<\/p>\n
No one moved to pick it up.<\/p>\n
Thomas stood across from her looking less victorious than destroyed.<\/p>\n
Whatever confrontation he had planned had depended on one certainty: Eleanor had chosen her real son over the boy she merely raised.<\/p>\n
Now that certainty was gone.<\/p>\n
He was her son.<\/p>\n
Just not the son she had believed him to be.<\/p>\n
Eleanor stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pregnant?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot know that from DNA alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have Pierce\u2019s notes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
He reached into a drawer beneath the side table.<\/p>\n
A black notebook.<\/p>\n
Dr. Harold Pierce\u2019s initials embossed inside the cover.<\/p>\n
Margaret moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPierce\u2019s old safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLast month.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you have been searching too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been searching since Eleanor left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor whispered, \u201cI did not leave because I stopped loving you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas flinched.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat became less comforting every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
I picked up the DNA report.<\/p>\n
The dates matched.<\/p>\n
Thomas had been born in late 1988.<\/p>\n
Eleanor would have conceived roughly nine months earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to you in early 1988?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Eleanor shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not remember clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHospital?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I lost Gabriel.\u201d<\/p>\n
She still used my birth name when speaking of the baby she lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysically?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had lost a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI stopped eating. I barely slept. My father arranged treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Pierce.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My anger sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Stephen visit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought once.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sedated often.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas opened Pierce\u2019s notebook.<\/p>\n
The handwriting was clinical.<\/p>\n
Dates.<\/p>\n
Drug doses.<\/p>\n
Procedures.<\/p>\n
Most of the language meant nothing to me.<\/p>\n
Margaret understood enough.<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was monitoring ovulation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret looked sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cPierce was tracking your cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are hormone injections.\u201d<\/p>\n
I clenched my jaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
No one wanted to say it.<\/p>\n
Finally Margaret did.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they intended a pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor stood too fast.<\/p>\n
Pain from her recent surgery bent her slightly.<\/p>\n
I moved toward her.<\/p>\n
She pushed my hand away.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not me.<\/p>\n
Not touch.<\/p>\n
Not comfort.<\/p>\n
She needed control over her body.<\/p>\n
I stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was the father?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at me.<\/p>\n
Then at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
No scream.<\/p>\n
No collapse.<\/p>\n
Just two words filled with thirty-eight years of exhaustion.<\/p>\n
Thomas turned another page.<\/p>\n
Pierce had labeled the project V2.<\/p>\n
Vale Two.<\/p>\n
I wanted to tear the notebook apart.<\/p>\n
Instead I asked, \u201cWhy create another child?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cInsurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Grant,\u201d Margaret corrected.<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
Stephen had no guarantee the first stolen Vale child would remain usable.<\/p>\n
I might die.<\/p>\n
Be found.<\/p>\n
Be legally restored to Eleanor.<\/p>\n
Arthur could alter the trust.<\/p>\n
Any number of things could happen.<\/p>\n
So Stephen wanted redundancy.<\/p>\n
Another biological child of Eleanor Vale and himself.<\/p>\n
Another potential key.<\/p>\n
Another heir he might control from birth.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did not trust Rebecca\u2019s son for that,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Thomas replied. \u201cMarcus had Vale blood only through Rebecca, and Arthur had never acknowledged her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Stephen created a cleaner claim.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor sat back down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a breeding plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
There was no softer description.<\/p>\n
Thomas continued reading.<\/p>\n
Pierce successfully induced pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Eleanor remained heavily medicated for months.<\/p>\n
Her father was told treatment had stabilized her.<\/p>\n
When labor began prematurely, Pierce performed a procedure under anesthesia.<\/p>\n
The infant survived.<\/p>\n
Eleanor was told she had experienced internal bleeding unrelated to pregnancy.<\/p>\n
They removed part of her reproductive system.<\/p>\n
She woke with no memory of labor.<\/p>\n
No baby.<\/p>\n
No explanation.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s hands shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cPierce took me home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen changed his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did not want you raised by Pierce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked toward Eleanor.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca interfered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
Rebecca discovered V2.<\/p>\n
By then she had hidden Marcus from Stephen.<\/p>\n
A second legitimate Vale heir threatened Marcus\u2019s potential claim.<\/p>\n
So Rebecca sabotaged Stephen\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
She convinced Pierce to keep Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d Margaret asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlackmail.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOther infant deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce agreed.<\/p>\n
Thomas was recorded as deceased in secret files.<\/p>\n
Stephen believed the pregnancy had failed.<\/p>\n
Pierce raised Thomas under his own surname.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Marianne know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe believed I came from a private adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd loved you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That one word changed his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
Biology could expand truth.<\/p>\n
It did not erase parenthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe died when I was seven.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo conspiracy?\u201d<\/p>\n
He almost smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A real death.<\/p>\n
The rarity of that felt obscene.<\/p>\n
After Marianne died, Pierce became colder.<\/p>\n
Eleanor had already entered Thomas\u2019s life by then.<\/p>\n
Rebecca arranged the first meeting in 1991, when Thomas was three.<\/p>\n
Not four, as Harold had remembered.<\/p>\n
She told Eleanor he was Gabriel.<\/p>\n
Pierce cooperated because Eleanor\u2019s attachment protected him.<\/p>\n
The arrangement became complicated when Eleanor began loving Thomas as a child rather than merely searching for clues.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you call her Mom?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept every drawing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven after you left?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time since we arrived, Thomas\u2019s anger lost direction.<\/p>\n
He had spent years believing she abandoned him completely.<\/p>\n
Now every certainty had an asterisk.<\/p>\n
I hated Rebecca and Pierce for that perhaps more than for the forged papers.<\/p>\n
They had made ordinary love impossible to trust.<\/p>\n
Thomas looked toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou came because I threatened her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you have come if you knew I was her son too?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He studied me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you answer that quickly?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause none of this is your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not pity me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I have had enough people deciding what other people are.\u201d<\/p>\n
That silenced him.<\/p>\n
Margaret sat beside Eleanor.<\/p>\n
Not touching.<\/p>\n
Just near.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Pierce\u2019s notes say happened after Thomas was born?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas flipped pages.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen learned something survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c1993.\u201d<\/p>\n
The year Margaret rescued Celeste.<\/p>\n
Everything converged there.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold copied a transfer reference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Stephen know Thomas was his?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Only that V2 might have survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he searched.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe redirected him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Celeste?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
Rebecca told Stephen the surviving child from Eleanor\u2019s second pregnancy had been moved into the failed-transfer nursery under code 73.<\/p>\n
That was Celeste.<\/p>\n
But Celeste was Margaret\u2019s daughter with Stephen.<\/p>\n
Rebecca knew.<\/p>\n
Stephen did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thought Celeste was Eleanor\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Rebecca do that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo keep him away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd from Marcus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
This network was not a straight line.<\/p>\n
It was people weaponizing the same lies against one another.<\/p>\n
Then Thomas said, \u201cPierce eventually told Stephen the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c2004.\u201d<\/p>\n
The year everything broke.<\/p>\n
Arthur dying.<\/p>\n
Eleanor attacked.<\/p>\n
Margaret disappearing.<\/p>\n
Rebecca vanishing.<\/p>\n
Michael hidden.<\/p>\n
Thomas abandoned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy tell him then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Pierce was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf Arthur\u2019s archive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce believed Stephen could protect him if the records surfaced.<\/p>\n
So he offered information.<\/p>\n
Thomas was alive.<\/p>\n
Raised under Pierce\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Eleanor loved him.<\/p>\n
Stephen immediately understood the leverage.<\/p>\n
He threatened both boys.<\/p>\n
Me and Thomas.<\/p>\n
That was the choice Pierce forced Eleanor to make.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich child he would stop watching,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe chose you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor spoke quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI chose the child Stephen already knew less about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew everything about you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Pierce raised you.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew your school. Your friends. Your routines. He knew where you slept.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Grant?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret and Raymond had been changing patterns for years. Stephen had photographs, but less direct access.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you chose the child you thought was harder for Stephen to reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI could not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPierce said if I explained, he would kill Grant immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at me.<\/p>\n
There was no hatred there now.<\/p>\n
Only exhaustion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI built half my life around hating you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do not seem offended.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was busy learning my dead mother was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
That earned a genuine laugh.<\/p>\n
Small.<\/p>\n
Painful.<\/p>\n
Human.<\/p>\n
Then Michael\u2019s voice came through the hidden microphone.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas stiffened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wired yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lied.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He almost smiled again.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have movement outside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas went to the window.<\/p>\n
A vehicle approached along the private road.<\/p>\n
Black SUV.<\/p>\n
He paled.<\/p>\n
\u201cPierce.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is under arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
Michael swore through the microphone.<\/p>\n
His radio chatter exploded.<\/p>\n
Pierce had been transported under guard.<\/p>\n
The vehicle was ambushed.<\/p>\n
Two officers injured.<\/p>\n
Pierce taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy who?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Michael answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked toward the lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPierce?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas grabbed the notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will come through the dock.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked outside.<\/p>\n
Mist over water.<\/p>\n
Old boathouse.<\/p>\n
Nothing visible.<\/p>\n
Then a figure appeared at the end of the dock.<\/p>\n
Pierce.<\/p>\n
His injured shoulder bandaged.<\/p>\n
One hand holding a gun.<\/p>\n
Behind him came a woman.<\/p>\n
Natalie.<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
Pierce had an arm around her neck.<\/p>\n
Natalie\u2019s hands were bound.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did he get her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret whispered.<\/p>\n
Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had been transported separately from St. Agnes.<\/p>\n
If her people hit Pierce\u2019s vehicle, they could have targeted Natalie too.<\/p>\n
But why deliver Natalie to Pierce?<\/p>\n
Thomas understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca wants the notebook destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce shouted from the dock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas!\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas stepped onto the porch.<\/p>\n
I followed.<\/p>\n
Pierce raised the gun.<\/p>\n
\u201cNotebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas held it against his chest.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce pressed the barrel against Natalie\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
My body tightened.<\/p>\n
Natalie looked at me.<\/p>\n
She did not shout.<\/p>\n
Did not beg.<\/p>\n
Only shook her head.<\/p>\n
Do not.<\/p>\n
Pierce said, \u201cYou think Eleanor\u2019s DNA is the worst thing in there?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGive it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Grant should hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated how often truth came from someone holding a weapon.<\/p>\n
Pierce looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen did not merely arrange Thomas\u2019s conception.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor went pale.<\/p>\n
Pierce continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe arranged yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour conception was not accidental either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor whispered, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk Stephen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said we were involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce looked at Eleanor.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the pregnancy was planned by him long before you knew why.\u201d<\/p>\n
My biological father had chosen Eleanor because she was Arthur Vale\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
Not simply because he wanted her.<\/p>\n
Because she could produce an heir.<\/p>\n
Me.<\/p>\n
A child designed as future access.<\/p>\n
The thought turned my stomach.<\/p>\n
Pierce continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you were born, Stephen never intended the adoption network to keep you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why was I taken?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce\u2019s smile faded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Rebecca stole you first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone froze.<\/p>\n
Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she wanted Arthur to believe Stephen had stolen you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret whispered, \u201cTo turn Arthur against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to force Stephen to spend years searching in the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho gave me to Raymond and Margaret?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce looked toward my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went completely still.<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n
Tears appeared in her eyes.<\/p>\n
Pierce laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is the secret she never wanted you to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret whispered, \u201cGrant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou placed me with yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not steal you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca had already taken you from Eleanor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you found me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen instead of returning me, you kept me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret\u2019s face broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Eleanor was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew who I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The world narrowed.<\/p>\n
Raymond had told me they believed my adoption legitimate.<\/p>\n
Apparently Raymond believed that.<\/p>\n
Margaret had not.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lied to Dad too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce pressed the gun harder against Natalie\u2019s temple.<\/p>\n
\u201cNotebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas did not move.<\/p>\n
Natalie shouted suddenly.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce struck her.<\/p>\n
I stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBring it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas whispered, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
Natalie shook her head again.<\/p>\n
Pierce was using the same machine.<\/p>\n
Child.<\/p>\n
Spouse.<\/p>\n
Parent.<\/p>\n
Threat.<\/p>\n
Choice.<\/p>\n
Make one person responsible for another.<\/p>\n
I was done participating.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep the notebook,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Natalie closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Pierce smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would let your wife die?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the trees.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I am not the only one here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael fired from concealment.<\/p>\n
Pierce\u2019s gun flew from his hand.<\/p>\n
Natalie dropped.<\/p>\n
Thomas ran.<\/p>\n
So did I.<\/p>\n
Pierce lunged toward the water.<\/p>\n
Eleanor screamed.<\/p>\n
Michael\u2019s officers emerged from both sides.<\/p>\n
Pierce reached the dock.<\/p>\n
Thomas caught him.<\/p>\n
They went down hard.<\/p>\n
The notebook skidded across wet boards.<\/p>\n
Pierce grabbed it.<\/p>\n
Thomas grabbed Pierce.<\/p>\n
Natalie crawled away.<\/p>\n
I pulled her toward shore.<\/p>\n
Then Pierce tore free.<\/p>\n
He opened the notebook.<\/p>\n
Ripped out several pages.<\/p>\n
And threw them into the lake.<\/p>\n
Thomas struck him.<\/p>\n
Pierce fell backward.<\/p>\n
Over the edge.<\/p>\n
Into the water.<\/p>\n
For one second nobody moved.<\/p>\n
Then Thomas jumped after him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas!\u201d<\/p>\n
The lake swallowed both.<\/p>\n
Michael reached the dock.<\/p>\n
Seconds passed.<\/p>\n
Five.<\/p>\n
Ten.<\/p>\n
Then Thomas surfaced.<\/p>\n
Alone.<\/p>\n
He gasped.<\/p>\n
\u201cPierce\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
Another head broke the surface twenty feet away.<\/p>\n
Pierce.<\/p>\n
Swimming weakly.<\/p>\n
An officer reached him by boat.<\/p>\n
He was arrested again.<\/p>\n
Thomas climbed onto the dock shaking.<\/p>\n
I looked at the notebook.<\/p>\n
Missing pages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he destroy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas flipped through.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cBirth records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared at the torn section.<\/p>\n
\u201cYours.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward Margaret.<\/p>\n
\u201cHers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret whispered, \u201cMine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour original birth file was in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Pierce have my birth file?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
Then Eleanor spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Margaret was born at St. Agnes too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked frightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father told me once.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is impossible. St. Agnes did not exist then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot under that name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret looked at Pierce being dragged from the boat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas found one remaining fragment trapped beneath the notebook binding.<\/p>\n
A torn line.<\/p>\n
Infant female.<\/p>\n
1949.<\/p>\n
Mother: Evelyn Cole.<\/p>\n
Margaret stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
Harriet and Rebecca\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
I stared at my mother.<\/p>\n
If the fragment was real, Margaret Mercer was not only connected to Rebecca and Harriet.<\/p>\n
She was their sister.<\/p>\n
And Arthur Vale\u2019s hidden daughter too.<\/p>\n
Eleanor dropped the DNA report. It slid from her lap onto the wooden floor. No one moved to pick it up. Thomas stood across from her looking less victorious than … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18925,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18885\/revisions\/18925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}