We ran downstairs.<\/p>\n
My mother was standing beside Robert.<\/p>\n
She had somehow slipped one hand free from the handcuff.<\/p>\n
Detective Grant immediately forced it back behind her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Linda stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see the screen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that Marcus isn't my biological father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus flinched.<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked at him.<\/p>\n
Neither spoke.<\/p>\n
Robert whispered, \u201cNathan found the old report.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it real?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
I turned to Marcus.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Marcus finally said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the floor shift beneath me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew there was a question about the paternity record.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn't what I asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew the original report existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know the result?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you look terrified?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the report was supposed to have been destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is ever destroyed in this family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Grant demanded an explanation.<\/p>\n
Rebecca said the DNA test had been performed when I was an infant.<\/p>\n
My grandfather had suspected that Daniel was not my father.<\/p>\n
He ordered a private test.<\/p>\n
The result contradicted the family story.<\/p>\n
But Rebecca refused to accept it.<\/p>\n
She believed the sample had been switched.<\/p>\n
So she ordered another test years later.<\/p>\n
The second report disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first one said Daniel wasn't the father,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never found out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan had the answer.<\/p>\n
That was why he had shown us the screen.<\/p>\n
He wanted us frightened.<\/p>\n
He wanted us desperate enough to trade the ledger for the final page.<\/p>\n
Detective Grant called the number associated with the video.<\/p>\n
Nathan answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo decide whether you want the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant put him on speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClose.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou shot Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who did?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who works for the people you are investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant asked him to identify the shooter.<\/p>\n
Nathan refused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can give you the name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot until Emily agrees to meet me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'll meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n
Nathan replied before she could stop me.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hospital archive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one where you were born.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ended the call.<\/p>\n
Detective Grant looked furious.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe're not letting you go alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
We drove to the abandoned maternity clinic.<\/p>\n
The building was empty.<\/p>\n
Or appeared empty.<\/p>\n
Nathan had disabled the exterior cameras.<\/p>\n
Inside, a single light remained on.<\/p>\n
We found him in the old records room.<\/p>\n
He stood beside a metal cabinet.<\/p>\n
No weapon visible.<\/p>\n
His hands were raised.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou came.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stayed behind Grant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere's the last page?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're finally asking the right question.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened the cabinet.<\/p>\n
Inside were dozens of folders.<\/p>\n
Birth records.<\/p>\n
Trust documents.<\/p>\n
Medical reports.<\/p>\n
Adoption paperwork.<\/p>\n
Every piece of my childhood seemed to exist in that room.<\/p>\n
Nathan pulled out one envelope.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour grandfather kept this separate.\u201d<\/p>\n
He handed it to Detective Grant.<\/p>\n
She opened it.<\/p>\n
Inside was a DNA report.<\/p>\n
The father listed was not Daniel Mercer.<\/p>\n
It was Robert Wilson.<\/p>\n
I stared at my supposed father.<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you were six.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause by then Linda had already threatened to take you away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you knew I wasn't your biological daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you still called yourself my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was your father in every way that mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn't answer.<\/p>\n
Then Nathan spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat report is fake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan took another document from the cabinet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original test.\u201d<\/p>\n
He handed it to Grant.<\/p>\n
The biological father was listed as someone else.<\/p>\n
Grant read the name.<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
She handed me the page.<\/p>\n
I read the name.<\/p>\n
My grandfather.<\/p>\n
Thomas Wilson.<\/p>\n
My mother's father.<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
Then I laughed.<\/p>\n
It was the only response my mind could produce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can't be right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour grandfather was not your biological father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why is his name there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause someone altered the report.\u201d<\/p>\n
He showed us the laboratory notation.<\/p>\n
The sample number had been changed.<\/p>\n
The original report had been manipulated.<\/p>\n
The true father remained unknown.<\/p>\n
Nathan had built the confusion deliberately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause as long as you don't know who your father is, the people behind the trust can control the narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Grant studied him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I want out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should we believe you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they tried to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was when the lights went out.<\/p>\n
A gunshot shattered the glass.<\/p>\n
Nathan dropped.<\/p>\n
Grant pushed me behind a cabinet.<\/p>\n
Officers returned fire.<\/p>\n
Rebecca screamed.<\/p>\n
Marcus pulled Robert down.<\/p>\n
Then silence.<\/p>\n
Nathan was bleeding from his arm.<\/p>\n
He was alive.<\/p>\n
Outside, a car accelerated away.<\/p>\n
Grant sent officers after it.<\/p>\n
Nathan looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey're going to come for the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed toward Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca froze.<\/p>\n
Nathan smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou brought the wrong ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened the book.<\/p>\n
A hidden compartment had been cut into the back cover.<\/p>\n
Inside was a thin stack of pages.<\/p>\n
She had never seen them.<\/p>\n
The first page contained a list of names.<\/p>\n
The second contained dates.<\/p>\n
The third contained payments.<\/p>\n
The fourth contained a photograph.<\/p>\n
I recognized the man immediately.<\/p>\n
It was my grandfather.<\/p>\n
Standing beside him was Nathan.<\/p>\n
They were shaking hands.<\/p>\n
The date was twenty years ago.<\/p>\n
Nathan wasn't a rogue employee.<\/p>\n
He had been part of the network for decades.<\/p>\n
He had been trained by my grandfather.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you help me?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Nathan looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause your grandfather eventually turned against the people he created.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the network had three levels.<\/p>\n
The family.<\/p>\n
The financial intermediaries.<\/p>\n
And the people who controlled the intermediaries.<\/p>\n
My grandfather had believed he was at the top.<\/p>\n
He wasn't.<\/p>\n
The people above him had used him.<\/p>\n
Then they used Linda.<\/p>\n
Then Robert.<\/p>\n
Then Nathan.<\/p>\n
And now they were trying to use me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do they want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause your grandfather put everything into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough to control the network for another generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the ledger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan pointed to the trust certificate.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocked behind your identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they need me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo unlock it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey eliminate me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan's expression became grim.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey eliminate everyone who knows the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Grant asked whether he could identify the network's leader.<\/p>\n
Nathan shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can identify one person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned toward Linda.<\/p>\n
She was crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cLinda wasn't just a thief.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened another file.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe became the administrator.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou promised.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou promised me protection.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou broke the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat agreement?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily, I never wanted this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've said that before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nathan laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were trying to control her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda screamed at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't know what I sacrificed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither does she.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk her why she kept Rebecca away.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally she whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Rebecca was going to tell you who your real father was.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda looked at Marcus.<\/p>\n
Then Robert.<\/p>\n
Then Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone you already know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room fell silent.<\/p>\n
I looked around.<\/p>\n
Nathan's expression changed.<\/p>\n
Detective Grant lowered her weapon.<\/p>\n
Marcus stepped backward.<\/p>\n
Rebecca began crying.<\/p>\n
And Robert said the name before anyone else could.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel Pierce.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dead accountant.<\/p>\n
The man whose identity had been used on a body earlier that night.<\/p>\n
But he wasn't dead.<\/p>\n
He had been hiding.<\/p>\n
And according to the ledger, he was the only person who knew the truth about my birth.<\/p>\n
We ran downstairs. My mother was standing beside Robert. She had somehow slipped one hand free from the handcuff. Detective Grant immediately forced it back behind her. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d I … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-every-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14784,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14738\/revisions\/14784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feeleverystory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}