Chapter 18 - The Last Heir
Julian left the room.
Richard let him.
Some truths needed space before language.
Conrad remained seated.
Hannah carried Ethan to a nearby room so he would not hear the adults.
Richard stood over his father.
“Explain.”
Conrad nodded.
“Your mother and I separated briefly.”
“When?”
“Thirty-five years ago.”
“Before Julian was born.”
“Yes.”
“Alexander approached her.”
Richard stared.
“She knew who he was?”
“Not initially.”
“He used another name.”
Richard almost laughed.
Of course.
Everyone in this family lived behind another name.
Conrad continued.
“Your mother was lonely.”
“I was obsessed with the company.”
“She had an affair.”
Richard looked toward the door Julian had used.
“Did she know later?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She ended it.”
“Alexander discovered she was pregnant.”
Richard’s stomach tightened.
“He knew Julian was his.”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“Not until years later.”
“How?”
“Your mother told me.”
“Why did you raise Julian as yours?”
Conrad looked almost offended.
“Because he was.”
Richard understood instantly.
Biology did not erase fatherhood for Conrad either.
History was repeating.
“When did Alexander find out?”
“He always knew.”
Richard thought.
“That’s why he targeted Julian.”
“Yes.”
“He saw him as his son.”
“No.”
Conrad’s voice hardened.
“He saw him as property.”
Richard nodded.
“And Ethan?”
“The continuation of that property.”
Conrad lowered his eyes.
“Alexander was obsessed with bloodline.”
“He hated Arthur for inheriting the family name and fortune.”
“He believed his descendants should reclaim everything.”
Richard stared.
“So he engineered Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa’s egg.”
“Julian’s sample.”
“His granddaughter substitute and his biological son.”
Conrad nodded.
“To Alexander, Ethan represented the merger of both branches.”
Richard felt sick.
“A child built like a corporate acquisition.”
“Yes.”
That explained everything.
Alexander never intended Ethan to die.
He intended to control him.
Perhaps raise him eventually.
Perhaps make him heir to the rebuilt empire.
Vanessa hid Ethan not only because he heard the conspiracy.
But because she discovered Alexander’s deeper plan.
Richard whispered.
“She learned.”
Conrad looked up.
“What?”
“Vanessa learned Ethan was Julian’s.”
“Alexander told her.”
“That’s why she panicked.”
Richard understood the timeline.
When Vanessa discovered Ethan was not Richard’s biological son, she also may have discovered why.
She realized Alexander’s obsession with the child.
So she staged Ethan’s death.
If the world believed Ethan dead, Alexander’s dynastic plan ended.
Or so she hoped.
Richard closed his eyes.
For the first time, Vanessa’s most unforgivable act contained a twisted kind of logic.
She had hurt Richard in the cruelest possible way to erase Ethan from Alexander’s map.
But she should have trusted Richard.
That remained the tragedy.
Detective Ortiz entered.
“Alexander is asking to speak with you.”
Richard opened his eyes.
“He’s in custody.”
“Yes.”
“Then he can speak with his attorney.”
“He says he has information about another child.”
Richard froze.
“What child?”
“He refused to say.”
Richard followed.
Alexander sat behind reinforced glass at the county detention facility.
His shoulder had been treated.
One arm was bandaged.
He looked irritatingly composed.
Richard took the chair.
Alexander smiled.
“My grandson.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Julian wants nothing to do with you.”
“I meant Ethan.”
“He is not your grandson.”
“Great-grandson, technically.”
“You will never see him again.”
Alexander smiled.
“We share blood.”
Richard leaned forward.
“You mistake blood for ownership.”
“You all do.”
Alexander tilted his head.
“You say that because he isn’t yours.”
Richard did not react.
Alexander looked disappointed.
“You don’t care.”
“No.”
“That is sentimental.”
“That is fatherhood.”
Alexander laughed.
“You sound like Conrad.”
“For once, I’ll accept that.”
Alexander’s smile thinned.
Richard asked.
“What child?”
Alexander leaned back.
“You think Ethan was the only embryo.”
Richard stopped.
“No.”
Alexander smiled.
“There were three.”
Richard’s chest tightened.
“What did you do?”
“One became Ethan.”
“Where are the others?”
“Stored.”
Richard stared.
Alexander enjoyed the silence.
“Two embryos remain.”
Richard looked toward the observation window.
Ortiz was listening.
Alexander continued.
“One is genetically identical in parentage to Ethan.”
“Vanessa and Julian.”
“And the other?”
Alexander smiled.
“Vanessa and you.”
Richard’s heart stopped.
His biological child.
An embryo created years ago.
Still stored somewhere.
“Where?”
Alexander laughed.
“There it is.”
Richard did not move.
“The one thing that finally matters to you.”
Richard answered.
“Ethan matters to me.”
“Yes.”
“But now curiosity has teeth.”
Richard hated that Alexander was right about the curiosity.
“Where are the embryos?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“I want a deal.”
“No.”
“Then they disappear.”
Richard stood.
Alexander’s smile faded slightly.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“You would abandon your own biological child?”
Richard turned.
“It is an embryo.”
“It is not a bargaining chip.”
“It does not belong to you.”
Alexander watched him.
Richard continued.
“And neither does Ethan.”
He left.
Ortiz met him outside.
“You handled that better than I expected.”
Richard looked at her.
“I wanted to break the glass.”
“I know.”
“Can you find the clinic records?”
“We already are.”
Richard returned to Sterling Manor.
The house felt different.
Crime scene tape remained across the ballroom.
The hole in the wall was still open.
Richard stopped in front of it.
Hannah stood nearby.
“You should close it.”
Richard looked at her.
“No.”
She frowned.
“I’m leaving it.”
“Why?”
“So nobody in this family gets to pretend it didn’t happen.”
Hannah nodded.
Ethan ran down the corridor.
“Daddy!”
Richard caught him.
Ethan pointed toward the wall.
“No more dark.”
Richard kissed him.
“No more dark.”
Vanessa arrived under escort later that afternoon to participate in a court-authorized reconstruction.
Ethan was not present.
Richard watched her stand before the hole.
She looked smaller than he remembered.
“Show Detective Ortiz exactly what happened.”
Vanessa nodded.
She pointed toward the passage.
“After Ethan overheard the meeting, I took him through there.”
“Was he drugged?”
“No.”
“Then why did Graves inject him?”
Vanessa frowned.
“He didn’t.”
“Ethan had an injection mark.”
Vanessa looked alarmed.
“I never authorized that.”
Richard stared.
“Wexler?”
“No.”
“Ethan identified him.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Wexler never entered the compartment.”
Richard remembered Wexler saying the same.
Then who gave Ethan the injection?
Vanessa walked into the compartment.
She pointed toward the blanket.
“I stayed with him the first night.”
“You slept here?”
“Yes.”
Richard stared.
“I told Marcus to bring food.”
“Elena found us later.”
“Alexander believed Ethan was dead?”
“For about twelve hours.”
“What changed?”
“Someone told him.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
“I never learned.”
Vanessa continued.
“He sent Wexler to confirm.”
“That is why Ethan remembers Wexler.”
“But Wexler did not inject him.”
“No.”
Richard looked toward the wall.
“Then someone else entered.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Elena maybe?”
“No.”
“She was protecting him.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
“Graves?”
“Possible.”
But Ethan had specifically called Graves the needle doctor earlier.
Maybe multiple injections.
Richard searched the floor.
Crime technicians had already examined it.
Then he noticed a tiny camera hidden inside the vent.
“Was that there?”
Vanessa looked.
Her face changed.
“No.”
Richard called Ortiz.
The camera was removed.
Its memory contained one surviving clip.
Timestamp.
The night before Hannah found Ethan.
A person entered the compartment.
Their face remained outside the camera angle.
Only hands were visible.
They lifted Ethan’s sleeve.
Administered an injection.
Then whispered.
“Sleep now.”
The voice was female.
Richard recognized it.
So did Vanessa.
Hannah.
Everyone turned toward the maid.
Hannah stood outside the compartment.
Her face went completely white.
Richard stared.
“Hannah?”
She backed away.
“No.”
The recording continued.
The woman’s face entered frame.
Hannah Mercer.
She looked directly toward the hidden camera without appearing to notice it.
Then picked Ethan up.
Richard’s voice came out almost inaudibly.
“What did you give my son?”
Hannah began crying.
“I can explain.”
May you like
And just like that, the one person Richard had trusted from the beginning became the next secret inside the wall.
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