Chapter 10 - DANIEL
Claire called Daniel immediately.
He answered on the second ring.
“Claire?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Is your mother Sarah Whitmore?”
Silence.
Then Daniel whispered.
“How do you know that?”
Claire closed her eyes.
Everything connected.
Daniel had never told her his birth name.
He was adopted at six weeks old.
Reeves was his adoptive family’s surname.
He discovered Sarah only two years earlier.
He contacted her privately.
Neither knew Richard Hawthorne was still alive.
“Daniel.”
Claire said.
“Richard is your father.”
He said nothing.
Then the line went dead.
Three hours later, Daniel arrived.
Ethan stood when he entered.
The two men stared at each other.
Same height.
Same eyes.
Even the same habit of tightening their jaw when nervous.
Daniel laughed once.
“This is insane.”
Richard arrived with detectives.
When he saw Daniel, he gripped the doorway.
“My God.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Did you know?”
Richard shook his head.
“I thought they told Sarah the baby died.”
Sarah began crying.
For a moment, the money stopped mattering.
The trust stopped mattering.
The criminal case stopped mattering.
A family had been stolen from itself.
Then Claire’s phone buzzed.
A security alert from Hawthorne Manor.
Someone had entered the underground room.
Police believed the property was sealed.
Ethan opened the live camera.
A figure moved between the cabinets.
Claire zoomed in.
Eleanor.
“She’s out?”
Ethan asked.
Claire called the detective.
Eleanor had been released pending further investigation.
No formal attempted-murder charge had been filed yet because she claimed Claire slipped.
Eleanor opened one cabinet.
Removed a red case.
Then poured liquid across the desk.
May you like
Claire stared at the screen.
“She’s going to burn it.”
