Chapter 12: The Night My Father Died
Jordan stared at the message.
“Why would they ask you to question me?””
I looked at my son.
“Did you visit Grandpa the night he died?””
Jordan nodded slowly.
“Yes.””
Richard had mentioned it earlier.
But I had dismissed the accusation because Jordan was only three years old when my father died.
Now I remembered the strange date.
Jordan wasn't three.
He was twenty-two.
The visit had happened years later.
“Tell me everything,” I said.
Jordan sat down.
“Three years ago, Grandpa called me.””
I frowned.
“Three years ago? Your grandfather died twenty-five years ago.””
Jordan looked confused.
“No, Dad. I'm talking about Richard's father.””
I stared at him.
“My father died twenty-five years ago.””
Jordan shook his head.
“That's what everyone told you.””
The room went silent.
Samuel slowly lowered the folder in his hands.
Aaliyah looked at me.
“Michael, what is he saying?””
I felt my mouth go dry.
Jordan continued.
“Grandpa wasn't dead when I visited him. He was living in a private care facility under another name.””
I stared at my son.
“That's impossible.””
“I have photographs.””
He pulled out his phone.
There was an image of an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair.
His face was thinner, his hair almost completely white.
But I recognized him immediately.
My father.
I grabbed the phone.
“Where did you get this?””
“From the nurse who cared for him.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because Grandpa asked me not to.””
I stepped backward.
My father had supposedly died twenty-five years earlier.
I'd attended his funeral.
I'd watched his coffin lowered into the ground.
I'd visited his grave.
And now my son was telling me that the man had been alive only three years ago.
“Who was buried in his grave?”” I whispered.
Jordan looked down.
“I don't know.””
Samuel walked toward the window.
“This explains everything.””
I turned.
“What?””
“Your father couldn't have signed the documents if he was dead. Someone had to be acting on his behalf.””
Aaliyah looked at Jordan.
“What did he tell you?””
Jordan took a breath.
“He said he'd been waiting for me to come. He told me I was the only person who could save the family.””
I frowned.
“What did he mean?””
“He said there were four children. He said one of them would eventually try to destroy everything.””
Samuel's expression changed.
“Did he say which one?””
Jordan nodded.
“He said the dangerous child was the one who knew the truth.””
I looked at Samuel.
“Was that you?””
Jordan shook his head.
“He said it was Andrew.””
Samuel froze.
“Andrew?””
Jordan nodded.
“He said Andrew had been raised under a false identity. He'd spent his whole life believing his parents were ordinary people. But when he discovered the truth, he became obsessed with revenge.””
I thought about the recordings.
The threats.
The missing documents.
“Where is Andrew now?””
Jordan looked at his phone.
“I don't know. But Grandpa gave me something.””
He opened a photograph.
It showed an old key.
A silver key with a small engraved letter.
A.
Aaliyah touched her locket.
“That's the same symbol.””
Jordan nodded.
“He told me to give it to the person wearing Camille's necklace.””
Aaliyah looked at me.
“Why me?””
“Because he said you were the only one who could open the final room.””
I stared at my daughter.
She looked terrified.
“Do you have the key?”” I asked.
Jordan nodded.
He reached into his wallet and pulled out a small silver key.
On its handle was an engraved letter.
A.
Aaliyah took it.
The moment she touched it, Samuel's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“It's Daniel.””
He answered.
“Where are you?””
A man's voice came through.
“I'm at the chapel.””
We all froze.
Samuel put the call on speaker.
“Are you safe?””
“For now.””
“Have you seen Denise?””
“Yes.””
“Is she alive?””
Daniel hesitated.
“She's alive, but you need to hurry.””
I stepped forward.
“Daniel, this is Michael.””
There was a long silence.
Then he spoke.
“I'm sorry about your father.””
I swallowed.
“Why?””
“Because he wasn't the man you think he was.””
I closed my eyes.
“I know that now.””
“No, Michael. You don't.””
Daniel took a breath.
“Your father didn't separate the children to protect Richard. He separated them because one of the babies had a different father.””
I looked at Samuel.
“Whose?””
Daniel answered.
“Camille's second child wasn't Richard's.””
I frowned.
“Then whose was it?””
“Yours.””
The room fell silent.
Daniel continued.
“Jordan is Richard's son. Andrew is yours.””
I looked at Jordan.
His face went white.
Samuel shook his head.
“That's impossible.””
Daniel's voice became urgent.
“It's all in the original DNA records. Your father knew the truth. He switched the children's identities because he wanted Richard to inherit the company.””
I felt sick.
“So Jordan was raised as my son, while my biological son was sent away?””
“Yes.””
“And why?””
“Because your father believed Richard's child deserved the family name more than yours.””
I couldn't speak.
Daniel continued.
“Your father also knew that Evelyn's twins had different fathers. Aaliyah was Michael's biological daughter, but Samuel was Richard's.””
Samuel looked stunned.
“What?””
Daniel answered.
“That's why the records were altered. Four children. Three fathers. One inheritance.””
I looked at Samuel.
He stared at the floor.
All these years, he'd believed my father was his biological grandfather.
Now he was discovering that Richard was his father.
And Jordan was his half-brother.
Aaliyah was his half-sister.
The family tree had become a maze of lies.
Then Daniel said something else.
“There's one more thing.””
I leaned toward the phone.
“What?””
“Andrew knows about the inheritance. He knows about the original DNA reports. And he's the person who took Denise.””
I clenched my jaw.
“Why?””
“Because he wants the will.””
“Why doesn't he just come and ask for it?””
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Because your father made sure Andrew would never be accepted as a Hayes.””
I looked at Jordan.
“Where is Andrew?””
Daniel hesitated.
Then he said:
“He's standing beside me.””
The line went dead.
Aaliyah stared at her phone.
“What?””
Samuel immediately called back.
No answer.
Then a new message arrived.
An address.
The old chapel.
And underneath it:
Come alone, Michael. Bring the locket. If anyone else comes, Denise dies.
I looked at Jordan.
“I'm going.””
He shook his head.
“Dad, no.””
“This is about my wife.””
“And my family.””
I took the silver key from Aaliyah and placed it in my pocket.
“Then we go together.””
The chapel stood at the end of a narrow country road.
Its white paint had peeled away.
The stained-glass windows were broken.
A rusted bell hung above the entrance.
I parked outside.
Jordan, Aaliyah, and Samuel stayed behind me.
The main door was unlocked.
Inside, candles illuminated the old wooden pews.
Denise sat in the front row.
Her hands were tied, but she was conscious.
“Michael!””
I rushed toward her.
A man stepped out from behind a pillar.
He looked to be in his early thirties.
He had my eyes.
My father's nose.
And a familiar scar above his left eyebrow.
He was holding a photograph.
“Hello, Dad.””
I stopped.
The resemblance was undeniable.
Andrew.
My biological son.
The child I'd been told was dead.
Denise began crying.
Andrew smiled bitterly.
“You finally came.””
I looked at him.
“Let her go.””
“Not until you tell me something.””
“What?””
He raised the photograph.
It showed my father holding a newborn baby.
Beside him stood a young woman.
I recognized her.
Camille.
But the baby in her arms wasn't Jordan.
It was Andrew.
Andrew stepped closer.
“Why did you let them erase me?””
I swallowed.
“I didn't know.””
“That's what everyone says.””
“I swear to you, I didn't know.””
He laughed.
“Then why did you spend twenty-five years visiting the grave of a man who wasn't even dead?””
I froze.
“What?””
Andrew looked toward Denise.
“Tell him.””
Denise began shaking.
“Michael, your father arranged the funeral.””
I stared at her.
“Whose funeral?””
She lowered her head.
“Richard's.””
I couldn't breathe.
The man buried in my father's grave wasn't my father.
It was my brother.
Richard.
And the man who had raised him, protected him, and built the family business was still alive.
Andrew stepped closer.
“Your father is alive, Michael.””
He pointed toward the chapel's rear entrance.
“And he's the one who ordered all of this.””
A door opened.
Footsteps echoed through the chapel.
Then an elderly voice spoke from the darkness.
“It's time my family stopped asking questions.””
May you like
My father walked into the light.
And he was carrying a gun.
