Chapter 14: The Truth Behind the Three Names
The gun trembled in the man's hand.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then he laughed.
A strange, broken laugh.
“That's what he wrote?””
I looked at him.
“Who are you?””
He glanced at the letter.
“Your father always did know how to make a mess of things.””
Claire stepped forward.
“No.””
The man turned toward her.
She was staring at his face.
Her lips trembled.
“Michael?””
He shook his head.
“Not anymore.””
I looked between them.
“Mom, do you know him?””
Claire slowly nodded.
“He's Thomas's son.””
The man smiled.
“Finally.””
My stomach tightened.
“Then you're Daniel?””
He nodded.
“Daniel Bennett.””
I remembered the press conference.
The company photographs.
The documents identifying him as Matthew.
“You told me you were my brother.””
“I am.””
“Which brother?””
Daniel placed the gun on the desk.
“I'm the child who was never supposed to exist.””
He took a breath.
“My father had a fourth child.””
I stared.
“What?””
“Not a fourth triplet. A fourth baby. A child born before Claire's triplets.””
Claire looked horrified.
“Thomas never told me that.””
“Because he didn't know.””
Daniel walked toward the desk.
“My mother was Helen. She had been pregnant before she married Richard. She lost the baby—or so everyone believed.””
He pointed toward the letter.
“Richard knew about the pregnancy. Thomas knew. Your father knew. But nobody told me.””
I shook my head.
“This doesn't make sense.””
Daniel opened another drawer.
He removed a medical document.
It was a hospital report dated thirty years earlier.
The mother's name was Helen Cole.
The child's name was Daniel.
But the father's name was blank.
I looked up.
“Who was your father?””
Daniel smiled.
“Thomas Bennett.””
Claire staggered backward.
“No.””
Daniel looked at her.
“I'm your biological son too.””
The room seemed to lose its air.
I stared at the document.
“Then how can you be Helen's son?””
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Because Helen and Thomas had an affair before she married Richard.””
Claire covered her mouth.
“Thomas?””
“He was involved with both of you.””
Daniel looked at me.
“My birth was the reason Richard agreed to the arrangement with the triplets. He wanted to raise me as his own child, but he couldn't risk anyone discovering that Thomas was my father.””
I felt sick.
“So the triplets were brought into the hospital to hide your identity?””
He nodded.
“Richard planned to make Michael his legal heir. Thomas planned to keep Matthew. Daniel Carter was supposed to take the remaining child.””
“And the baby who died?””
Daniel's expression hardened.
“That was a child from another family. The hospital administrator switched his records with Michael's after the fire.””
I looked down at my father's letter.
Michael Cole died in that hospital thirty years ago.
“Then who was raised as Michael?””
Daniel looked at me.
“A boy named Peter Lawson.””
The name meant nothing to me.
“Who is Peter Lawson?””
“A child whose parents died in the hospital fire. Richard took him because he needed someone to fill the identity of Michael Cole.””
Claire began crying.
“So none of the three children was raised under his real identity?””
Daniel shook his head.
“Not exactly.””
He pointed at me.
“You were raised as Marcus Carter, but you were Matthew Bennett.””
Then he pointed toward himself.
“I was raised as Daniel Bennett, but I was Helen and Thomas's son.””
He paused.
“And the man everyone called Michael was Peter Lawson.””
I looked at the photograph of the three babies.
Three children.
Three identities.
And a dead child whose name had been used to cover up the truth.
“What happened to Peter?””
Daniel's expression changed.
“He died five years ago.””
I closed my eyes.
Another child had lost his life because of this family.
My mother suddenly spoke.
“Why did you bring me here?””
Daniel looked at her.
“Because you knew where the original medical records were.””
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know what you're talking about.””
He pointed toward the third compartment.
“The hospital report.””
She stared at him.
Then slowly shook her head.
“Your father told me to destroy it.””
Daniel laughed.
“Of course he did.””
He turned toward me.
“There's something else.””
I looked at him.
“What now?””
He placed a final document on the desk.
It was a shareholder agreement.
The date was thirty years earlier.
My father's signature appeared at the bottom.
So did Richard's.
The agreement stated that the majority ownership of Carter Construction would pass to the biological descendants of Daniel Carter.
Not the children raised by him.
His biological descendants.
I stared at the page.
“That's why Richard wanted the birth records changed.””
Daniel nodded.
“And that's why he needed to know which baby was yours.””
I looked at him.
“But my DNA report says Daniel Carter wasn't my biological father.””
Daniel smiled.
“Exactly.””
The company didn't belong to me.
It belonged to someone else.
I looked toward Claire.
“Who?””
She was crying silently.
Then Daniel answered.
“Thomas Bennett.””
My phone vibrated.
A message from Detective Harris.
*Richard Cole has escaped custody. Suspect vehicle heading toward the bank. Officers are pursuing.*
I showed Daniel.
His face changed.
“Then we're too late.””
He grabbed the remaining documents.
“Where are you going?”” I demanded.
“To find my father.””
“You're not leaving.””
Daniel reached for the gun.
I moved first.
I grabbed his wrist and slammed it against the desk.
The weapon fell.
He struck me in the face.
Pain exploded across my cheek.
I stumbled backward.
My mother screamed.
Claire rushed toward Daniel.
He pushed her aside and ran for the door.
But Detective Harris was already there.
“Police! Hands where I can see them!””
Daniel stopped.
Two officers rushed forward and handcuffed him.
I wiped blood from my lip.
Detective Harris looked at my mother.
“Are you injured?””
Evelyn shook her head.
Then she looked at me.
“Marcus, there's something I still need to tell you.””
I closed my eyes.
“Please tell me it's the last secret.””
She reached into her handbag.
She removed a small photograph.
It showed my father standing beside a young man outside a hospital.
The man had dark hair and a familiar face.
I looked closer.
It was Thomas.
But there was something else.
A baby was wrapped in his arms.
On the back, my father had written:
*My son, the one I could never bring home.*
I stared at the photograph.
“Who is that baby?””
Evelyn began crying.
“Your father had another child.””
I felt the ground shift beneath me.
“Another?””
She nodded.
“A daughter.””
Claire covered her mouth.
Daniel stopped struggling.
Even Detective Harris looked stunned.
My mother turned the photograph over.
The name was written clearly.
*Sophie Bennett.*
I looked at Claire.
She slowly shook her head.
“I never had a daughter.””
Evelyn whispered:
“Neither did I.””
Then she looked at me.
“Marcus, your father didn't hide one child from this family.””
She took a shaky breath.
“He hid an entire family.””
Before anyone could speak, Detective Harris's radio crackled.
An officer reported that Richard Cole's vehicle had been found abandoned outside the old Carter estate.
But Richard wasn't alone.
Someone else had been with him.
A woman.
May you like
A woman matching the photograph.
And she was carrying a document that proved she had inherited the entire Carter estate.
