Chapter 6 - THE ENEMY INSIDE THE HOUSEAdrian turned the building into a fortress.
A DNA test.
Twenty-four hours earlier, I had refused because the idea felt insulting.
Now uncertainty was worse.
A physician from a private lab came to the apartment.
She took swabs from Mia.
Me.
Adrian.
I insisted on witnessing every label.
Every sealed envelope.
Every signature.
Nobody argued.
Results were expedited.
Six hours.
The longest six hours of my life.
Mia spent them building a blanket fortress with Adrian.
That was not a sentence I ever expected to think.
The billionaire who terrified three continents of corporate competitors crawled beneath dining chairs because my daughter had declared him responsible for “castle engineering.”
His tie disappeared sometime after noon.
His jacket became a royal cape.
And when Mia ordered him to defend the fortress from imaginary wolves, Adrian growled convincingly enough that she screamed with laughter.
I watched from the kitchen.
Something dangerous moved inside my chest.
Not love.
Absolutely not.
I had known Adrian personally for less than two days.
But there was tenderness beneath all that control.
A tenderness he seemed determined to hide from the world.
Daniel entered at four-fifteen.
The envelope in his hand erased every trace of playfulness from the room.
I stood.
“Results?”
He nodded.
Mia looked up.
“Can we finish the castle?”
I forced a smile.
“Later.”
Adrian stood slowly.
We went into his office.
Daniel closed the door.
I couldn’t sit.
“Tell me.”
He opened the report.
“Emily, you are Mia’s biological mother.”
My knees almost gave way.
I hadn’t realized how terrified I was until those words came.
I covered my mouth.
“Okay.”
Daniel continued.
“Adrian is not Mia’s biological father.”
Adrian looked unsurprised.
“But there is a familial connection.”
Silence.
“What kind?” I asked.
Daniel’s eyes lifted.
“Based on the genetic markers, Adrian is almost certainly Mia’s maternal or paternal uncle.”
The room stopped.
I stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“The probability of close avuncular relationship is over ninety-nine percent.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Adrian whispered, “Caroline.”
Daniel nodded.
“If Caroline was Mia’s biological mother, that would conflict with Emily’s result.”
“Yes.”
“So Caroline wasn’t Mia’s mother.”
“Correct.”
I sank into a chair.
“Then how is Adrian her uncle?”
Nobody answered.
Because there was only one obvious possibility.
Nathan.
I looked at Adrian.
“Did you have another sibling?”
His face went blank.
“No.”
“Could your father have—”
“No.”
Then Daniel spoke quietly.
“There is another possibility.”
Adrian stared at him.
“What?”
“Nathan may have been related to you.”
Adrian actually laughed.
It was empty.
“My sister dated my brother?”
“Half brother.”
Silence.
I felt physically sick.
Daniel continued carefully.
“Richard Kane traveled extensively in his thirties. If he fathered a child outside his marriage…”
Adrian turned away.
“My father.”
The pieces fell into place with terrible precision.
Richard had controlled Nathan because Nathan was his secret son.
Caroline had dated Nathan without knowing.
When Richard discovered it, disaster.
The pregnancy.
The hidden baby.
The falsified death.
But wait.
I stood abruptly.
“Caroline’s baby.”
Adrian turned.
“If Nathan was her half brother…”
The horror hit everyone simultaneously.
Their child had been born from a relationship neither knew was incestuous.
No wonder Richard Kane panicked.
No wonder he hid the baby.
No wonder hospital records vanished.
Adrian’s face was gray.
“My father knew.”
Daniel nodded grimly.
“He may have discovered Nathan’s identity after Caroline became pregnant.”
I pressed my hands against the desk.
“Where is Caroline’s daughter?”
Nobody knew.
Then Adrian’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He stared at it.
Daniel said, “Don’t answer without tracing.”
Adrian answered.
“Nathan.”
My blood froze.
A man’s voice came through the speaker.
Older than I remembered.
But unmistakable.
“Hello, Adrian.”
I grabbed the edge of the desk.
Adrian’s expression turned murderous.
“Where are you?”
Nathan laughed softly.
“Still giving orders.”
“What did you do to Caroline?”
“Nothing.”
“You slept with your own sister.”
Silence.
Then Nathan said, “I didn’t know.”
His voice broke slightly.
“Neither did she.”
Adrian shut his eyes.
“Where is her daughter?”
“That’s why I came back.”
Nathan paused.
“Richard lied to all of us.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian slammed his hand against the desk.
“Then what do you know?”
“Your father discovered who I was after Caroline got pregnant. He told me I was his son.”
I watched Adrian absorb it.
“He paid you two million dollars,” I said.
Silence on the line.
“Emily?”
My body went rigid.
Hearing Nathan say my name after three years made my skin crawl.
“What was the payment for?”
“I was supposed to disappear.”
“You took the money.”
“Yes.”
“You married me.”
“I loved you.”
“Don’t.”
My voice sharpened.
“Do not use that word.”
Nathan inhaled.
“The money wasn’t for Mia.”
“Then why is it dated the day after she was born?”
“Because Richard was still watching me.”
Adrian said, “Explain.”
Nathan’s voice lowered.
“Your father believed Caroline had left something with me before she died.”
“The medical evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He kept me under surveillance for years.”
“Why marry Emily?”
Another silence.
Then Nathan said something that shattered what remained of my trust.
“Because Richard chose her.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Emily’s mother worked for Kane Medical.”
I felt as if someone had struck me.
“My mother is a retired accountant.”
“She was a forensic auditor.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“She found the first irregularities in Kane Medical’s research accounts.”
“That’s impossible.”
“She threatened to report them.”
Adrian stared at me.
Nathan continued.
“Richard paid her to leave the company and keep quiet.”
My hands trembled.
“Why me?”
“Because he wanted me close to your family.”
“For what?”
“To find out whether your mother kept copies.”
I whispered, “You married me to investigate my mother?”
“In the beginning.”
My eyes burned.
“In the beginning?”
“I fell in love with you.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Mia changed everything.”
My voice cracked.
“You abandoned her.”
“I left because somebody threatened to kill her.”
Adrian snapped, “Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
“I found a photograph of Mia sleeping inside my locked car.”
The room went silent.
“Written on the back were the words: Caroline talked. Look what happened.”
My stomach turned over.
Nathan’s breathing was uneven.
“So I disappeared.”
“You could have told me.”
“I thought ignorance would protect you.”
“You were wrong.”
“I know.”
The words were almost whispered.
Then Nathan said, “Listen carefully. The person searching Emily’s apartment isn’t looking for Caroline’s bracelet.”
Adrian frowned.
“What are they looking for?”
“Her necklace.”
I remembered.
My hand moved instinctively to my throat.
A thin gold chain.
A tiny oval locket.
I had worn it for years.
Adrian noticed.
“Emily.”
My heart accelerated.
“My mother gave this to me when Mia was born.”
Nathan said, “Take it off.”
I unclasped it.
Adrian examined the locket.
Nothing unusual.
Then Daniel brought a small tool.
The back panel came loose.
Inside was a micro-SD card.
Nobody spoke.
Nathan exhaled through the phone.
“Richard was right.”
“What is on this?” I whispered.
“Enough evidence to destroy Kane Medical.”
“Then why give it to me?”
“Your mother must have hidden it there.”
My mother.
Sweet, quiet Linda Carter.
Who mailed birthday cards three weeks early.
Who complained about airline snacks.
Who had apparently been sitting on evidence against a multibillion-dollar corporation for more than a decade.
Adrian looked toward Daniel.
“Get Linda Carter here.”
Then another voice sounded through the phone.
Not Nathan.
A man.
“Put the phone down.”
Nathan suddenly cursed.
A crash.
The call cut.
“Nathan!”
Nothing.
Daniel traced the signal.
A warehouse in Red Hook.
Adrian was already moving.
I grabbed his arm.
“You can’t just go.”
“He knows where Caroline’s daughter is.”
“He said he didn’t.”
“He knows more than he’s telling us.”
Police reached the warehouse first.
They found blood.
Nathan’s phone.
And a message painted across the wall.
STOP DIGGING OR THE GIRL DIES.
Which girl?
Caroline’s missing daughter?
Or Mia?
That question haunted me all night.
At dawn, we finally got the answer.
Someone sent Adrian a photograph.
Mia asleep in the fortified apartment.
May you like
Taken less than an hour earlier.
From inside her bedroom.
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