Chapter 6 - The Father in the Shadows
Margaret slapped Victor.
The sound cracked through the study.
Victor’s head turned with the impact, but he did not raise a hand. He slowly touched his cheek and looked at her with something colder than anger.
“You promised he was dead,” Margaret whispered.
“I promised I would say he was dead.”
Caleb’s heartbeat pounded in his ears.
“Who is he?”
Victor stepped around him.
Caleb blocked the door again.
“Name him.”
“I never met him under his real name.”
“You sold him the drive.”
“He contacted me through an attorney. He knew details only someone involved could know.”
“What details?”
“The old maternity record. Your blood type. Daniel Carter’s infertility diagnosis.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Caleb turned toward her.
“Daniel knew?”
“No.”
“Did he suspect?”
“He loved you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Victor leaned against the door.
“Daniel investigated shortly before his death.”
Caleb looked at the portrait of the man who had taught him to ride a bicycle, attended every school performance, and left him the company he now barely managed.
“My father died in a boating accident.”
Victor’s expression told him the sentence was incomplete.
Margaret moved quickly.
“Do not listen to him.”
“Was it an accident?”
“Yes.”
Victor said nothing.
Caleb crossed the room and grabbed the front of Victor’s suit.
“Was it an accident?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I handled the aftermath.”
Margaret seized Caleb’s shoulder.
He shook her off.
“What aftermath?”
Victor glanced toward the windows.
“The boat’s tracking unit was removed before the police inspected it.”
Caleb released him.
His hands trembled.
“Who removed it?”
“I did.”
“On whose orders?”
Victor looked at Margaret.
She shook her head once.
A warning.
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“Daniel’s attorney.”
Margaret exhaled, almost imperceptibly.
Caleb noticed.
“Name?”
“Samuel Kline.”
Caleb knew Samuel.
Everyone in the Carter family did.
Samuel had handled Daniel’s estate, Margaret’s trusts, and Caleb’s marriage agreement. He had also prepared the separation papers Caleb signed before abandoning Lena.
“Samuel ordered you to alter the boat?”
“He said the tracker contained private family information.”
“And you believed him?”
“I was paid not to question it.”
Caleb stepped away.
His mother, Victor, Samuel, the hospital report, the fire, Lena’s medal, and the hidden recording twisted together in a pattern he could not yet understand.
His phone rang.
Unknown caller.
He answered.
No one spoke.
Caleb listened.
A faint mechanical beeping sounded in the background.
Then a woman inhaled.
“Caleb?”
His knees nearly buckled.
“Lena.”
Margaret moved toward him.
He raised a hand, stopping her.
On the call, Lena’s voice was low and controlled.
“I have sixty seconds.”
“Where are you?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“I saw the ceremony. I saw Emma and Ethan.”
A pause.
Their names sounded strange in his mouth.
Sacred.
“You don’t get to say their names like nothing happened,” Lena said.
Caleb closed his eyes.
“You’re right.”
“I didn’t call for an apology.”
“Then why?”
“Because the broadcast forced them to move sooner than expected.”
“Who?”
“The people who started the fire.”
Caleb looked at Margaret.
She stared back.
“What do you need from me?”
Lena’s breath caught, but her voice remained steady.
“Go to Room 814 before noon.”
“The hospital wing is sealed.”
“Not anymore.”
“What am I looking for?”
“The wall behind the oxygen panel.”
Margaret rushed toward the phone.
Caleb stepped back.
Lena continued.
“Do not bring your mother. Do not trust Victor. And if Samuel Kline contacts you, don’t tell him where you’re going.”
The line crackled.
“Lena, who is sending me messages?”
“It isn’t me.”
The call ended.
Caleb lowered the phone.
Victor had gone pale.
Margaret’s gaze moved toward the clock.
It was 9:17 a.m.
Caleb headed for the door.
Margaret stepped in front of him.
“You are not going to that hospital.”
He stopped.
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Because Room 814 was demolished three months ago.”
May you like
Victor looked toward her.
“No,” he said quietly. “It was supposed to be demolished today.”
