Chapter 15: The Twin Nobody Remembered
Patricia Lawson had been standing beside Walter's children less than an hour earlier.
Now her name was on a document Richard Miller claimed connected her to the disappearance of two babies.
Danny looked at the paper.
“What does Patricia have to do with this?””
Richard adjusted his coat.
“Ask her.””
Walter stepped forward.
“You're not taking anyone else.””
Richard gave a short laugh.
“Walter, you still don't understand. Patricia has been lying to you since the beginning.””
Rhett moved toward the warehouse entrance.
Richard's two men stepped forward.
One raised his phone.
“Don't come closer.””
Rhett stopped.
Richard looked at Danny.
“Your mother gave birth to twins. A boy and a girl. The girl was taken. The boy was hidden.””
Danny stared.
“Why?””
“Because the girl was important.””
Michael frowned.
“Important how?””
Richard opened the briefcase again.
He removed a medical record.
The document showed that Eleanor had given birth to two children on September 14, 1975.
Daniel Hayes.
And *David Hayes.*
Danny felt the air leave his lungs.
“David?””
Richard nodded.
“Your twin brother.””
Walter stared.
“I was there when Danny was born. Eleanor told me there was only one baby.””
Richard smiled.
“She told you what you needed to hear.””
Danny shook his head.
“Where is he?””
Richard folded the document.
“That's the interesting part.””
He looked toward Walter.
“Your son has been searching for a brother he never knew existed.””
Then he stepped closer.
“And he's been looking in the wrong place.””
Back at the cabin, Patricia was gone.
Emily discovered it first.
She found the front door unlocked and Patricia's handbag on the kitchen floor.
A cup of tea sat untouched on the table.
Rebecca searched the bedrooms.
“She's not here!””
Caleb's phone rang.
It was Mason.
“Something happened.””
Caleb put him on speaker.
“Where are you?””
“Back at the cabin. Patricia's car is gone.””
Emily grabbed the phone.
“Did you see her leave?””
“No. But there's a note on the table.””
Caleb asked him to read it.
Mason unfolded the paper.
It contained one sentence.
I'm sorry. They have my granddaughter.
Emily froze.
“Granddaughter?””
Rebecca looked at her.
“Who?””
Mason continued.
“There's a name beneath it.””
He paused.
“David Hayes.””
At the warehouse, Danny read the message on Caleb's phone.
His face changed.
“David is Patricia's grandson?””
Richard nodded.
“Now you're beginning to understand.””
Danny stepped forward.
“Where is he?””
Richard smiled.
“Somewhere safe.””
Walter grabbed his arm.
“Tell us!””
Richard pulled away.
“You're getting old, Walter. You should stop pretending you can control things.””
Walter looked at him.
“I don't want to control anything. I want my family back.””
For a moment, Richard seemed almost amused.
Then his expression hardened.
“Your family was never yours to begin with.””
He turned toward his men.
“Let's go.””
Rhett moved.
One of the men raised his phone again.
“Don't.””
Richard climbed into the SUV.
Before closing the door, he looked at Danny.
“Ask Patricia why she kept one twin and gave the other away.””
Then the vehicle drove off.
They returned to the cabin.
Patricia was nowhere to be found.
But her handbag contained something important.
A small photograph of a young man standing beside her.
On the back was written:
David, my grandson. First birthday.
Danny stared at it.
“He's alive.””
Emily nodded.
“Patricia raised him?””
Rebecca looked at the photograph.
“Apparently.””
Michael examined the date.
The picture had been taken in 1996.
Danny frowned.
“That makes no sense. I was born in 1975. If David was my twin, he would be thirty-one now.””
Caleb looked at the document again.
“Wait.””
He pointed to the hospital record.
The birth date was September 14, 1975.
But the adoption date was listed as January 1996.
Michael leaned forward.
“That's not possible. Why would a twenty-year-old man be adopted?””
Rhett turned the page.
There was another document attached.
A birth certificate amendment.
The original identity had been replaced.
The child listed as David Hayes had been registered under a new name.
*David Lawson.*
Walter looked at the photograph.
Patricia's grandson.
His eyes.
His nose.
His smile.
Walter recognized something in the young man's face.
“He looks like Eleanor.””
Danny nodded.
“He does.””
Then Caleb found a recent address.
David Lawson was living in Louisville.
He worked as a mechanic.
The same city where Danny had supposedly died.
Walter looked at the screen.
“That's where he is.””
They drove to Louisville the following morning.
The address led to a modest house on a quiet street.
A motorcycle stood in the driveway.
Danny knocked.
Nobody answered.
He knocked again.
A curtain moved.
Then the door opened.
A young man stood in the doorway.
He was thirty-one, with dark hair and a scar near his eyebrow.
He looked at Danny.
Then at Walter.
His expression changed.
“Can I help you?””
Danny swallowed.
“Are you David Lawson?””
The man nodded.
“Who are you?””
Danny held up the hospital photograph.
“I'm Daniel Hayes.””
David stared.
For a moment, he seemed unable to understand.
Then he stepped backward.
“No.””
Walter approached.
“Son…”
David looked at him.
His eyes filled.
“Grandpa?””
Walter's legs nearly gave way.
“Yes.””
David covered his mouth.
“I thought you were dead.””
Walter shook his head.
“I'm right here.””
David looked at Danny.
“You're my twin?””
Danny nodded.
David laughed through tears.
“That's impossible.””
Danny smiled sadly.
“Apparently, we're both pretty hard to kill.””
They embraced.
Walter stood beside them, crying silently.
For the first time, he was looking at all the children he had been denied.
But David's happiness disappeared when he noticed the photograph in Danny's hand.
He took it.
His face went pale.
“Where did you get this?””
Danny pointed to the picture of Patricia.
“From her handbag.””
David shook his head.
“She's not my grandmother.””
Walter frowned.
“What?””
David looked at him.
“Patricia isn't my biological grandmother.””
Danny stared.
“Then who is she?””
David swallowed.
“She's my mother.””
The room went silent.
Walter slowly lowered himself onto the nearest chair.
Danny looked at David.
“Patricia adopted you?””
David shook his head.
“No. She gave birth to me.””
Walter stared.
“But the medical records say you were born in 1975.””
David walked to a cabinet.
He removed a folder and placed it on the table.
Inside were hospital records, a birth certificate, and a letter.
The birth certificate listed Patricia Lawson as the mother.
The father was unknown.
The date of birth was September 14, 1975.
Walter looked at Danny.
Then at David.
Two boys.
Born on the same day.
One raised by Walter.
One raised by Patricia.
David opened the letter.
It was written in Eleanor's handwriting.
Patricia,
I know what I'm asking is unforgivable.
Please take the boy and raise him as your own. Richard must never discover that he is Walter's son.
Danny is already in danger. If Richard learns there are two boys, he will use them against each other.
I am trusting you with the life I cannot protect.
Eleanor.
Danny stared at the letter.
“Mom gave you away?””
David nodded.
“Patricia told me the truth when I was eighteen.””
Walter looked at him.
“Why didn't you come find me?””
David's expression changed.
“Because Patricia told me you were dead.””
Walter closed his eyes.
Another lie.
Another stolen life.
Danny looked toward the door.
“Where is Patricia now?””
David shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Then he removed a second letter from the folder.
“This arrived yesterday.””
Danny unfolded it.
The message was short.
If Daniel Hayes comes looking for you, tell him the truth about Rebecca.
Danny looked up.
“What truth?””
David hesitated.
Then he spoke.
“Rebecca isn't Richard Miller's adopted daughter.””
Walter frowned.
“What?””
David placed a final document on the table.
A DNA report.
The biological mother was Eleanor Hayes.
The biological father was Charles Bennett.
Walter stared at the paper.
Danny's face went white.
Rebecca was not simply another child Eleanor had given away.
She was the child of Eleanor and the man who had helped destroy their family.
And somewhere in Louisville, Patricia was still missing.
Then David pointed to the bottom of the report.
There was a handwritten note.
Charles has known the truth since before Rebecca was born.
Danny looked at Walter.
“Dad…”
Walter couldn't speak.
May you like
The man who had spent twenty-four years pretending to protect the Hayes family had fathered one of Walter's children.
And now he was hunting the others.
