Chapter 18: The Mother of All Secrets
The crying came from the upper floor.
Damian looked toward the staircase.
"Who else is in this house?""
Marcus shook his head.
"I searched the east wing. There shouldn't be anyone.""
The crying came again.
A small, frightened voice.
"Mommy?""
Margaret's face changed.
She pushed past Ethan.
"Adrian?""
Adrian stood motionless.
"No.""
Margaret looked toward the stairs.
"That was my baby.""
Damian turned.
"What baby?""
Alexander laughed from the floor.
"Go ahead, Margaret. Tell them.""
She stared at him.
For years, she had believed she had lost one child.
Now she looked as though she were watching another disappear.
Ethan approached her.
"Mother?""
Margaret took a breath.
"Before you were born, I had another baby.""
Damian looked at her.
"Isabella?""
"No.""
Sofia stepped closer.
"Then who?""
Margaret's eyes filled.
"His name was Daniel.""
The room went silent.
Alexander smiled.
"He was the first.""
Damian felt a chill move through him.
"Where is he?""
Margaret looked toward the stairs.
"I don't know.""
The crying stopped.
Then a door slammed upstairs.
Marcus immediately sent two men to investigate.
They returned a minute later carrying a small boy.
He was perhaps eight years old, with dark hair and frightened eyes.
Margaret rushed toward him.
"Daniel!""
The boy recoiled.
"Don't touch me!""
She stopped.
"I'm your mother.""
He shook his head.
"My mother is dead.""
Margaret covered her mouth.
Alexander began laughing again.
"She has always been so sentimental.""
Damian looked at him.
"What did you do?""
Alexander's smile faded.
"I raised him.""
Margaret stepped toward the boy.
"You were taken from me.""
Daniel looked at her suspiciously.
"You're lying.""
Alexander struggled to sit upright.
"Your mother abandoned you.""
"Stop," Margaret whispered.
"She chose Damian. She chose Ethan. She chose the empire. She didn't want another child.""
Daniel began crying.
Margaret dropped to her knees.
"No, sweetheart. I never knew where you were. I searched for you.""
Daniel looked at Alexander.
"Is that true?""
Alexander said nothing.
For the first time, the boy seemed to understand that the man who had raised him might have lied.
Sofia knelt beside Margaret.
"He's just a child.""
Damian looked at Marcus.
"Get a doctor. And get him somewhere safe.""
Marcus nodded.
But Alexander suddenly reached for a gun near the table.
Ethan shouted.
"Damian!""
A shot rang out.
The bullet struck the wall.
Damian fired once.
Alexander fell backward.
His weapon slid across the floor.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Margaret rushed toward him.
"Alexander!""
Damian caught her.
"Mother, don't.""
She struggled against him.
"He was their father.""
"He was going to kill us.""
Margaret looked at Alexander's motionless body.
Then she slowly stopped fighting.
An hour later, the estate was secured.
Alexander was alive, but critically wounded. Marcus had arranged for him to be taken to a private medical facility under guard.
Adrian sat alone in the library.
He had refused treatment for a cut above his eye.
Damian entered.
"You're coming with us.""
Adrian looked up.
"To prison?""
"To answer for what you did.""
Adrian gave a bitter smile.
"Of course.""
Damian stood across from him.
"You took Sofia. You held Isabella hostage. You helped Alexander threaten our mother.""
"I know.""
"Then why did you do it?""
Adrian looked toward the window.
"Because I wanted you to know what it felt like to lose someone.""
Damian said nothing.
Adrian continued.
"When the boat exploded, I was pulled from the water by a fisherman. Arthur found me two days later. He told me you and Ethan had left me there deliberately.""
"I didn't.""
"I know that now.""
Adrian looked at him.
"Does that make it better?""
"No.""
Adrian's eyes filled.
"I spent fifteen years waiting for someone to come back for me.""
Damian sat opposite him.
"I should have looked harder.""
"You were a child.""
"So were you.""
For the first time, Adrian had no answer.
Damian stood.
"You'll have to face what you've done. But I'm not going to let Father use you anymore.""
Adrian looked up.
"Why?""
"Because you're still my family.""
Adrian looked away.
"Don't make promises you can't keep.""
Sofia found Margaret in the chapel garden.
The older woman sat beneath a bare tree, holding the old hospital bracelet.
Sofia approached slowly.
"May I sit?""
Margaret nodded.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Margaret looked at her.
"I should have found you.""
Sofia shook her head.
"You didn't know.""
"I should have known Elena had taken you.""
"She did what she thought was best.""
Margaret's eyes filled.
"She was brave. Braver than I ever was.""
Sofia sat beside her.
"She loved you.""
Margaret nodded.
"And she loved you.""
Sofia looked down.
"I don't know what to call you.""
Margaret smiled sadly.
"You don't have to call me anything.""
Sofia took her hand.
"I think I'd like to know you.""
Margaret squeezed her fingers.
"That would be enough.""
Across the garden, Damian watched them.
Ethan came to stand beside him.
"Are you all right?""
Damian looked toward Sofia.
"I don't know who I am anymore.""
Ethan gave a faint smile.
"You're still the man who stole my car keys when we were teenagers.""
Damian almost smiled.
"You're still the idiot who drove into a fountain.""
"It was an accident.""
"You were drunk.""
"I was seventeen.""
They fell silent.
Then Ethan looked at him.
"Do you hate Arthur?""
Damian watched the man standing near the chapel doors.
Arthur was speaking with Marcus.
"I don't know.""
"He gave you away.""
"Yes.""
"He betrayed Elena.""
"Yes.""
Ethan looked toward Sofia.
"He's her father.""
Damian's jaw tightened.
"That doesn't make him a good one.""
"No.""
Ethan hesitated.
"There's something else.""
Damian turned.
"What?""
Ethan took a folded document from his jacket.
"I found it in the cabinet beneath the chapel. It was hidden behind the genetic reports.""
Damian opened it.
It was a letter from Rose Voss.
The first paragraph was addressed to Margaret.
The second was addressed to Arthur.
The third was addressed to someone whose name had been scratched out.
Damian turned to the final page.
There was a handwritten sentence.
If the four children are ever reunited, the one who carries the Voss blood must decide whether the empire lives or dies.
Beneath it was a list of names.
Margaret's children.
Damian.
Ethan.
Isabella.
And Daniel.
But a fifth name had been added in different ink.
Sofia Voss.
Damian frowned.
"Why is she listed separately?""
Ethan looked at the document.
"Because she's not one of the four.""
Damian turned the page.
A second sheet was attached.
It was a legal declaration, signed by Rose Voss, confirming that Sofia was the sole biological heir to the Voss trust.
But the final paragraph contained a condition.
The trust shall remain sealed until the true father of Sofia Voss is identified and publicly acknowledges her.
Damian looked toward the garden.
Arthur stood near the chapel.
His face was unreadable.
"Then we have a problem," Damian said.
Ethan followed his gaze.
"Arthur already admitted she's his daughter.""
"Not publicly.""
Damian folded the papers.
"Father still controls enough people to bury this.""
His phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
*ALEXANDER IS NOT THE MAN YOU NEED TO FEAR.*
A second message arrived.
*HE HAS A TWIN WHO WAS NEVER RECORDED.*
Damian stared.
Then a third message appeared.
*ASK YOUR MOTHER WHICH BABY SHE BROUGHT HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL.*
He looked toward Margaret.
She was embracing Sofia.
Damian's phone rang.
He answered.
A man's voice whispered:
"Hello, Damian.""
"Who is this?""
A pause.
Then the voice answered.
"The son your mother buried.""
Damian went cold.
"Daniel?""
The man laughed softly.
May you like
"No.""
And the call ended.
