Chapter 4 - A Secret Hidden Beneath Manhattan
Nobody answered Sebastian.
That was answer enough.
He turned toward Mara.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“For how long?”
“Since your father died.”
Sebastian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Eleven years.”
“Your father made decisions—”
“My father is dead. Stop blaming him for secrets you chose to keep.”
Mara looked at me.
That made Sebastian angrier.
“Don’t look at her.”
“Sebastian—”
“Look at me.”
She did.
“If Elena Hayes is my mother, then who was Vivienne?”
“The woman who raised you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mara took a breath.
“Vivienne could not have children.”
Sebastian’s expression didn’t move.
“Your father loved her. They tried for years. Then Elena became pregnant.”
“With whose child?”
The silence grew unbearable.
“Your father’s.”
Sebastian walked toward the windows.
I felt physically ill.
Because suddenly the connection between us had transformed into something monstrous.
I began backing away.
Sebastian noticed.
Then he understood what I was thinking.
“No.”
I stopped.
He crossed the room.
“No, Valerie.”
“But if she’s your mother—”
“She isn’t your biological mother.”
I stared at him.
Mara spoke carefully.
“Elena adopted Valerie.”
The world shifted again.
“What?”
“She adopted you when you were six weeks old.”
“My birth certificate—”
“Was amended.”
My knees weakened.
Sebastian grabbed my arm before I fell.
“Sit.”
I did.
I felt nothing.
No anger.
No grief.
Only emptiness.
“Who are my parents?”
Mara looked down.
“I don’t know.”
I laughed.
It sounded broken.
“That’s convenient.”
Sebastian crouched in front of me.
“Look at me.”
I didn’t.
“Valerie.”
When I finally did, his expression had changed completely.
Whatever revelation had shattered his own identity, he had pushed it aside to protect mine.
“You are still you.”
“I don’t even know who that is.”
“Yes, you do.”
“My mother isn’t my mother.”
“She raised you.”
“And abandoned me.”
His jaw tightened.
“Then we find out why.”
At eight that night, we arrived at the Beacon ferry terminal.
My mother had demanded I come alone.
Sebastian responded by bringing twelve armed security officers while pretending they didn’t exist.
I walked into the abandoned terminal by myself.
She stood near the water.
For twelve years, I had imagined what I would do if some impossible miracle brought her back.
Cry.
Run into her arms.
Ask a thousand questions.
Instead, I stopped twenty feet away.
“You got old.”
She smiled through tears.
“So did you.”
Anger tore through me.
“You don’t get to cry.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
“You don’t get to look at me like you missed me.”
“I missed every day.”
“Then where were you?”
“Hiding.”
“From Sebastian?”
“No.”
She looked past me toward the darkness.
“From his uncle.”
Sebastian stepped from behind a column.
My mother sighed.
“I told you alone.”
“You knew she wouldn’t come alone.”
“Yes.”
Sebastian approached.
Up close, the resemblance was undeniable.
Same dark eyes.
Same bone structure.
Same way of holding emotion behind stillness.
Elena looked at him for a long time.
“My son.”
Sebastian showed nothing.
“You gave me away.”
“I saved you.”
“From what?”
“Your father.”
That surprised everyone.
Elena explained.
Sebastian Sr. had not been merely a criminal businessman.
He had been trying to dismantle parts of the organization he inherited.
Human trafficking.
Political bribery.
Predatory loans.
Things even he considered beyond acceptable.
His younger brother, Adrian Ward, believed otherwise.
Adrian wanted the old empire.
Ruthless.
Profitable.
Unrestricted.
When Sebastian was born, Elena feared Adrian would eventually use the child against his father.
So Vivienne raised Sebastian publicly while Elena remained nearby as an employee.
“And Valerie?” Sebastian asked.
My mother looked at me.
“You were the daughter of the man who discovered Adrian’s network.”
“Who?”
“Daniel Hayes.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Daniel had been an investigator working undercover inside one of Adrian Ward’s companies.
When his identity was exposed, he gave Elena evidence linking Adrian to murders, blackmail, and financial crimes.
Three days later, Daniel disappeared.
His wife had already died giving birth.
I had nobody.
Elena adopted me.
“So we’re not related.”
“No.”
Sebastian looked at me.
Something in his shoulders relaxed.
Despite everything happening, I almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
Elena continued.
“Sebastian’s father planned to expose Adrian. Someone warned Adrian first.”
“You?” Sebastian asked.
“No.”
“Mara?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Elena opened the black leather envelope she had taken from the bank.
Inside was a ledger.
She handed it to Sebastian.
He opened to the final page.
One name had been circled.
Thomas Ward.
Sebastian’s grandfather.
“He ordered your father killed,” Elena said.
Sebastian stared at her.
“My grandfather died twenty years ago.”
Elena shook her head.
“No, Sebastian.”
A chill moved across my skin.
“He staged his death.”
From the shadows behind the terminal came a slow clap.
Sebastian turned.
A tall elderly man walked into the light.
Silver hair.
Black overcoat.
Cane.
He looked at Sebastian as though greeting someone after a minor disagreement.
“My grandson.”
Sebastian’s face became stone.
The man smiled.
“Your father was always too sentimental.”
Then he looked at me.
“But Valerie…”
May you like
His smile disappeared.
“You were never supposed to survive.”
