Chapter 2 - The Photograph That Shouldn't Exist
"Mariana Vega."
Celeste Blackwood said the name as if five years had not passed.
Mariana's body reacted before her mind did.
Her hand closed around Lucas's shoulder.
Adrian stepped between his mother and them.
Celeste stopped.
Her silver hair was perfectly arranged. Her cream coat looked untouched by the damp pavement beneath her shoes.
Her eyes went to Lucas.
For one second, her composure broke.
Then it returned.
"Adrian," she said. "Come inside."
"No."
"This is not a conversation for the driveway."
"Then we'll have it inside."
Celeste's gaze sharpened.
"She isn't coming inside."
Mariana almost laughed.
There it was.
Not surprise.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
"You remember me," Mariana said.
Celeste looked at her.
"I remember many former Hawthorne employees."
"I wasn't asking about Hawthorne."
Silence.
Adrian held up the photograph.
"Explain this."
Celeste's face remained controlled.
"Where did you find that?"
"In the files you wanted destroyed."
"I told you those papers were private."
"They're evidence."
"Of what?"
Adrian pointed to Mariana's name on the ultrasound.
"You tell me."
Celeste looked at Lucas again.
The boy moved behind Mariana.
Mariana felt his fingers grip her jumpsuit.
"Mom, can we go?"
The fear in his voice broke her heart.
She crouched.
"Yes."
Adrian turned.
"Mariana—"
"My son is cold."
"I can have someone bring him food."
"He doesn't need your staff."
"Then use the kitchen yourself."
Celeste snapped, "Adrian."
He faced his mother.
"What?"
"You are letting emotion override judgment."
"My dead brother may have a son standing in front of me."
Lucas looked up.
Mariana closed her eyes.
Too late.
"Dead brother?" he whispered.
She crouched immediately.
"Lucas, look at me."
"Is he talking about my dad?"
Every adult went silent.
Mariana had always told Lucas the simplest version she could.
His father wasn't there.
When Lucas grew older, she would explain more.
She had never imagined learning the truth at the same moment he did.
"Sweetheart, we don't know yet."
Adrian's expression softened.
Celeste's didn't.
That told Mariana more than any confession could have.
She stood.
"I'll agree to the test."
Adrian stared.
Celeste said, "Absolutely not."
Mariana looked at her.
"Interesting."
Celeste's jaw tightened.
Adrian stepped toward his mother.
"Why would you object?"
"I object to turning a child's life into a spectacle because of a resemblance."
"There are documents."
"There is an old photograph."
"There is Mariana."
Celeste looked directly at Mariana.
"Yes. There is."
The contempt in those three words transported Mariana five years backward.
A private office.
A closed door.
Celeste sitting across from her.
Daniel had already disappeared.
Mariana had been nine weeks pregnant.
Celeste had placed an envelope on the desk.
Twenty thousand dollars.
"Daniel is not coming back," she'd said.
Mariana had pushed the money away.
Celeste smiled without warmth.
"Everyone has a price."
"I don't."
"You will."
Mariana remembered leaving that room shaking.
She remembered telling herself she'd never see Celeste again.
Three weeks later, investigators arrived.
Now Mariana understood the shape of the trap.
Maybe not every detail.
But enough.
"You offered me money," Mariana said.
Adrian turned.
Celeste's eyes hardened.
"For what?"
"To disappear."
Adrian looked at his mother.
"Is that true?"
Celeste said nothing.
Mariana continued.
"I refused."
"Mom?"
"And weeks later she was arrested," Adrian said.
Celeste finally moved.
"Inside. Now."
"No."
"Adrian, there are things about Daniel you don't understand."
"Then explain them."
"Not in front of her."
Mariana stepped forward.
"If it concerns my son, you'll say it in front of me."
Celeste studied her.
"You still have that same unfortunate confidence."
"And you still mistake money for authority."
Adrian almost reacted.
Not quite a smile.
But close.
Celeste noticed.
Her face cooled further.
"You were convicted, Mariana."
"Yes."
"By a jury."
"Yes."
"Based on evidence."
"Evidence someone manufactured."
"That's convenient."
Adrian held up Evelyn Price's authorization.
"This is more convenient."
Celeste looked at the document.
Her expression changed.
Barely.
Mariana caught it.
So did Adrian.
"You've seen this before," he said.
"No."
"You're lying."
Celeste's eyes flashed.
"I am your mother."
"That isn't an answer."
Mariana's phone buzzed.
She looked down.
Her supervisor.
Probably calling to officially terminate her.
She silenced it.
Lucas sneezed.
Adrian immediately removed his overcoat.
Mariana raised a hand.
"No."
"It's for him."
"We don't need—"
"Mom, I'm cold."
That ended the argument.
Adrian crouched.
He didn't approach Lucas until Mariana nodded.
Then he carefully placed the navy coat around the boy's shoulders.
It swallowed him.
Lucas looked down.
"Thank you."
Adrian's face tightened.
"You're welcome."
The resemblance was stronger up close.
Not identical.
But something about Lucas's eyes.
The way his left eyebrow lifted.
Daniel had done that.
Adrian looked away before emotion exposed him.
"Come inside," he said.
Mariana hesitated.
Celeste said, "This is absurd."
Adrian straightened.
"It's my house."
That surprised Mariana.
Celeste apparently lived there.
But the mansion belonged to Adrian.
He opened the door.
"Mariana?"
She looked at Lucas.
Warmth.
Food.
Answers.
Three things she couldn't give him outside.
"Fine."
They entered.
Mariana refused to be impressed.
She failed.
The foyer alone was larger than the apartment she'd lost before prison. Marble floors. Sweeping staircase. Paintings.
Lucas whispered, "Whoa."
Mariana squeezed his hand.
"Don't touch."
Adrian heard.
"He can touch things."
"That's how poor people get invoices."
Adrian stopped.
For the first time, he seemed to understand how she saw him.
"I won't charge you for fingerprints."
Lucas giggled.
The sound changed the room.
Adrian stared at him.
Celeste stared at Adrian.
Mariana noticed both.
A housekeeper brought hot chocolate.
Mariana almost refused.
Lucas's face decided for her.
He sat at the edge of an enormous chair, wrapped in Adrian's coat, holding the mug with both hands.
Adrian remained standing.
"I can arrange the DNA test today."
Mariana nodded.
"Noninvasive."
"Cheek swabs."
"And I choose the lab."
"Agreed."
"Independent."
"Agreed."
"Nobody in your family controls the results."
Celeste interrupted.
"This is insanity."
Mariana turned.
"Then you should have nothing to fear."
Celeste's eyes met hers.
There it was again.
Fear.
Not outrage.
Fear.
Adrian called his attorney.
Within an hour, arrangements were made through an independent accredited laboratory.
Samples from Lucas and Adrian could establish whether they were biologically related as uncle and nephew with high probability.
Adrian also mentioned Daniel's stored medical material.
Mariana looked up.
"What material?"
"My brother donated tissue before surgery years ago. Some samples were retained."
Celeste stood abruptly.
"No."
Adrian stared at her.
"Why not?"
"Because Daniel is dead. Let him rest."
Mariana felt a chill.
"He's rested for five years while I went to prison."
Celeste turned on her.
"Do not use my son's death to excuse your choices."
"My choices?"
Mariana stood.
"Your son got me pregnant and vanished."
"He didn't vanish."
The words came out too quickly.
Everyone froze.
Adrian spoke first.
"What did you say?"
Celeste realized her mistake.
Mariana's heart began pounding.
"What happened to Daniel?"
"He died."
"That's not what I asked."
Celeste looked away.
Adrian stepped closer.
"Mom."
Nothing.
"Did Daniel know Mariana was pregnant?"
Celeste closed her eyes.
A second.
Maybe two.
Then she said, "Yes."
Mariana felt the floor disappear beneath her.
"What?"
"He knew."
"No."
"He knew about the pregnancy."
Mariana crossed the room before she realized she'd moved.
"Then why didn't he come back?"
Celeste looked at her.
"Because I told him you terminated it."
Mariana stopped.
Adrian whispered, "Jesus."
"You told him what?"
Celeste remained frighteningly calm.
"I believed it was necessary."
Mariana couldn't process the sentence.
"You told him I killed his baby?"
"Do not phrase it that way."
"How should I phrase it?"
Lucas was watching.
Mariana saw him.
Her rage had to wait.
She turned away, covering her mouth.
Adrian crouched beside Lucas.
"Hey."
Lucas looked uncertain.
"Would you like to see the library?"
The boy looked at Mariana.
She nodded.
A housekeeper escorted Lucas away.
Only when the door closed did Mariana turn back.
"Tell me everything."
Celeste didn't.
Adrian did something Mariana hadn't expected.
He locked the room.
"Nobody leaves until she does."
Celeste stared at her eldest son.
"You would imprison your own mother?"
"No."
He placed the Hawthorne documents on the table.
"But I will call federal investigators if I find evidence that you framed Mariana."
For the first time, Celeste looked genuinely shaken.
"Adrian."
"What happened?"
"I protected Daniel."
"From what?"
"From her."
Mariana laughed bitterly.
"I had nothing."
"Exactly."
Adrian's voice hardened.
"Careful."
Celeste turned to him.
"You don't understand the pressure Daniel was under."
"Then make me understand."
"He was supposed to marry Victoria Hale."
Mariana frowned.
"The Hale banking family?"
"Yes."
Adrian's expression changed.
"You arranged that?"
"It would have secured Blackwood Industries during the restructuring."
"Daniel wasn't a merger."
"He was a Blackwood."
Mariana suddenly understood.
A pregnant administrative assistant didn't fit the plan.
"What did you do after I refused the money?"
Celeste didn't answer.
Mariana moved closer.
"What did you do?"
"I asked Evelyn Price to make certain you left Hawthorne."
Adrian's face became stone.
"How?"
"I didn't ask for details."
"That's a lie."
"It is the truth."
"Then why was a $2.8 million transfer put under Mariana's credentials?"
"I don't know."
"Why did Evelyn testify?"
"I don't know."
"Why are her authorization papers in Daniel's files?"
Celeste said nothing.
Adrian picked up his phone.
"I'm calling my attorney."
Celeste's composure cracked.
"Don't."
"Why?"
"Because there are things in those files that could destroy this family."
Mariana stared at her.
"My family was already destroyed."
Adrian dialed.
Celeste grabbed his wrist.
He looked down at her hand.
She released him.
"Give me until tonight."
"No."
"Adrian."
"No."
His phone connected.
Before he could speak, the library door opened.
Lucas entered holding something.
"Mom?"
Mariana turned.
He carried an old silver picture frame.
The housekeeper stood behind him, apologetic.
"He found it on the lower shelf."
Lucas approached Mariana.
"Look."
She looked.
Daniel.
Young.
Laughing.
Adrian beside him.
And between them stood another man Mariana recognized immediately.
Her former supervisor.
Thomas Reed.
The man who had testified that Mariana alone had access to the stolen funds.
Her stomach dropped.
Adrian saw her face.
"You know him."
"Thomas Reed."
Celeste whispered something under her breath.
Adrian heard.
"What?"
She shook her head.
Mariana took the photograph from Lucas.
There was a date stamped on the back.
Two days after Daniel supposedly died.
Mariana looked at Adrian.
Then at Celeste.
"Why was Daniel photographed two days after his death?"
Celeste turned white.
Adrian snatched the photograph.
"No."
His hands began trembling.
"Mom."
Celeste backed toward the door.
Adrian blocked her.
"Tell me."
She stared at the photograph.
Then at Mariana.
Finally, she whispered, "The accident wasn't when you think it was."
Mariana felt Lucas's hand slip into hers.
Adrian's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression changed.
"Who is this?"
A man's voice was faintly audible.
Adrian put the call on speaker.
The voice said only six words.
May you like
"Ask your mother where Daniel died."
Celeste dropped her glass.
