Chapter 7 - The Daughter Nobody Knew
Nobody moved.
The woman knocked again.
“Nora?”
Matteo reached for the door.
John grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait.”
It was the clearest word he had spoken all day.
Matteo looked at him.
“You know who's outside?”
John's eyes closed.
“Yes.”
Nora's heart pounded.
“Who?”
John whispered a name.
“Claire.”
Matteo opened the door.
A woman stood in the hallway.
Twenty-six, perhaps twenty-seven.
Dark blonde hair.
Green eyes.
A face that made Nora feel as if she were looking into a distorted mirror.
Not identical.
But close enough.
The woman looked at Nora.
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
“Oh my God.”
Nora couldn't speak.
The woman held up both hands.
“I don't have a weapon.”
Matteo almost smiled.
“That's reassuring.”
“I'm guessing you're Matteo.”
“How?”
“You look exactly like your pictures, except angrier.”
Nora stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
“Claire Bennett.”
“My last name?”
“Not legally.”
“Then why use it?”
“Because Sarah Bennett was my mother too.”
John lowered his head.
Nora looked at him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How many secrets did my mother have?”
“Too many.”
Claire entered.
She carried a folder.
Inside were birth certificates.
Two girls.
Born eighteen months apart.
Same mother.
Different fathers.
Nora's father was Anthony Moretti.
Claire's father was listed as unknown.
“We aren't twins,” Nora said.
“No.”
“Then why did Brody call you the second baby?”
Claire looked confused.
“I don't know Brody.”
Nora showed her the note.
Claire read it.
Then frowned.
“This isn't about me.”
John looked up sharply.
“What?”
Claire pointed at the wording.
“Second baby.”
She looked toward Nora's stomach.
“Maybe he wasn't talking about Sarah's children.”
Nora instinctively covered Lily.
Matteo's expression changed.
“Lily?”
Claire shook her head.
“No. Another baby.”
John suddenly whispered:
“Isabella.”
Matteo froze.
“My fiancée?”
John nodded.
Matteo crouched in front of him.
“What are you saying?”
John struggled.
“Pregnant.”
Matteo's face emptied.
“No.”
“She was pregnant?”
John nodded.
Matteo stood slowly.
“You knew?”
“After.”
“After she died?”
“Yes.”
Matteo looked sick.
Nora moved beside him.
John continued.
“Baby… lived.”
Silence.
Matteo stared at his father.
“What?”
“The crash.”
John took a breath.
“Isabella died. Baby lived.”
Matteo backed away.
“No.”
Nora touched his arm.
He barely noticed.
“Where?”
John looked toward Claire.
Claire opened her folder again.
“My adoptive mother worked at St. Vincent's Hospital.”
She removed a photograph.
A newborn.
“She told me about a baby brought in after a crash twenty-four years ago.”
Matteo stared.
Twenty-four.
“That would make the child…”
“An adult,” Nora whispered.
Claire nodded.
“Victor arranged the adoption.”
Matteo's hands clenched.
“Why?”
John answered.
“Control.”
Everything Victor did was about leverage.
Secrets.
Children.
Bloodlines.
People transformed into weapons.
“Who is my child?” Matteo asked.
Claire looked at John.
John whispered:
“Brody.”
The room went silent.
Nora stopped breathing.
“No.”
Matteo looked as if someone had struck him.
Brody.
Twenty-four years old.
Raised under another name.
Placed near Nora.
Manipulated by Victor.
Brody had believed he was serving Victor.
But Victor had been using Matteo's own son against him.
Nora sat down.
“That means…”
Matteo looked at her.
Lily's biological father was Matteo.
Brody had been Nora's partner.
But Brody was also Matteo's son.
The cruelty of Victor's design became clear.
He had placed father and son inside the same trap without either knowing.
“He wanted Brody to hate you,” Nora whispered.
John nodded.
“And eventually discover the truth after it was too late.”
Matteo looked toward the window.
For the first time, Nora saw him cry.
Quietly.
One tear.
He wiped it away immediately.
“Where is he?”
Nobody knew.
Until Claire's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Brody's voice.
“Claire?”
Nora stood.
Matteo reached for the phone.
Claire stopped him.
“Where are you?”
Brody breathed heavily.
“I don't have much time.”
“What happened?”
“I took the ledger.”
“We know.”
“I didn't take it for Victor.”
“Then why?”
“To finish this.”
Matteo spoke.
“Brody.”
Silence.
Then:
“Matteo?”
“Where are you?”
Brody laughed bitterly.
“So he told you.”
“Yes.”
Another silence.
“You're my father.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“I spent my entire life hating you.”
“I know.”
“Victor said you abandoned my mother.”
“He lied.”
“He said you knew about me.”
“I didn't.”
Brody began crying.
Nora covered her mouth.
Matteo's voice remained steady.
“Tell me where you are.”
“Victor has people inside federal custody.”
“I know.”
“He'll get out.”
“Not if we have the ledger.”
“You don't understand. The ledger isn't evidence against Victor.”
“What is it?”
“A list of everyone he owns.”
Matteo looked at John.
Brody continued.
“Judges. Detectives. Attorneys. Security contractors. People inside your companies.”
“Bring it to me.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because one of them is with me.”
A sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
Brody whispered:
“They found me.”
The call ended.
Matteo was already moving.
“Trace it.”
Claire looked at her screen.
“He called through an app.”
John suddenly spoke.
“Cabin.”
Matteo turned.
“What?”
“Lake.”
“The old hunting cabin?”
John nodded.
They drove through the night.
Police were notified, but Matteo trusted only one federal agent whose name was absent from the ledger.
The cabin stood beside frozen Lake Ashford.
Its front door was open.
Matteo entered first.
Nora was ordered to stay in the vehicle.
She lasted thirty seconds.
Inside, Brody lay on the floor.
Alive.
Bleeding from his shoulder.
Matteo knelt beside him.
“Brody.”
His eyes opened.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“Bad idea.”
“Probably.”
Despite the pain, Brody laughed.
Matteo pressed cloth against his wound.
“Where's the ledger?”
Brody pointed toward the fireplace.
Hidden beneath a loose stone.
Matteo retrieved it.
Nora entered.
Brody saw her.
“Nor.”
She didn't correct him this time.
“I'm sorry.”
“I know.”
“I didn't know about the sample.”
“I know.”
“I didn't know Matteo was…”
“I know.”
Brody looked at her stomach.
“Is Lily okay?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“Good.”
Nora knelt beside him.
“I don't forgive everything.”
“You shouldn't.”
“But I don't want you dead.”
Brody looked at Matteo.
“Neither does he.”
Matteo said quietly:
“No.”
Brody's eyes filled.
That one word seemed to give him something he had never had.
A father.
Sirens approached.
Brody relaxed.
Then John, standing near the doorway with Claire, suddenly looked toward the trees.
A red light appeared.
Laser.
Matteo saw it.
“DOWN!”
Glass exploded.
Everyone dropped.
A bullet struck the wall.
Agents outside shouted.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Matteo covered Nora with his body.
Brody stared toward the broken window.
John whispered:
“Victor.”
Matteo shook his head.
“Victor is in custody.”
John looked terrified.
“No.”
He pointed toward the black ledger.
“Victor… not boss.”
Matteo stared.
“What?”
John's hand shook.
“Someone above him.”
Nora felt cold.
Brody reached into his jacket.
He removed one final envelope.
“I found this with the ledger.”
Matteo opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Victor stood beside another man.
An older man.
White hair.
Black coat.
Nora had seen him before.
Not in the mansion.
At her mother's funeral.
She remembered him standing beneath an umbrella at the edge of the cemetery.
John looked at the photograph.
His face drained of color.
Matteo whispered:
“Who is he?”
John tried to answer.
Before he could, the cabin door slowly opened.
The white-haired man from the photograph stepped inside.
May you like
And smiled at Nora.
“Hello, granddaughter.”
