Chapter 3 - The Relative Who Suddenly Cared
Four days after Nathan found Ellie at register seven, a man named Victor Mercer appeared.
He introduced himself as Sarah's older brother.
Ellie went pale the moment she saw him.
Nathan noticed.
Victor noticed Nathan noticing.
"I've been searching everywhere for these kids," Victor said.
Teresa remained between him and Ellie.
"Why wasn't a missing-person report filed?"
Victor's expression tightened.
"We were handling a funeral."
"For three weeks?"
"We thought she was with another relative."
Ellie whispered, "That's not true."
Everyone looked at her.
Victor smiled.
"She's traumatized."
Nathan disliked the smile instantly.
Victor requested custody.
On paper, he looked acceptable.
Stable address.
Employment.
Biological uncle.
But Nathan had spent his career recognizing men whose words and intentions didn't match.
He hired an investigator.
What came back changed everything.
Sarah had carried a substantial life-insurance policy through her employer.
The beneficiary wasn't Ellie.
It was a trust for all three children.
Worth $750,000.
And Victor had recently petitioned to become trustee.
Nathan stared at the documents.
Now the sudden concern made sense.
He called Teresa.
"Don't let him take those children."
"Nathan, custody isn't your decision."
"Then whose is it?"
"The court's."
"Get me the hearing date."
Victor's attorney argued that Nathan was interfering because of emotional attachment.
He wasn't entirely wrong.
By then, Nathan visited nearly every day.
He brought books rather than toys because Ellie loved reading.
He learned Jamie hated being cold.
Noah slept best when someone hummed.
Ellie liked strawberry jam but pretended she didn't because it was "too expensive."
Nathan began keeping it in his refrigerator anyway.
One afternoon Ellie asked him, "Why don't you have kids?"
Nathan paused.
"I was engaged once."
"What happened?"
"We wanted different lives."
"Did she leave?"
"Yes."
"Did it hurt?"
Nathan smiled sadly.
"Yes."
Ellie considered this.
"Mom said hurt doesn't mean you're finished."
Nathan looked at her.
"Your mother sounds smart."
"She was."
That night, Ellie showed him something she had never shown Teresa.
A small envelope rescued from the fire.
Inside was a photograph.
Sarah holding newborn Jamie and Noah.
Ellie beside her.
On the back Sarah had written:
Keep them together. Whatever happens, family stays.
Nathan read it twice.
"She wrote that?"
"Two days before the fire."
"Why?"
Ellie shrugged.
"She worried about everything."
Nathan's instincts sharpened.
"Did your mother ever talk about Uncle Victor?"
Ellie became still.
"Sometimes."
"What did she say?"
"That he wanted money."
"What money?"
"I don't know."
Nathan called his investigator again.
The next discovery was worse.
Two weeks before Sarah died, Victor had contacted the insurance provider asking questions about the children's trust.
Before the fire.
Nathan sat staring at the report.
Coincidence was possible.
But Nathan didn't build a billion-dollar company by ignoring patterns.
Then Grace called.
Ellie was missing.
Nathan arrived in eleven minutes.
Her bedroom window was open.
Her coat was gone.
The twins remained inside.
That fact terrified him more than anything.
Ellie would never voluntarily leave her brothers.
On her pillow was a note.
DON'T LOOK FOR ME.
Nathan read it once.
Then again.
"She didn't write this."
Teresa looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"She promised her mother she'd never leave those babies."
Nathan turned toward the security camera above Grace's garage.
"Does that work?"
Grace nodded.
Twenty minutes later, they watched the footage.
At 7:13 p.m., Ellie walked toward a dark sedan.
Victor stood beside it.
She wasn't being physically forced.
But she was crying.
Nathan zoomed in.
Victor held something in his hand.
A phone.
He had shown her something.
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"What would make her go willingly?"
Teresa whispered.
Nathan knew.
"Threatening the twins."
The police were called.
Victor's phone went unanswered.
Nathan's investigator traced one property connected to him: a cabin ninety miles north.
Nathan gave the address to police.
Then he got into his car.
Teresa stopped him.
"Where are you going?"
"To bring her home."
"You can't interfere with a police investigation."
Nathan looked at her.
"Then they should drive faster."
At the cabin, Victor wasn't there.
But Ellie was.
She sat alone on the porch.
Nathan jumped from his car.
"Ellie!"
She looked up.
For a moment she didn't move.
Then she ran.
Nathan barely had time to kneel before she collided with him.
"He said he'd take them."
Nathan wrapped his coat around her.
"Nobody is taking them tonight."
"He said if I didn't come, he'd split us up."
"I know."
Ellie cried against his chest.
Nathan looked toward the empty road.
Victor had escaped.
But he'd made one mistake.
May you like
He had frightened the wrong little girl in front of the wrong man.
And Nathan Cole was finished standing still.
