Chapter 7 - THE CHILD NO ONE HAD BEEN ALLOWED TO REMEMBER
Damien spent the entire night studying the photograph.
The young woman was unfamiliar, but the little boy's face unsettled him.
He had the same dark eyes.
The same narrow chin.
Even the same small scar above the left eyebrow.
Damien touched his own scar.
He had received it during a childhood accident.
At least, that was what his father had told him.
He called Harold at six in the morning.
"Do you recognize this woman?"
Harold examined the photograph.
His face changed.
"Her name was Catherine Bell."
"Who was she?"
"Your father's secretary."
"And the boy?"
Harold looked away.
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me."
The older man sighed.
"There was a child who lived here briefly when you were young. I remember a little boy. Your father said he was a distant relative."
Damien felt a strange pressure in his chest.
"What happened to him?"
"He disappeared."
"When?"
"The same year your mother died."
Damien looked again at the photograph.
"Find Catherine Bell."
Harold nodded.
But before he could leave, Elena knocked.
She was carrying Lily, who had Miss Buttons tucked under one arm.
"Good morning, Mr. Grumpy."
Damien looked at the little girl.
"Good morning."
Lily climbed onto the chair beside him.
"Are you sad?"
"No."
She studied his face.
"Your eyebrows say yes."
Elena smiled faintly.
"She notices everything."
Damien put the photograph away.
"Sometimes that's not a good thing."
Lily leaned closer.
"Can I tell you a secret?"
"Of course."
She whispered, "I think your house has a ghost."
Elena sighed.
"Lily."
Damien almost laughed.
"Why?"
"Because sometimes I hear someone walking in the hallway when nobody is there."
He looked at her.
"Which hallway?"
"The upstairs one. Near the big clock."
Damien glanced at Harold.
The eastern wing.
The closed section.
That afternoon, he searched the corridor himself.
Behind a loose panel near the staircase, he found a narrow door.
It opened into a small room.
Inside stood a child's bed, an old toy chest, and several faded drawings.
One showed a little boy standing beside Damien's father.
Another showed two children holding hands.
The second child was Damien.
A name had been written beneath the drawing.
Daniel.
Damien opened the toy chest.
Inside was a small wooden horse and a folded letter.
The letter was addressed to him.
Damien, if you are reading this, I hope you have learned that family is not always defined by blood. There is something I should have told you. Daniel was born before your mother and I married. I loved him, but I failed to protect him. Catherine took him away because she feared what Richard might do. I promised I would bring him home.
Damien lowered the letter.
His father had another son.
A brother Damien had never known existed.
The next morning, Catherine Bell was found living in a nursing home outside the city.
She was seventy-one and had difficulty walking.
When Damien entered her room, she looked at him for a long time.
"You have your father's eyes."
"Who was Daniel?"
Catherine began crying.
"Your brother."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
Damien sat beside her.
"Tell me everything."
Catherine explained that Daniel had been born from a relationship his father had before marrying Damien's mother.
His father had provided for the child secretly.
But when Richard discovered the arrangement, he threatened to expose the affair and destroy the family.
Catherine took Daniel away.
She had planned to return when things became safer.
But then the accident happened.
And Richard told her that Damien's father had ordered her never to contact the family again.
She believed him.
"Did Daniel know who his father was?" Damien asked.
Catherine shook her head.
"He was too young."
"Where did you take him?"
"I placed him with a family in Wisconsin. They adopted him."
"What's his name now?"
Catherine reached into a drawer and removed a photograph.
It showed a grown man standing beside a woman and a young child.
On the back was an address.
Damien stared at the photograph.
The man had his father's eyes.
For fifteen years, Damien had believed he was alone.
Now he had a brother.
But there was another problem.
The family had been receiving anonymous threats for months.
Catherine had been warned not to contact anyone from Chicago.
"Who threatened them?"
Catherine looked toward the window.
"I don't know."
Damien stood.
"Then I'll find out."
Before he left, Catherine caught his wrist.
"Your father wanted you to meet Daniel."
Damien looked at her.
"He wrote something in that letter."
Catherine nodded.
"He said that one day you would have to choose between keeping the empire and protecting your family."
Damien's expression hardened.
"What did he mean?"
May you like
Catherine's eyes filled.
"Your brother knows something about the night your father died."
