Chapter 7 - Beneath the Mansion
The old Crosswell estate had been abandoned for years.
Nathan Cross had died there.
Margaret had left it.
Daniel had never lived there.
But my father knew the property.
He drove me there two weeks after I was discharged from the hospital.
My son was with us.
I still had pain from the surgery.
But I needed answers.
The mansion stood behind iron gates.
Dust covered the windows.
The garden had grown wild.
Inside, everything smelled like old wood and rain.
My father walked slowly.
He remembered the house.
I could see it in his face.
“This is where your mother lived before she met me.”
I looked around.
“Did you come here often?”
“Yes.”
“Were you in love with her?”
He smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
“Did she love you?”
He hesitated.
“I think she did.”
The answer hurt.
But it was honest.
We searched the basement.
Nothing.
Then my son began crying.
I carried him toward the old fireplace.
A strange sound echoed beneath the floor.
My father froze.
“Wait.”
He knelt.
Pressed his hand against the wooden boards.
Then he looked at me.
“There’s something underneath.”
We moved a heavy rug.
Beneath it was a metal hatch.
My father opened it.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
At the bottom was a hidden room.
Inside were boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
Old recording devices.
And a locked metal cabinet.
My father found a key taped beneath the desk.
Inside the cabinet was a file.
The first page showed my mother.
The second showed Nathan.
The third showed Margaret.
Then I saw a photograph of Daniel.
Taken when he was a baby.
My father stared at it.
“This is impossible.”
“What?”
He pointed to the date.
Daniel had been born two years before Nathan and Margaret’s marriage.
I looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
My father opened another file.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Daniel’s mother was listed as Margaret.
The father’s name was blank.
Then I saw a DNA report.
I read the result.
Daniel was not Nathan’s son.
But he was not a stranger either.
The DNA match showed a relationship to my mother.
I stared.
“No.”
My father’s face turned pale.
“Daniel is your half-brother.”
The room seemed to disappear.
I couldn’t breathe.
My husband.
The man who had slept beside me.
The man who had tried to kill me.
Was my biological half-brother.
I backed away.
“No.”
My father grabbed the file.
“Your mother had another child?”
Apparently, yes.
Before me.
A son.
Margaret had taken him.
Raised him.
And hidden his identity.
But why?
The answer was in another letter.
My mother had written:
Margaret took my son because Nathan wanted an heir. She promised to return him. She never did.
I stared at the page.
Daniel had spent his entire life believing he was Nathan Cross’s son.
He had been raised to inherit.
To control.
To destroy anyone who threatened the empire.
Including me.
Then my phone rang.
Detective Reed.
His voice was urgent.
“Emma, you need to leave the mansion immediately.”
“Why?”
“We found Margaret.”
“Where?”
A pause.
Then he said:
“She’s at the hospital.”
May you like
My blood turned cold.
“With my baby.”
