Chapter 10 - Daniel's Impossible Choice.
Lucas would not say the name at first.
He sat curled in the corner of the sofa while Daniel paced the study.
Natalie remained beside the boy.
Evelyn stood near the fireplace, pale and silent.
Daniel stopped pacing.
“Lucas, who was it?”
The child buried his face against Natalie's arm.
Daniel took a breath and lowered himself to one knee several feet away.
He did not touch his son.
“Buddy, I need you to tell me.”
Lucas whispered into Natalie's sleeve.
“Uncle Marcus.”
Daniel did not move.
Natalie had never heard the name.
Evelyn had.
Her hand went to her mouth.
Daniel slowly stood.
“That’s impossible.”
Lucas looked up.
“You always say that when you don’t want something to be true.”
The words hit Daniel hard.
He turned to Evelyn.
“Tell her.”
Evelyn looked at Natalie.
“Marcus Reed was Daniel's older half brother.”
“Was?”
Daniel answered.
“He died eighteen months ago.”
Natalie felt a chill.
“The recording was made before Claire disappeared?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn shook her head slowly.
“Marcus hated Claire.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“He hated what she wanted me to become.”
Natalie understood.
“She wanted you out.”
Daniel nodded.
“Out of the organization, out of the deals, out of every alliance Marcus believed made this family untouchable.”
Lucas looked confused.
Natalie squeezed his hand.
Daniel continued.
“Claire believed money had made us prisoners.”
Natalie looked around the guarded mansion.
“She wasn’t wrong.”
Daniel accepted that without argument.
He walked to a cabinet and removed a locked leather folder.
Inside were copies of old legal documents.
He spread them across the desk.
“One month after Claire left, Marcus brought me this.”
It was a request for temporary separation and private guardianship.
Claire's signature appeared at the bottom.
Daniel pointed to it.
“I believed she signed it.”
Natalie looked closely.
“You don’t anymore.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Daniel removed the letter from the red room.
The handwriting was different.
Subtle, but different.
One letter leaned left where the legal signature leaned right.
A loop in the surname was missing.
Daniel's face hardened with self-disgust.
“I should have noticed.”
“You were scared.”
“That does not excuse it.”
Natalie appreciated the answer.
Lucas climbed down from the sofa.
“Did Uncle Marcus make Mom leave?”
Daniel looked at him.
“I think he helped keep her away.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed she would take me away from the life he wanted.”
Lucas frowned.
“He took her away so she couldn’t take you away?”
Daniel's eyes filled with something close to shame.
“Yes.”
Lucas thought about it.
“That’s stupid.”
Natalie almost laughed despite everything.
Daniel's mouth twitched.
“Yes.”
“It’s very stupid.”
For a moment, the room breathed.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
He looked at the screen and immediately answered.
His expression changed as he listened.
“When?”
A pause.
“Are you certain?”
Another pause.
“Send me the address.”
He ended the call.
Natalie stood.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at Lucas.
Then at her.
“My people found the courier who handled Claire's last six letters.”
“Where is she?”
Daniel looked toward the window as if the answer might already be waiting outside.
“The courier says Claire stopped sending letters three weeks ago.”
Natalie's stomach dropped.
Daniel continued.
“Because she said she was done asking permission to see her own son.”
Lucas's eyes widened.
Daniel's phone buzzed with the address.
He read it once.
Then twice.
His face went white.
Natalie stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Daniel turned the screen toward her.
The address was not across the city.
May you like
It was the small guest cottage at the edge of the Brooks estate.
Claire had been living less than half a mile from her son.
