Chapter 9 - THE FOURTH CHILD
His name was Eli.
Daniel remembered him.
Barely.
“He wasn’t our brother.”
Marcus paced.
“He was older. Maybe fourteen.”
Maya looked shaken.
“He stayed with us for a few nights.”
Shiomara searched her memory.
“I never saw him.”
“He left before you arrived,” Daniel said.
According to the police report, Eli had been connected to the same men who exploited Daniel and Marcus.
He was listed as missing.
Never located.
Marcus pulled up archived records.
“No last name.”
Shiomara frowned.
“How does that connect to Kane?”
The answer came two hours later.
Eli’s full name had been buried in sealed juvenile files.
Elias Vance.
Harold Vance’s son.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“Harold’s son was homeless?”
Maya whispered, “And living with us?”
The story emerged piece by piece.
Harold had been a struggling attorney then.
His wife had died.
His teenage son ran away.
Months later, Elias became involved with men who used homeless children for theft.
Harold eventually found him.
And buried the entire episode to protect his career.
“What happened to Elias?” Shiomara asked.
Marcus searched corporate records.
Then stopped.
“He changed his name.”
“To what?”
Marcus turned the laptop.
ELIAS VANCE KANE.
Victor Kane’s legal name at birth.
The room went dead quiet.
Shiomara felt cold.
Victor Kane had been the fourth homeless child.
The one who left before she arrived.
Daniel sat slowly.
“That explains everything.”
Maya shook her head.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Marcus understood first.
“He knew about Shiomara.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“If he knew Dad searched for her… if Harold told him…”
Shiomara finished the thought.
“Then Victor knew exactly who I was before any of you did.”
A knock came at the hotel door.
Security checked.
A courier.
Envelope for Shiomara.
Inside was one photograph.
Four children beneath the bridge.
Daniel.
Marcus.
Maya.
And a teenage boy.
On the back, handwritten:
YOU FED THEM.
NO ONE FED ME.
Shiomara closed her eyes.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Daniel looked at her sharply.
“Don’t feel sorry for him.”
“I can feel sorry for a hungry child without excusing the man he became.”
That silenced everyone.
The envelope contained a second note.
MEET ME ALONE. MIDNIGHT. THE BRIDGE.
Daniel tore it in half.
“Absolutely not.”
Shiomara picked up the pieces.
“He wants me.”
“He threatened you.”
“He also spent twenty-eight years believing nobody chose him.”
Maya’s voice broke.
“You can’t fix that.”
“No.”
Shiomara looked at the clock.
“But maybe I can finally hear what happened.”
Daniel blocked the door.
“You’re not going.”
Shiomara met his eyes.
“You remember what I told you when those men came for you?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
She smiled sadly.
“Fear doesn’t get to make the decision.”
At 11:52 p.m., Shiomara stepped beneath the same bridge where everything had begun.
May you like
And from the darkness came Victor Kane’s voice.
“You’re eight minutes early.”
