Chapter 9 - The Second Daughter
Maya went still.
“No.”
Evelyn held out the DNA report.
“Your mother was Rebecca Reed.”
Maya’s face changed.
“How do you know her name?”
“Because Samuel paid for your education through an anonymous trust.”
Nora looked between them.
“My father had another child?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Before he married your mother.”
Maya shook her head repeatedly.
“My father died before I was born.”
“That is what your mother told you.”
Nora felt another foundation of her life shift.
“Did my father know?”
“He learned about Maya twelve years ago.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He intended to. Then Maya’s mother asked him not to disrupt her life.”
Maya took the report with trembling hands.
“My brother…”
“Your half-brother through your mother,” Evelyn said. “Not Samuel’s son.”
Maya looked at Nora.
Neither woman knew what to say.
Vivian found her voice first.
“How touching. Samuel scattered heirs everywhere and called it responsibility.”
Evelyn faced her.
“Maya owns twelve percent of Hale Meridian.”
Vivian’s eyes sharpened.
“And Nora?”
“Thirty-eight percent personally, plus the child’s future voting trust.”
Together, Nora and Maya would hold a majority.
Maya laughed once, without humor.
“I spent three months obeying these people because I thought they could destroy my family.”
“They still can,” Vivian said.
Everyone turned toward her.
Vivian smiled.
“Maya’s brother is alive.”
Maya rushed forward.
“Where is he?”
“In one of our research residences.”
“Research residence?”
“A private medical facility.”
Maya’s face went white.
“You experimented on him.”
“He volunteered.”
“He tried to expose you!”
“And he became emotionally unstable.”
Nora recognized the language immediately.
The same story they had prepared for her.
Discredit the witness.
Control the records.
Lock the person away.
Maya grabbed Vivian.
“Where is he?”
Federal agents pulled them apart.
Vivian remained calm.
“There are forty-six Cole Meridian facilities in seven states. Good luck.”
Grant stepped forward.
“Redwood.”
Vivian turned.
Grant’s face was hard.
“The facility is called Redwood House. You sent me there twice.”
Maya stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I thought it was a recovery center for employees.”
“Where?”
“Upstate. Near Lake Arden.”
An agent immediately radioed the location.
Evelyn looked at Nora.
“We need to get you to a hospital.”
“I’m not leaving until I know whether Julian’s vest is safe and Maya’s brother has been found.”
“Nora,” Celeste said gently, “you’re bleeding.”
Another cramp tightened across Nora’s abdomen.
This one was stronger.
She gripped the table.
Ethan moved instinctively toward her, then stopped himself.
Nora looked at him.
For one terrible second, she wanted him to hold her.
Then she remembered him watching silently while his family humiliated her.
“Call an ambulance,” she said.
As officers handcuffed Vivian, she leaned toward Nora.
“You think taking the company makes you powerful?”
Nora met her eyes.
“No.”
“Then what does?”
“Refusing to become you.”
Vivian smiled.
“You’ll understand soon enough. Hale Meridian is collapsing. The accounts are empty.”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
Nora noticed.
“What is she talking about?”
Vivian was escorted toward the doors.
She called back over her shoulder.
“Ask your father’s loyal attorney where she moved three hundred million dollars.”
All eyes turned toward Evelyn.
She closed the leather folder.
“I can explain.”
Nora’s contractions suddenly came again.
Harder.
Closer.
As paramedics entered, Evelyn whispered:
May you like
“But you may not like the answer.”
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