Chapter 9 - THE SON WHO WASN’T A COLE
Nathan released Daniel.
The room felt too small.
Grace stared at him.
“Nathan…”
He walked away.
“No.”
Daniel stood.
“Listen.”
“No.”
Nathan turned.
“My father raised me.”
“I know.”
“He put his name on mine.”
“I know.”
“He built my entire life around being his son.”
Daniel swallowed.
“And he may have been protecting you from the reason you weren’t.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“That makes no sense.”
Daniel pulled another file from his bag.
“Charles requested DNA testing six months before he died.”
Nathan stared.
“With who?”
“A man named Thomas Bennett.”
Grace frowned.
“Who is that?”
Daniel looked at Nathan.
“Your mother’s former driver.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“My mother slept with the driver?”
Daniel didn’t smile.
“Thomas Bennett disappeared thirty-three years ago.”
“When I was born.”
“Yes.”
Nathan paced.
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“Dead?”
“Maybe.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
His entire identity was collapsing layer by layer.
Grace walked toward him.
“Whatever your blood says, you’re still Nathan.”
He looked at her.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand having your family rewritten overnight.”
That stopped him.
Grace touched his hand.
“You don’t have to figure out your whole life tonight.”
Nathan looked at Lily asleep on the couch.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“But I have to figure out hers.”
Daniel cleared his throat.
“There’s more.”
Nathan laughed without humor.
“Of course there is.”
“The firstborn clause doesn’t actually require Cole blood.”
Nathan frowned.
“It requires descent from the legal heir.”
“So Lily still qualifies.”
“Yes.”
“Then why hide my parentage?”
Daniel looked at the screen.
“Because if Thomas Bennett was your father, someone else may have had a claim against the company.”
Nathan narrowed his eyes.
“Who?”
Daniel opened a scanned newspaper article from 1992.
A younger Charles Cole stood beside a man Nathan had never seen.
THOMAS BENNETT ACCUSES COLE INDUSTRIES OF FRAUD.
The article disappeared from later archives.
Daniel had found a microfilm copy.
“Thomas claimed Charles stole the patent that created the company’s first fortune.”
Nathan stared.
“What patent?”
“A manufacturing system.”
“And?”
“The case vanished.”
Grace whispered.
“Like my father’s case.”
Daniel nodded.
Nathan’s stomach turned.
“This whole company is built on stolen things.”
No one argued.
Then Daniel’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His face changed.
“What?”
“It’s from Samuel Blake.”
Nathan frowned.
The board director who had warned him.
Daniel read aloud.
I HAVE THE ORIGINAL TRUST DOCUMENT.
MEET ME ALONE.
TONIGHT.
Nathan shook his head.
“Trap.”
“Probably.”
“I’m going.”
Grace immediately said, “No.”
Nathan looked at her.
“I need that document.”
“You have a daughter now.”
The words hit him.
Grace continued.
“You don’t get to act like dying is only your problem anymore.”
Nathan stared at her.
Then nodded.
“You’re right.”
He called security.
They arranged the meeting at a crowded parking garage with cameras.
Samuel arrived alone.
He looked terrified.
Nathan approached.
“Where’s the document?”
Samuel handed him a folder.
“I should have done this years ago.”
Nathan opened it.
The original trust agreement.
At the bottom was a handwritten amendment.
If Nathan Cole produces a biological or legally recognized child prior to marriage, controlling interest transfers irrevocably to said descendant at the age of twenty-five.
Nathan frowned.
“Twenty-five?”
Samuel nodded.
“Until then, voting control stays with Nathan.”
Nathan looked up.
“Then Victoria wouldn’t control anything.”
“No.”
Samuel swallowed.
“The version filed with the board was altered.”
Nathan stared.
“By who?”
“Richard.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
Samuel looked around nervously.
“Charles discovered it before he died.”
“What did he do?”
“He threatened to go to the FBI.”
Nathan froze.
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
Nathan’s pulse thundered.
Samuel’s eyes filled with fear.
“Your father didn’t have a heart attack, Nathan.”
A car engine roared behind them.
Samuel turned.
Nathan saw headlights.
“MOVE!”
He shoved Samuel aside.
The SUV slammed into the concrete barrier.
Security opened fire at the tires.
The SUV reversed and escaped.
Samuel lay on the ground.
Blood spread beneath him.
Nathan dropped beside him.
“Sam!”
Samuel grabbed Nathan’s sleeve.
“Richard…”
“What?”
“He ordered…”
Samuel struggled to breathe.
“What did he order?”
Samuel’s grip weakened.
“Your father’s medication…”
His eyes closed.
Nathan stared at him.
May you like
“Sam!”
But Samuel Blake didn’t answer.
