Chapter 4 - The Man Who Vanished
Daniel did not speak for nearly a minute.
Then he laughed once.
It was not amusement.
It was disbelief.
“Thomas Vale?”
Judith sat down.
“Daniel.”
“My father’s best friend?”
“Richard was your father.”
“You slept with his business partner?”
“It happened once.”
I watched her.
She would not meet my eyes.
“Once?”
Judith looked at me sharply.
“This is none of your business.”
“You made my daughter’s bloodline your business.”
Daniel slammed his palm against the table.
“Enough.”
Judith flinched.
I had never seen him raise his voice at her before.
“What happened to Thomas?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He disappeared.”
“Two months before I was born.”
Judith’s face drained of color.
That timing clearly meant something.
Daniel saw it.
“He knew.”
She remained silent.
“Thomas knew you were pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“Did Dad know?”
“No.”
Another pause.
Then Judith corrected herself.
“Not at first.”
Daniel stared at her.
“At first?”
Judith pressed both hands together.
“Richard found out later.”
“How much later?”
“After Thomas disappeared.”
The room felt colder.
I remembered the stories.
Thomas Vale’s abandoned car.
The police investigation.
The rumors that he had stolen company money.
Richard buying Thomas’s shares after the disappearance.
The Mercer family becoming wealthy while Thomas Vale became a footnote.
“What did Richard do when he found out?” I asked.
Judith looked at me with hatred.
“I said this is none of your business.”
“It became my business when you chained my daughter to a porch.”
She stood.
“Get out.”
Daniel did not move.
“Why did you accuse Claire?”
Judith blinked.
“What?”
“Why were you suddenly so obsessed with whether Maisie was mine?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You knew Dad wasn’t my biological father.”
Judith said nothing.
“So every time you told me blood matters, you knew.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Her jaw tightened.
“From losing everything.”
That stopped us both.
Daniel stared at her.
“What does Maisie’s DNA have to do with money?”
Judith walked toward the window.
For the first time, she looked old.
“The company trust has a bloodline clause.”
Daniel frowned.
“What bloodline clause?”
She slowly turned.
“Richard’s father wrote it when the company was formed.”
My stomach tightened.
Mercer-Vale Industries was now worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Daniel was chairman.
Judith controlled a large family trust.
“What happens if Daniel isn’t Richard’s biological son?” I asked.
Judith whispered the answer.
“His controlling shares may never have legally belonged to him.”
Daniel went still.
“And if Thomas Vale was my biological father?”
Judith closed her eyes.
“Then everything gets worse.”
“Why?”
May you like
She looked directly at him.
“Because Thomas had another child.”
