Chapter 7
Richard stared at the phone.
Sophie sat beside him.
She had heard Helen’s words.
“Is it true?” she whispered.
Richard ended the call.
“No.”
“But the test said—”
“The test was changed.”
Graham drove faster through the dark roads.
“Malcolm owns the laboratory director,” he said. “The report was prepared before they collected the samples.”
Richard looked at Sophie.
“Emily had another test done years ago. That one proved the truth.”
“Where is it?”
“With the police.”
“Can they change that one too?”
Richard hated that she had learned to ask such questions.
“We have the original sample stored at a different hospital.”
Eleanor leaned forward.
“Emily saved a sealed blood sample in case Daniel challenged paternity.”
Sophie looked between them.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about Uncle Daniel?”
“You were too young,” Richard said.
“People say that when they don’t want children to know something.”
Richard had no defense.
“You deserved the truth in a way that didn’t frighten you. We failed to give you that.”
Sophie looked out the window.
“Maybe I don’t belong to anyone.”
Richard’s heart broke.
“You belong to yourself.”
She turned toward him.
“And you belong with the people who love you. Biology will never change that.”
“Even if he is my father?”
“Even then, I will still be your dad.”
Sophie took his hand.
“I want you.”
“You have me.”
Graham stopped near an unmarked building outside the city.
Federal agents surrounded the vehicle.
The safe house had no windows facing the street.
Inside, an agent explained that Daniel and Malcolm were expected at Pier 16.
The task force planned to arrest them.
Richard demanded to go.
The agent refused.
“You are a target, Mr. Sterling.”
“My presence may draw them out.”
“Your presence may get people killed.”
Richard remained at the safe house for Sophie.
He watched the operation through a secure feed.
At eleven forty, Daniel arrived at the pier.
He carried a briefcase.
Malcolm arrived in a black sedan with four armed guards.
Father and son-in-law faced each other beneath a warehouse light.
Malcolm looked older than Richard remembered.
His white hair moved in the wind.
Daniel opened the briefcase.
Inside were passports and the forged laboratory report.
“I did what you wanted,” Daniel said.
“You failed to bring the girl,” Malcolm replied.
“Richard interfered.”
“Richard has always been better than you.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
Malcolm knew exactly where to cut him.
“I killed Emily for you.”
“You panicked and made a mess.”
“I kept your daughter out of prison.”
“Vanessa is weak.”
Daniel glanced around.
“Where is my plane?”
Malcolm’s guards raised their weapons.
“There is no plane.”
Daniel stepped back.
“You need me.”
“I needed your hatred. It served its purpose.”
Federal agents moved into position.
Before they could intervene, gunfire erupted from the warehouse.
A second group attacked Malcolm’s guards.
Vanessa stepped from the shadows wearing body armor.
She had escaped federal transport.
Richard leaned toward the screen.
“How did she get out?”
No one answered.
Vanessa aimed at her father.
“You left me in a cage.”
Malcolm smiled.
“You put yourself there.”
“You ordered me to marry Richard.”
“And you became emotional.”
“I did everything for this family.”
“You humiliated us over a child.”
Sophie watched from the hallway.
Richard moved to block the screen.
She had already seen Vanessa.
“I want to know what happens.”
“You don’t need to see this.”
“She hurt me.”
“That is why you shouldn’t.”
Nora guided Sophie into another room.
On the feed, Daniel moved behind a vehicle.
Vanessa and Malcolm shouted at each other.
Then Daniel fired.
Malcolm fell.
His guards returned fire.
Vanessa ran toward the water.
Federal agents entered from both sides.
Daniel disappeared into the warehouse.
The camera feed cut out.
Richard waited.
Five minutes later, the task-force commander called.
Malcolm had survived.
Vanessa had escaped by boat.
Daniel had taken an agent hostage and fled in a police vehicle.
The conspiracy continued to protect itself.
The next morning, federal investigators collected new DNA samples.
This time, they used three independent laboratories.
Emily’s stored sample was tested as well.
Richard tried to focus on Sophie’s recovery.
A therapist named Dr. Lena Ortiz met with her privately.
Afterward, Lena spoke to Richard.
“Sophie believes the conflict exists because of her.”
“I told her it doesn’t.”
“She hears you, but trauma is not persuaded by one conversation.”
“What should I do?”
“Give her choices where choices are safe. Let her see adults accept responsibility. Stop making promises you cannot guarantee.”
Richard remembered promising Vanessa would never return.
He had meant it.
But Vanessa had reached Sophie again and again.
“I want her to feel safe.”
“Then say what you can do now. Do not promise the world will never frighten her.”
Richard sat with Sophie in the garden.
Police stood beyond the walls.
“What do you want to do today?” he asked.
“Go home.”
“The mansion is still being searched.”
“I want my room.”
“We can go when police say it’s safe.”
“Will you stay there?”
“Yes.”
“Will you leave for work?”
“Not until you are ready.”
She picked at a loose thread on her sleeve.
“Don’t promise forever.”
Richard recognized Lena’s language.
“All right. I will stay today. Tomorrow, we will decide again.”
Sophie nodded.
“That’s better.”
The three DNA reports arrived the following evening.
Every one reached the same conclusion.
Richard was Sophie’s biological father.
Daniel’s claim collapsed.
Maya released a statement protecting Sophie’s identity as much as possible.
News organizations corrected their reports.
But the emotional damage remained.
Daniel sent Richard a voice message.
The blood does not matter. Emily chose you because of your money. Sophie will learn what you really are.
Attached was a video from Emily’s final day.
She was arguing with Richard outside their home.
Richard remembered the argument.
Emily had asked him to cancel a business trip.
He had refused.
The edited video made it appear that he threatened her.
Sophie saw part of it on a news broadcast.
“Why were you angry with Mommy?”
Richard sat beside her.
“Because I thought my meeting was more important than listening.”
“What did she want to tell you?”
“That she was in danger.”
“You didn’t listen?”
“No.”
Sophie’s eyes filled with tears.
“If you listened, would she be alive?”
The question had haunted Richard for four years.
“I don’t know.”
“You always say you can fix everything.”
“I was wrong.”
She stood.
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
Richard let her leave.
Every part of him wanted to follow.
Lena stopped him.
“She needs to be angry.”
“She thinks I caused Emily’s death.”
“She is trying to make sense of something senseless.”
Richard watched Sophie enter the house.
“I did fail Emily.”
“That can be true without making you responsible for murder.”
The board of Sterling Global called an emergency vote.
Several directors demanded Richard step down while the criminal investigation continued.
The stock price had collapsed.
Thousands of employees feared losing their jobs.
Richard attended remotely.
A director named Howard Kane led the attack.
“You brought this scandal into the company,” Kane said.
“My family was targeted because criminals wanted the company.”
“You struck your fiancée.”
“After she assaulted me and abused my daughter.”
“We cannot run a corporation through emotional explanations.”
Richard looked at the screen.
Howard’s name appeared in Eleanor’s file.
He had received payments from Malcolm.
“You’re right,” Richard said. “Let’s discuss documents.”
He displayed bank transfers connecting Howard to Vale accounts.
Howard’s face changed.
“This is fabricated.”
“Federal agents are entering your office now.”
Behind Howard, the boardroom doors opened.
Agents moved inside.
Other directors began shouting.
Richard continued.
“Anyone else who accepted Vale money should remain seated.”
Three board members ran.
They were arrested in the hall.
The vote to remove Richard failed.
But Graham called him afterward.
“You exposed Howard too early.”
“He was trying to take the company.”
“He was also our only direct link to Daniel.”
“We have the payment records.”
“Daniel has something worse.”
“What?”
“Control codes for Sterling’s defense division.”
Richard froze.
The division manufactured navigation systems for military aircraft.
“What can he access?”
“Prototypes, flight data, remote test platforms.”
“Can we shut it down?”
“Howard changed the authorization chain.”
An alarm appeared on Richard’s laptop.
One of Sterling’s unmanned test aircraft had launched from a Nevada facility.
Its destination was hidden.
Richard called the operations center.
Engineers tried to regain control.
A message appeared across every screen.
BRING SOPHIE TO THE OLD STERLING MILL.
COME WITHOUT POLICE.
OR THE AIRCRAFT FALLS ON A CITY.
Sophie stood in the doorway.
She read the message.
“This is because of me.”
Richard moved toward her.
“No.”
She stepped away.
“He wants me.”
“He is not getting you.”
The aircraft changed course.
A map appeared.
Its flight path pointed toward Charlotte.
May you like
A countdown began.
Forty-six minutes.
