Chapter 10 - THE LETTER FROM MY FATHER
I read my father’s letter three times.
Daniel,
You are my son in every way that matters, and biologically as well. Margaret knows this. Years ago, after a fight over the trust, she threatened to claim otherwise. I had testing done privately. The report is stored with the Continuity records in Box 14.
If she attacks your bloodline, she is trying to break the chain between you and your child.
Do not let her.
And do not trust Leonard with Box 14.
I sat alone in the library until dawn.
Box 14 was not in the records room.
Grace had never heard of it.
The company archive listed boxes by year, not number.
At eight, I called Leonard.
He answered on the first ring.
“Where is Box 14?”
Silence.
Then: “I don’t know what you mean.”
“My father said you would.”
“You’re chasing ghosts.”
“I’m chasing forged DNA tests, deleted footage, shell-company payments, and a dead wife.”
His breathing changed.
“Daniel, listen to me. Margaret is not the only person you should be afraid of.”
“Who else?”
“Your father built enemies.”
“So did you.”
He hung up.
Ten minutes later, Ruiz called.
They had searched Margaret’s sedan.
Under the passenger seat, officers found a second phone.
The phone contained messages with a contact saved as L.S.
Leonard Shaw.
One message, sent the morning before Noah’s fall, read:
IF THE CHILD REACHES 18 MONTHS WITH PATERNITY CONFIRMED, WE LOSE CONTROL.
Margaret replied:
THEN HE DOESN’T REACH IT UNDER DANIEL’S ROOF.
I closed my eyes.
Ruiz continued. “There’s something else. The phone has a photo of a storage receipt.”
“For what?”
“Private vault. First Republic Storage.”
“What box number?”
May you like
She paused.
“Fourteen.”
