Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT MISSING FROM HIS MEMORY
Nathaniel had no memory of the night Sarah supposedly came to him.
That was precisely the problem.
Elias showed him archived security footage from eight years earlier.
Nathaniel walked into the house at 9:14 P.M.
Sarah arrived at 9:32.
They entered the library.
At 10:08, Alan Royce arrived.
At 10:41, Nathaniel was carried upstairs.
At 11:06, Sarah left alone.
The next morning, Nathaniel flew to London.
He remembered arriving there.
He did not remember the previous night.
“What did Alan give me?”
Elias looked grim.
“A sedative.”
“Why?”
“Your father’s old network had been using drugs that caused short-term memory disruption.”
Nathaniel felt physically ill.
“Alan drugged me in my own house?”
“Yes.”
“Why would Sarah leave?”
“She thought you betrayed her.”
Nathaniel’s face changed.
“What?”
“Alan told her you had approved the medical research.”
“No.”
“She believed him because you couldn’t stay conscious long enough to defend yourself.”
Nathaniel sat.
For eight years, he had believed Sarah’s last weeks were distant because illness changed her.
Maybe she had been terrified.
Maybe she thought he had chosen the company over her.
Clara sat across from him quietly.
Nathaniel looked at her.
“You should be resting.”
“So should you.”
He almost smiled.
Then Marcus entered.
His face was unreadable.
“Nathaniel.”
“Brother.”
Marcus stopped.
Elias closed his eyes.
Marcus understood.
“You told him.”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel stood.
“How long?”
“My whole life.”
“You knew who I was?”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Because Charles Vaughn wanted one legitimate son and one useful secret.”
Nathaniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
“My mother was a housekeeper.”
Clara’s expression changed.
Marcus noticed.
“So was my mother.”
Nathaniel looked away.
His father.
Of course.
Marcus continued.
“Charles paid for my education, then used me in security because nobody knew we were related.”
“And Sarah?”
Marcus’s face changed.
“I loved her like a sister.”
“Did you blame me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still?”
Marcus hesitated.
“No.”
That mattered.
“What changed?”
“I found Alan’s old medical file six months ago.”
“Why not tell me?”
“Because I wanted proof before I destroyed your life.”
Nathaniel laughed once.
“Everyone keeps protecting me by lying.”
Marcus accepted the blow.
Then he handed Nathaniel a folder.
“I found proof.”
Medical logs.
Alan Royce administered Nathaniel a compound the night Sarah visited.
Then Sarah’s toxicology record.
Same compound class.
Repeated low-dose exposure.
Nathaniel’s hands shook.
“She was poisoned.”
“Yes.”
“By Alan?”
“Partly.”
Nathaniel looked up.
“Partly?”
Marcus nodded.
“Someone delivered the doses through her supplements.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“Someone living in this house at the time.”
Nathaniel stared.
“Elias?”
“No.”
“Staff?”
“No.”
Marcus looked toward the stairs.
“Your father’s widow.”
Nathaniel’s stepmother.
Victoria Vaughn.
A woman who had lived in Monaco for seven years.
Nathaniel went cold.
“She hated Sarah.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Sarah discovered Victoria inherited part of Charles’s hidden medical business.”
Nathaniel stared at Marcus.
Then Clara spoke quietly.
“Is Victoria connected to Camille?”
Marcus nodded.
“Camille is her goddaughter.”
Silence.
Nathaniel suddenly understood.
His engagement had not begun randomly.
Camille had been placed near him.
Just like Sarah had been watched.
May you like
Then Marcus said:
“And Victoria is flying to Connecticut tonight.”
