Chapter 7 - WHY THEY WANTED MY UNBORN SON
For twelve hours, nobody would tell me why someone wanted my baby.
By hour thirteen, I stopped asking politely.
I walked into Adrian's office, locked the door behind me, and placed the memory card on his desk.
“You tell me everything now, or I leave.”
Adrian looked up.
“You're threatening to leave the safest house in Illinois?”
“Yes.”
“That's objectively terrible strategy.”
“Then start talking.”
Luca sat in the corner.
He looked almost amused.
Adrian wasn't.
He leaned back.
“Daniel discovered that Nathan's company had been moving money through trusts established twenty-eight years ago.”
“What does that have to do with my child?”
“One trust belongs to the Hayes family.”
I blinked.
“My family doesn't have money.”
“Your father didn't.”
“My father was a high-school science teacher.”
“Your grandfather wasn't.”
I stared at him.
“My grandfather died before I was born.”
Adrian opened a file.
“Samuel Hayes owned industrial property along the Chicago River. Hundreds of acres.”
“No.”
“He died in 1994. The estate was transferred through a series of companies.”
“To whom?”
“Black Harbor.”
I shook my head.
“My mother would've known.”
“Maybe she did.”
“She died when I was nineteen.”
“I know.”
The way he said it bothered me.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Adrian pushed a document toward me.
It was a copy of my grandfather's will.
The property had not been sold.
It had been placed into a family trust.
The controlling interest would pass to his first great-grandchild.
I read that sentence again.
Then again.
“My baby?”
“Yes.”
“How much is it worth?”
Luca answered.
“Current redevelopment value? Somewhere north of four hundred million.”
I nearly laughed.
I had seventeen dollars yesterday.
Now someone was telling me my unborn child controlled land worth hundreds of millions.
“This is insane.”
“It's real,” Adrian said.
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because the trust documents were buried.”
“By Black Harbor?”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel found them.”
“Yes.”
I sat down.
Suddenly Nathan's obsession made sense.
My pregnancy hadn't merely complicated his plans.
It had activated the trust.
“He knew,” I whispered.
Adrian nodded.
“Nathan found out after you left him.”
“That's why he came back around.”
“Probably.”
“He offered to help me.”
“Yes.”
“He asked me twice if I'd considered giving the baby his last name.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
I felt sick.
Nathan had not wanted me.
He had wanted my son's inheritance.
“What happens when the baby is born?”
“The trust becomes legally enforceable.”
“Which means?”
“Anyone controlling the child's guardianship could potentially influence the assets.”
My blood ran cold.
“Nathan was planning to take my child.”
Adrian said nothing.
That was answer enough.
I stood.
“I want an attorney.”
“You'll have the best.”
“I want the trust frozen.”
“Already being done.”
“I want every document copied.”
“Already happening.”
I stared at him.
“You planned all this?”
“No.”
“Then why are you always three steps ahead?”
His gaze held mine.
“Because I knew about the Hayes trust before Daniel did.”
My chest tightened.
“How?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Luca looked away.
“Adrian.”
He slowly opened his desk drawer.
Inside was an old photograph.
My mother stood beside a younger man.
A man I recognized immediately.
Adrian's father.
My heart stopped.
On the back were handwritten words.
TO MARIA, FOR OUR DAUGHTER CLAIRE.
I looked up.
Adrian's face had gone pale.
May you like
And suddenly I understood why the Moretti family had known so much about me.
My father might not have been my father at all.
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