Chapter 9 - CARTER’S REAL FATHER
Carter laughed when Agent Reeves repeated Nathaniel’s claim.
It was not amusement.
It was shock.
“This is insane.”
Charles said nothing.
That silence destroyed Carter’s laugh.
He looked at his father.
“Dad?”
Charles sat down.
Carter’s face went pale.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then say he’s lying.”
Charles could not.
I had never seen Carter look like a child before.
Now he did.
Nathaniel was brought into an interview room at a federal building shortly after one in the morning.
I watched him through reinforced glass.
He looked almost peaceful.
When I entered, he smiled.
“There she is.”
“You destroyed my identity, stole hundreds of millions of dollars, and tried to manipulate my family.”
“Yes.”
His casual answer made my skin crawl.
“Why?”
“Because Charles spent thirty years pretending history belonged to him.”
“And Carter?”
Nathaniel leaned back.
“Carter belongs to nobody in the way Charles thinks.”
I placed both hands on the table.
“Say what you mean.”
Nathaniel smiled.
“Charles’s wife, Margaret, had an affair.”
I knew Margaret had died when Carter was sixteen.
“With whom?”
Nathaniel looked directly at me.
“Thomas Vale.”
I froze.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Thomas died before Carter was born.”
“Correct.”
I calculated quickly.
Carter was thirty-two.
Thomas had died thirty-three years earlier.
Possible.
Barely.
Nathaniel continued.
“Margaret was pregnant when Thomas died.”
My stomach turned.
“You’re saying Carter and I might share a biological father?”
The smile left his face.
“No.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Nathaniel leaned closer.
“Thomas wasn’t your father.”
“Who was?”
“I don’t know.”
I almost screamed.
“Then why build that ridiculous wall with four names?”
“Because Eleanor spent years trying to determine the truth.”
“Why include Charles?”
Nathaniel’s expression changed.
For the first time, he looked uncertain.
“Because your mother once claimed Charles was your father.”
I stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.
“No.”
“I don’t believe her.”
“Why?”
“Because she made the claim while drunk, furious, and divorcing Michael Sterling.”
I stared at him.
“What did Eleanor believe?”
Nathaniel’s eyes softened.
“That your mother was protecting someone.”
“Who?”
“She never told me.”
I forced myself to sit again.
“Why steal from my trust?”
His face hardened.
“Because Carter was going to destroy Harrington Global.”
“So you decided to destroy it first?”
“No.”
“I moved money into accounts Charles couldn’t reach.”
I stared.
“You expect me to believe you were protecting the company?”
“I expect you to verify it.”
“Where is the money?”
“Still there.”
“Northstar?”
“Vivien was supposed to hold forty-eight million temporarily.”
That stunned me.
“She knew?”
“Not everything.”
“Did Carter know?”
Nathaniel laughed.
“Carter thought he was financing a private expansion project Vivien promised would make him independent of his father.”
That sounded exactly like Carter.
Stupid.
Arrogant.
But not criminal in the way I had feared.
Nathaniel continued.
“The other two hundred and fifteen million is untouched.”
“Where?”
He smiled again.
“Ask Evelyn Shaw.”
My blood went cold.
“The compliance officer?”
“She helped design the accounts.”
I stood.
“You’re lying.”
“Maybe.”
As I reached the door, Nathaniel called after me.
“Serena.”
I turned.
“You want to know who your father was?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop looking at the men.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Nathaniel leaned back.
“Your grandmother hid the answer in your mother’s medical records.”
May you like
And suddenly I understood the secret might not be about paternity at all.
It might be about the story of my birth.
