Chapter 7 - THE NAME ADDISON BURIED
Dwayne looked at Addison.
For once, she looked caught.
Not surprised.
Caught.
“What is your name?”
She pushed her glasses up.
“Addison.”
“Celeste says otherwise.”
“My legal name is Addison Lynwood.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Silence.
Nathan stared at his sister.
“Addie?”
Even he did not know.
That mattered.
Addison finally exhaled.
“My birth name was Adeline Rourke.”
Dwayne froze.
Rourke.
His biological father’s name.
“Explain.”
“My father was Samuel Rourke.”
Dwayne searched his memory.
Elias Rourke had one younger brother.
Samuel.
Presumed killed in a gang shooting twenty-eight years earlier.
Celeste shook her head.
“He survived.”
Addison continued.
“He changed his surname to Lynwood after leaving Boston.”
“Nathan?”
“My half brother. Same mother. Different father.”
Dwayne’s mind moved quickly.
“So your father was Elias Rourke’s brother.”
“Yes.”
“You’re my cousin.”
“Biologically.”
Dwayne almost laughed.
Of course.
Of course the quiet secretary hidden behind cardigans was blood-connected to a rival dynasty nobody knew still existed.
“Did you know about me?”
“No.”
“When did you learn?”
“Six months into working for you.”
“How?”
“I found old insurance documents.”
“And you stayed.”
“My brother was still missing.”
Celeste looked at Dwayne.
“Margaret knew Addison’s identity before she applied.”
Addison shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Celeste opened another file.
Recruitment email.
Anonymous referral.
Attached note:
PUT HER NEAR DWAYNE. HE WILL NEED A ROURKE WHEN THE CROSSES TURN ON HIM.
Dwayne read it twice.
Margaret had placed Addison beside him.
Not as a spy.
As insurance.
“Why?”
Celeste said:
“Because Vincent’s old people were preparing to remove you.”
Dwayne looked at Addison.
“And you never knew any of this?”
“No.”
For the first time, they were equally manipulated.
That was almost comforting.
Then Nathan spoke.
“There’s more.”
Everyone turned.
Nathan had been silent too long.
“Celeste didn’t tell you everything about Pier Nine.”
Her face tightened.
“Nathan.”
“No.”
He looked at Addison.
“You deserve it.”
“What?”
“The night I disappeared, I didn’t just see Celeste.”
His eyes moved to Dwayne.
“I saw Margaret Vale.”
Dwayne’s biological mother.
Alive.
At his dock.
Three years ago.
“What was she doing?”
“Meeting Simon.”
Dwayne’s face hardened.
Nathan continued.
“They were arguing.”
“About what?”
“You.”
Then he looked toward Addison.
“And her.”
Addison’s stomach tightened.
“What about me?”
Nathan whispered:
“Margaret told Simon that if Dwayne ever discovered Addison was a Rourke, he would never be allowed to let her leave.”
Silence.
Dwayne’s expression turned cold.
“That sounds like a threat.”
Nathan nodded.
“It was.”
Then he added:
“Because there’s an old Rourke trust.”
Addison closed her eyes.
She knew.
Dwayne saw it.
“What trust?”
She answered quietly.
“If two surviving branches of the Rourke bloodline combine ownership, they control sixty percent of the old waterfront properties.”
Dwayne stared.
“Combine how?”
Addison looked miserable.
“Marriage.”
May you like
The room went silent.
And Dwayne understood exactly why Margaret had put Addison beside him.
