Chapter 10 - THE BOY NATHAN CALLED HIS SON
Nathan Drake had a son.
I learned that the moment I confronted him outside the bank.
“A son?” I demanded.
His expression changed.
“Bella…”
“You never told me.”
Nathan looked toward the attorney standing beside me.
Then he took a slow breath.
“His name is Ethan.”
I felt the world tilt.
“How old?”
“Twenty-three.”
My knees nearly buckled.
Twenty-three.
Exactly the age my brother would have been.
Nathan noticed my reaction.
“What is it?”
I handed him the photograph.
He stared at the baby in the blue blanket.
Then his face went white.
“Where did you get this?”
“My mother's safety deposit box.”
Nathan looked at me.
“What did she say?”
I could barely speak.
“That this baby was my brother.”
Nathan slowly sat down.
For the first time since I'd met him, the powerful businessman looked utterly defeated.
“I adopted Ethan when he was six months old.”
My breath caught.
“From whom?”
“Victoria arranged it.”
The words hung between us.
He continued.
“She told me the child's parents had died. She said he was the son of someone connected to our family.”
I pressed a hand against my mouth.
“Did you ever see adoption records?”
“Yes.”
“Were they verified?”
Nathan looked away.
“I believed they were.”
I began crying.
“My mother spent twenty-three years searching for him.”
Nathan's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't know.”
I wanted to scream.
At Victoria.
At Julian.
At every person who had stolen my family.
But Nathan looked devastated too.
And I realized something painful.
He might have raised my brother without knowing the truth.
“Where is Ethan now?” I whispered.
Nathan hesitated.
“He lives in Boston.”
“What does he do?”
“He's a medical student.”
I laughed through my tears.
Of course he was.
My mother had always wanted us to help people.
Nathan looked at me.
“I love him, Bella. He's my son.”
I nodded slowly.
“And he's my brother.”
Neither statement canceled the other.
Nathan picked up his phone.
Then stopped.
“We need to tell him carefully.”
I agreed.
An independent attorney reviewed the available records, and Ethan was contacted privately.
He agreed to come to Chicago.
Two days later, I stood inside Nathan's office waiting for the brother I'd never known.
The elevator doors opened.
A young man stepped out.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A familiar dimple.
He looked at me.
Then at the childhood photograph in my hand.
And whispered:
“Bella?”
I began crying.
“Ethan?”
He stepped toward me.
But before either of us could move, his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“Dad…”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
Ethan slowly turned his phone toward us.
A photograph showed Victoria Drake standing outside his Boston apartment.
Beneath it was a message.
Tell Bella to stop digging.
May you like
Then another appeared.
“Or she'll lose her brother a second time.”
