She Helped a Homeless Stranger… Not Knowing He Was a Billionaire in Disguise
Chapter 7
Nathaniel refused to believe it.
His mother had died of cancer six years earlier.
He had attended the funeral.
He had watched the coffin lowered.
He had personally handled the estate.
“There has to be another explanation,” he said.
Olivia looked at the photograph.
“Then find it.”
They investigated quietly.
Nathaniel contacted the doctor who had treated his mother.
The doctor was retired.
When Nathaniel showed him the photograph, the man went pale.
“Where did you get this?”
“Answer me.”
The doctor sat down.
“Your mother wasn’t my patient.”
Nathaniel stared.
“What?”
“The woman I treated had the same name. Same records. Same identity.”
“But?”
The doctor looked frightened.
“But she wasn’t your mother.”
Olivia felt a chill.
“Then who was she?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathaniel stood.
“Who performed the identification?”
The doctor gave him a name.
Dr. Martin Hale.
The same doctor who signed the death certificate.
They found him living in Arizona.
He agreed to speak.
But only once.
Nathaniel and Olivia flew there.
Dr. Hale was seventy-eight.
He opened the door reluctantly.
“I knew this day would come.”
Nathaniel stared at him.
“Is my mother alive?”
The doctor nodded.
“Yes.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because your father wanted her hidden.”
“From whom?”
“The family.”
Dr. Hale explained that Nathaniel’s father had discovered his wife was involved in an international financial scheme.
She had been pressured into helping.
When she tried to leave, the people behind the scheme threatened her children.
Nathaniel’s father staged her death.
The woman buried six years earlier wasn’t Nathaniel’s mother.
She was a hired double.
Olivia looked at Nathaniel.
“Where is she now?”
Dr. Hale hesitated.
“Colorado.”
They found her two days later.
She was living under another name.
When Nathaniel walked through the door, she began crying.
“You’re so much like your father.”
Nathaniel stood motionless.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“You had a funeral.”
“I know.”
“You watched me mourn you.”
His mother cried.
“I’m sorry.”
Nathaniel turned away.
Olivia stayed outside.
When he finally came out, he looked exhausted.
“She knows about Blackridge.”
“Does she know who’s behind it?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“My father.”
Olivia stared.
“Your father died twelve years ago.”
“He didn’t.”
Silence.
“What?”
Nathaniel explained.
His father had staged his own death.
He had disappeared because he discovered the financial scheme extended far beyond Cross Meridian.
He had been working undercover.
The entire time, Nathaniel had believed he inherited the company.
In reality, his father had left him control because he wanted Nathaniel to uncover the truth.
Olivia shook her head.
“This is insane.”
Nathaniel smiled bitterly.
“I know.”
His mother gave them a name.
Victor Cross.
Nathaniel’s father.
She said he was living in Montana.
Nathaniel contacted him.
The answer was immediate.
“Stop investigating.”
Nathaniel froze.
“Why?”
“Because you’re close.”
“To what?”
A pause.
“To the people who killed your uncle.”
Nathaniel’s expression changed.
“My uncle?”
“Your mother’s brother.”
“What does he have to do with this?”
“Everything.”
The call ended.
Olivia looked at Nathaniel.
“Who was your uncle?”
Nathaniel whispered:
“Daniel Cross.”
Olivia’s blood ran cold.
“That’s your name.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“That’s the name I gave you when I was homeless.”
But now they knew why.
His father had used that name as a warning.
Because Daniel Cross was the man who had originally discovered the hidden accounts.
And he had been murdered for it.
