The Billionaire Vanished With Forty-Seven Dollars to Find a Woman Who Would Love Him Poor, but the Woman He Found Was Hiding a Secret of Her Own
Chapter 8
Nathan felt as if the floor had disappeared.
“My mother?”
Thomas nodded.
“Your father told you she died when you were ten.”
“She did.”
“No.”
Nathan stared.
Thomas continued.
“Your mother left.”
Nathan shook his head.
“You’re lying.”
“She discovered what Edward was doing.”
“What was he doing?”
Thomas looked at Elena.
“Ask her.”
Nathan turned.
“Elena?”
She looked terrified.
“I didn’t know your mother.”
Thomas laughed.
“You knew enough.”
Nathan stepped toward him.
“Tell me.”
Thomas sighed.
“Your mother was investigating the same adoption network.”
Nathan froze.
“She found evidence that children were being moved through private agencies.”
“And my father?”
“He tried to stop it.”
“Then why did Mom disappear?”
Thomas looked away.
“Because someone inside the company threatened her.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
Nathan turned toward Victor.
Victor said nothing.
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“You killed my mother?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Thomas answered.
“She ran.”
Nathan stared.
“She abandoned us?”
“She thought she was protecting you.”
Nathan felt anger rising.
“My father told me she died.”
“Because he couldn’t tell you the truth.”
Nathan looked at Elena.
“Did you know this?”
She shook her head.
“I knew some of it.”
“Some?”
“I knew your mother had been searching for David.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“Your mother knew David before he disappeared.”
Thomas nodded.
“That’s why David became involved.”
Nathan’s mind raced.
Everything connected.
His mother.
David.
Emma.
His father.
Thomas.
The adoption network.
Forty-seven.
He turned toward Thomas.
“What is 47B?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“The original ledger.”
“Where?”
Thomas smiled.
“You’re finally asking the right question.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Thomas.”
Thomas raised a hand.
“It’s in New York.”
Nathan frowned.
“Where?”
“Your father’s old apartment.”
Nathan’s heart stopped.
The penthouse.
The place he’d left behind.
Thomas continued.
“Your father hid the ledger where no one would think to look.”
“Where?”
Thomas looked at Elena.
“Inside the wall behind his bedroom fireplace.”
Nathan remembered.
His father had never allowed anyone to renovate that room.
Nathan had assumed it was sentimental.
Now he understood.
Thomas turned toward the door.
“You have forty-eight hours.”
Nathan frowned.
“For what?”
“To find the ledger.”
“And then?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Then you’ll learn why your father wanted you to find Elena.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Why?”
Thomas smiled.
“Because she is the only person who can tell you what happened the night David disappeared.”
Then he left.
Victor followed.
The motel room fell silent.
Nathan looked at Elena.
“What happened that night?”
She sat down.
“I went to meet David.”
“Where?”
“At your father’s warehouse.”
“What happened?”
“He gave me Emma.”
Nathan stared.
“Why?”
“Because someone was coming.”
“Who?”
“Thomas.”
“What happened to David?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“He stayed behind.”
Nathan whispered:
“To protect you?”
“Yes.”
“And you left?”
“I had Emma.”
Nathan’s voice softened.
“You were protecting her.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you hide all of this from me?”
“Because David made me promise.”
Nathan nodded.
The next morning, they returned to New York.
Nathan didn’t tell anyone he was coming.
He entered the penthouse through the private elevator.
Everything looked exactly as he had left it.
His father’s bedroom remained untouched.
Nathan approached the fireplace.
He searched behind the stone.
Nothing.
Elena noticed something.
“The painting.”
Nathan looked.
A portrait of his father hung above the fireplace.
He removed it.
Behind it was a small safe.
The combination was engraved beneath the frame.
47B.
Nathan opened it.
Inside was a thick ledger.
And one photograph.
Nathan picked up the photograph.
His mother stood beside Edward.
But between them stood a young woman.
Elena.
Nathan stared.
He turned the photograph over.
Three words were written on the back.
We trusted Elena.
Nathan looked at her.
She began to cry.
Then Nathan opened the ledger.
The first page contained a list of names.
The second contained payments.
The third contained adoption records.
And on the final page was a name Nathan had never expected to see.
His own.
