Chapter 30 - Two Boys Named Lucas
For several seconds, nobody moved.
My mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Two boys.
Same face.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same scar over the left eyebrow.
One stood beside Victor.
The other stood behind the blue door.
Diane began screaming.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“Now you understand.”
I looked at Rachel.
She was crying.
“Which one is my son?”
Neither boy answered.
Victor walked between them.
“That is the question David spent twelve years preventing you from asking.”
Evan was still being held outside.
“Dad knew?”
Victor nodded.
“David knew there were two children.”
“How?”
Victor looked at the trust.
“The hospital made a mistake.”
Rebecca.
Dr. Bell.
The fake records.
The blood.
Everything collided.
Twins.
Lucas had a twin.
But Anna had never mentioned one.
Diane looked like she was going to collapse.
“I had one child.”
Victor shook his head.
“You were told you had one.”
Rebecca's father hadn't merely sold babies.
He had altered births.
I looked at the two boys.
“Which one is Lucas Brooks?”
Victor smiled.
“That depends on which record you read.”
The boy beside him stepped forward.
“I am Lucas.”
The other boy shook his head.
“No.”
My heart broke.
The second boy looked at me.
“My name is Daniel.”
Diane whispered:
“David.”
Both boys looked at her.
Victor laughed softly.
“Your husband named one Lucas.”
“And the other?”
“Your husband named Daniel.”
Rachel spoke through her tears.
“David knew there were twins.”
I turned toward her.
“How?”
“Rebecca's father discovered it.”
“Then why was only one recorded?”
“Because Richard paid him.”
Victor nodded.
“Richard wanted one heir.”
“Why?”
“To keep the trust invalid.”
I looked at the two boys.
“Then why did Victor take Lucas?”
Victor's expression changed.
“Because he took the wrong child.”
Silence.
Evan stared.
“What?”
Victor looked toward the boy standing beside him.
“This isn't Lucas.”
The boy's face fell.
He looked terrified.
“I told you.”
Victor grabbed his shoulder.
“You've been calling him Lucas.”
The boy whispered:
“My name is Daniel.”
I turned toward the other child.
“Then you're Lucas?”
He nodded.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Yes.”
Diane took one step forward.
Lucas backed away.
“Don't.”
Her face broke.
“I'm your mother.”
Lucas shook his head.
“No.”
“Lucas…”
“You weren't there.”
“I thought you died.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Victor answered for him.
“I told him.”
Diane looked at him with horror.
“You made him hate me.”
“I made him survive.”
Lucas looked at her.
“Did you leave me?”
Diane shook her head.
“No.”
Lucas started crying.
“I waited.”
Diane covered her mouth.
“I waited too.”
For the first time, Victor's expression faltered.
Rachel moved toward Lucas.
“Come with me.”
Victor blocked her.
“No.”
The investigator's voice suddenly came through the speakers.
“Victor. Drop the weapon.”
Victor froze.
The hidden officers had entered the lower corridor.
The room erupted.
One of Victor's men fired.
The bullet shattered a light.
Everyone screamed.
I grabbed Lucas.
The investigator tackled the gunman.
Rachel pulled Daniel behind a wall.
Victor ran for the trust.
I grabbed it first.
He stopped.
“Natalie.”
“Stay back.”
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
He looked at Lucas.
“He can't activate the trust.”
“Why?”
“Because he's not legally Lucas.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Victor smiled.
“The name was transferred.”
“To Daniel?”
“No.”
“To me.”
I froze.
“What?”
Victor laughed.
“That's why your name was activated.”
He pointed toward the wall.
The file marked Natalie Lane was open.
Inside was my birth certificate.
Beside it was another document.
A legal adoption record.
My name wasn't Natalie Lane at birth.
It was Natalie Brooks.
I couldn't breathe.
Evan saw the screen.
“Natalie…”
I looked at him.
“I didn't know.”
He stared at the document.
“My father adopted you.”
Victor nodded.
“Because you were one of the original heirs.”
Anna began crying.
“You were the fourth.”
I looked at the trust.
The four names.
Not Evan.
Not Samuel.
Not Anna.
Not Lucas.
Me.
Evan.
Samuel.
Anna.
The original four.
Lucas had been created as a contingency.
The investigator shouted:
“Then what does that make him?”
Victor answered:
“The key.”
Lucas looked terrified.
I moved toward him.
“No one is using you.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Then give me the trust.”
I held it tighter.
“No.”
He aimed at me.
Evan screamed.
“Natalie!”
A gunshot exploded.
Victor staggered.
The investigator stood behind him.
Victor fell to one knee.
The room went silent.
He looked at his hand.
Blood spread across his shirt.
But he was still smiling.
“You think this changes anything?”
The investigator kicked the weapon away.
“You're done.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
He looked at Lucas.
“Tell her.”
Lucas shook his head.
Victor stared at him.
“Tell her what David said.”
The boy began crying.
“What?”
“What David told you the night he brought you here.”
Lucas looked at me.
His voice was barely audible.
“He said…”
He swallowed.
“He said you couldn't trust your father.”
My heart stopped.
“My father?”
Lucas nodded.
“He said David wasn't protecting us from Victor.”
I stared.
“Then who?”
Lucas looked toward the second blue door.
The door was still open.
Behind it was a long hallway.
Dark.
Empty.
Except for an old recording playing somewhere in the distance.
David's voice.
“Do not let them find the archive.”
The investigator turned.
“Archive?”
Lucas nodded.
“There are more files.”
“How many?”
Lucas wiped his tears.
“Hundreds.”
The investigator stared at the corridor.
“Where does it lead?”
Lucas looked at me.
“To the original trust.”
“What original trust?”
Lucas whispered:
“The one before David.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Victor smiled from the floor.
“You thought Richard was the villain.”
He laughed weakly.
“You thought I was.”
His eyes moved toward the dark corridor.
“You haven't met the man who created all of us.”
The lights flickered.
Somewhere beyond the second blue door, a lock clicked.
Then another.
Then another.
The sound moved steadily toward us.
Someone was coming.
May you like
And Lucas whispered the words none of us were ready to hear.
“He's here.”
