Chapter 5 - THE SECRET NATHANIEL’S FATHER TOOK TO HIS GRAVE
Nathaniel’s father had been named William Reed.
He died five years ago.
Heart attack.
Seventy-two years old.
Founder of Reed Global.
Nathaniel had always described him in short, emotionless sentences.
Brilliant.
Demanding.
Difficult.
Never loving.
Now, sitting in the private family archive beneath Reed House, we discovered William Reed had lied about something larger than money.
Martin Shaw was his son.
Nathaniel’s half brother.
The proof sat in a sealed file dated forty-three years earlier.
Paternity test.
Payments to Martin’s mother.
School tuition.
Medical expenses.
A letter.
Nathaniel read it without expression.
Martin,
I will provide for you privately. My marriage and the company cannot survive public scandal. You will have opportunity if you earn it, but you will not carry my name.
William Reed.
I watched Nathaniel’s face.
“That’s why Martin stayed.”
“Yes.”
“Your father hired him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know they were close?”
“My father trusted him more than he trusted me.”
That sentence hurt differently now.
Martin had not merely watched Nathaniel inherit Reed Global.
He watched his half brother receive the name, the company, the house, and legitimacy.
Everything William denied him.
It did not excuse murder.
But rage rarely grows without roots.
Eli’s DNA test made sense.
Martin was his great-uncle.
Not grandfather.
The original notation had been wrong because the laboratory only compared family markers without complete reference samples.
Aaron corrected it after independent testing.
Martin had apparently hoped to use the partial result someday to raise questions about Eli’s paternity.
To attack Nathaniel publicly.
Another weapon.
The more we uncovered, the uglier everything became.
Then we found Mateo’s file.
My late husband had indeed helped create Project Orion.
Not the theft itself at first.
The software.
Martin hired him to build an internal transfer-routing program described as an international tax-management system.
Mateo eventually realized it was moving money illegally.
Then, instead of reporting it immediately, he took some.
Two point seven million dollars.
My stomach turned when I saw the amount.
“Where is it?”
Nathaniel asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Clara.”
“I swear.”
I stood.
“We lived badly at the end. Bills everywhere. Mateo was borrowing money.”
Nathaniel studied the transactions.
“He withdrew the funds, then moved them again.”
“Where?”
“Unknown.”
Aaron looked at me.
“Could he have hidden them for Sophia?”
I almost laughed.
“He died owing forty thousand dollars.”
Then I remembered something.
A storage unit.
Mateo had rented one in Newark.
After his death, I stopped paying.
Everything was auctioned.
Or so I thought.
I called the facility.
The account still existed.
Paid through a prepaid trust.
Three years in advance.
My hands shook.
Nathaniel took the phone from me.
“We’re going.”
The storage unit contained almost nothing.
Old computer equipment.
A broken guitar.
Two boxes of Sophia’s baby clothes.
And a steel case.
Inside were records.
Not cash.
Every transaction Mateo helped Martin make.
Dates.
Amounts.
Account numbers.
And one video.
Mateo sat in front of a camera.
Thin.
Eyes red.
But sober.
“Clara.”
I covered my mouth.
His voice filled the dusty storage room.
“If you find this, I’m probably gone.”
Sophia was back at Reed House with Eli.
I was grateful.
She did not need this.
“I did something bad.”
Mateo looked down.
“I told myself I was building software. Then I knew what Martin was doing, and I stayed because the money was more than I’d ever seen.”
My eyes burned.
“I took some.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Thought I could beat him at his own game.”
Nathaniel stood beside me.
Silent.
“I was wrong.”
Mateo looked directly at the camera.
“Martin threatened Clara.”
My breath stopped.
“He sent me photographs of her grocery shopping. Sleeping beside Sophia. Walking home.”
Nathaniel’s jaw tightened.
“That’s when I went to Evelyn.”
Mateo wiped his face.
“She believed me.”
My chest hurt.
“She said Nathaniel would fix it.”
He paused.
“But I was afraid to trust another Reed.”
Nathaniel flinched.
“I’m sorry for that.”
The words were meant for a man Mateo never expected to watch.
“I copied everything. Evelyn hid some. I hid the rest.”
He leaned closer.
“If Clara ever sees this, tell Sophia her father loved her.”
I started crying.
“Tell her I was weak before I was brave.”
That sentence broke me.
Nathaniel’s hand touched my back.
Not pulling me closer.
Just there.
Mateo continued.
“And Clara, the money I took…”
My heart stopped.
“I put it somewhere Martin can’t touch.”
He held up a document.
A trust.
Sophia Grace Delgado Education and Housing Trust.
Two point seven million dollars.
My knees nearly gave out.
“No.”
Nathaniel caught my arm.
Mateo continued.
“I know it’s dirty money.”
His face twisted.
“So I set instructions. If Martin is ever prosecuted, surrender the principal to Reed Global and keep only what a court decides belongs to Sophia legally.”
I cried harder.
Even at the end, he knew he could not buy forgiveness.
He was trying to return what he stole.
The video ended.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
Then I said, “He was trying.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“That matters.”
“It doesn’t erase it.”
“No.”
“He lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“He put us in danger.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“You’re terrible at comforting people.”
“I’ve been told.”
I laughed through tears.
That helped.
When we returned to Reed House, Sophia ran toward me.
I picked her up.
Held her too tightly.
“Mommy.”
“I know.”
“Can’t breathe.”
“Sorry.”
She looked at my face.
“You cry?”
“A little.”
“Daddy?”
Again.
Mateo.
I nodded.
“Was he bad?”
The question destroyed me.
“No.”
I took a breath.
“He did bad things.”
She stared.
“Different?”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel stood nearby holding Eli.
His eyes met mine.
He understood.
Maybe because he was wrestling with the same distinction.
William Reed had been a bad father.
Martin Shaw had become a dangerous man.
But none of those truths had to define Nathaniel.
That night, federal investigators took possession of the storage records.
Martin was arrested before dawn.
Fraud.
Embezzlement.
Conspiracy.
Witness intimidation.
And eventually, once Evelyn’s old vehicle file was reopened, suspected homicide.
But one thing still did not fit.
Evelyn had hidden the dance recording.
She had hidden the safe.
She had arranged for me to be hired someday.
She had known she might die.
Why didn’t she simply tell Nathaniel?
Nathaniel asked the same question.
Then Aaron found the answer.
Evelyn had tried.
Eleven times.
Emails.
Voicemails.
Messages.
Every one intercepted by Nathaniel’s executive assistant.
A man named Peter Cole.
Nathaniel stared at the records.
“Peter worked for me twelve years.”
Aaron nodded.
“He reported privately to Martin.”
Another betrayal.
Another trusted person.
Nathaniel stood.
“Where is he?”
Aaron’s face changed.
“Gone.”
“How long?”
“Since last night.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does he know?”
“Everything about this house.”
Nathaniel looked toward the ceiling.
Security routes.
Children’s schedules.
Private exits.
And unlike Martin, Peter had not been arrested.
He was desperate.
That evening, as rain hammered the windows, the house lost power.
Backup generators started.
Then stopped.
Nathaniel froze.
Aaron’s radio went dead.
And from upstairs came Sophia’s scream.
I ran.
Nathaniel ran faster.
We reached the children’s wing.
Eli’s room was empty.
Sophia stood beside the crib, crying.
A window was open.
On the floor lay one of Eli’s socks.
I grabbed Sophia.
“Where is he?”
“A man took Eli.”
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
“Who?”
Sophia pointed toward the hallway.
“Mr. Peter.”
May you like
Then she added the words that sent Nathaniel into a rage.
“He said Eli is worth more if you’re dead.”
