C13 A mother's cruel secret

CHAPTER 13: A Mother's Cruel Secret

At twelve forty-seven in the morning, Alexander Hayes arrived at his mother's mansion.

He didn't wait for the butler to announce him.

He walked straight into the sitting room, where Victoria Hayes sat beside the fireplace, dressed in an elegant silk robe as though she had been expecting him.

Perhaps she had.

"You're late," she remarked, setting down her teacup.

Alexander stopped in front of her.

"Who is the boy?"

Victoria's fingers tightened around the cup.

"What boy?"

"The boy in the photograph. The boy connected to the hospital records. The boy you've spent five years making sure I never learned about."

Her expression remained composed, but something flickered behind her eyes.

Fear.

Alexander recognized it because he had seen it in his own reflection after reading Catherine Moore's messages.

"Where did you get that photograph?" Victoria asked.

"That's not what I asked."

"Alexander, you're tired. You're allowing an anonymous message to convince you that your family is involved in some ridiculous conspiracy."

He laughed coldly.

"Dr. Whitmore confirmed the records were altered. Your signature is on the transfer authorization. Richard's name is there too."

For the first time, Victoria looked away.

Alexander stepped closer.

"Tell me the truth."

"There are things about this family you don't understand."

"Then explain them!"

His voice echoed through the room.

Victoria stared at him.

He had raised his voice to her only a handful of times in his life. She had always managed to silence him with a disappointed look or a reminder of everything she had sacrificed for him.

Not tonight.

Tonight, he had nothing left to lose except the truth.

"Five years ago," he continued, "Elizabeth disappeared from my life. I believed she had betrayed me. I believed she had chosen to leave."

His jaw tightened.

"Now I know you forged a letter to make her think I wanted nothing to do with her. I know you interfered with the hospital records. And I know Richard was involved."

He leaned forward.

"How much more have you done?"

Victoria's composure finally cracked.

"You think I wanted things to happen this way?"

"I think you wanted control. As long as you controlled the truth, you controlled everyone."

She stood abruptly.

"I was protecting you!"

"From what?"

"From a scandal that would have destroyed your future!"

Alexander stared at her.

"What scandal could possibly justify taking five years away from me and my daughter?"

Victoria went silent.

The word had escaped him before he could stop it.

My daughter.

He had not yet received definitive proof that Grace was his biological child.

But deep inside, he had already begun thinking of her that way.

Victoria noticed.

And for the first time that night, she looked genuinely shaken.

"Have you told Elizabeth what you've discovered?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Because if she knows everything, she may never forgive you."

Alexander's eyes narrowed.

"Forgive me for what?"

Victoria sat down slowly.

Then she whispered something that made the entire room seem to tilt.

"Because you weren't the only person who was lied to that night."

Alexander didn't move.

"What does that mean?"

His mother looked at the fireplace.

"Five years ago, two babies were born at St. Vincent's Hospital. Both births became entangled in a family arrangement that should never have happened."

"What arrangement?"

"Your grandfather had made decisions concerning the future of this family. Decisions that involved inheritance, marriage, and the preservation of the Hayes name."

Alexander felt disgust rising in his throat.

"You're talking about children as though they were business assets."

Victoria's eyes flashed.

"You have no idea what your grandfather was capable of."

"Then tell me."

She looked at him for a long moment.

"I cannot."

Alexander let out a bitter laugh.

"Of course you can't."

He turned toward the door.

"Alexander, wait."

He stopped but didn't look back.

"If you continue this investigation, you will discover things about your father that you may wish you'd never known."

Alexander slowly turned around.

"My father has been dead for years. Whatever secrets he left behind, I have a right to know them."

Victoria's lips trembled.

"Your father was not the man you believed him to be."

Alexander felt something cold settle in his chest.

"What did he do?"

She opened her mouth.

Then closed it.

Finally, she whispered, "Ask Richard why your grandfather changed his will shortly before he died."

Alexander stared at her.

"What does that have to do with the babies?"

Victoria's eyes filled with tears.

"Everything."

---

By the time Alexander returned to his apartment, the sky had begun to lighten.

He found Elizabeth sitting on the sofa with a blanket around her shoulders.

She looked up immediately.

"You went to see your mother."

It wasn't a question.

Alexander removed his jacket.

"Yes."

"And?"

He sat opposite her.

"She admitted that two babies were involved in the hospital records. She also said my father and grandfather were connected to whatever happened."

Elizabeth's face tightened.

"Did she explain how?"

"No. She gave me another warning and refused to tell me anything else."

Elizabeth looked down at her hands.

"Do you think Grace is connected to the other child?"

"I think that's the question everyone is afraid I'll answer."

She swallowed.

"Alexander, what if this isn't just about your family's inheritance? What if someone made a decision about Grace before she was even born?"

He leaned forward.

"Then we'll find out who made it and why."

She looked at him.

"You keep saying that as though the truth will make everything right."

"No." His voice softened. "The truth won't give us back five years. It won't erase what happened to you. But it will mean no one gets to decide what happens to Grace without us knowing."

Elizabeth's eyes glistened.

For a moment, she looked as though she wanted to reach for him.

Instead, she pulled the blanket more tightly around herself.

"I don't know how to do this, Alexander."

"Do what?"

"Trust you again."

He felt the words settle between them.

He could have defended himself. He could have reminded her that his mother had deceived him too.

But that would have been unfair.

Elizabeth had carried the consequences of his family's lies while he had spent five years believing she had abandoned him.

"You don't have to trust me today," he said quietly. "I'll earn it."

She looked at him for a long time.

Then she whispered, "I hope you mean that."

"I do."

A small sound came from the hallway.

Grace appeared, rubbing her eyes.

"Mommy?"

Elizabeth immediately stood.

"Sweetheart, why are you awake?"

Grace looked at Alexander.

"Is he leaving?"

Alexander's heart tightened.

"No, princess. Not yet."

Grace walked toward him and held out her stuffed rabbit.

"Can you sit with me until I fall asleep again?"

He accepted the rabbit solemnly.

"That sounds like a very important assignment."

"It is."

He followed her toward the bedroom.

Elizabeth watched them disappear down the hallway.

She had spent years telling herself that Alexander was part of her past.

But watching him with Grace made that lie increasingly difficult to maintain.

The problem was no longer whether she still loved him.

The problem was whether loving him again would put her daughter in danger.

---

At eight fifteen that morning, Richard Hayes entered Victoria's private office without knocking.

She was standing beside her desk, speaking to someone on the telephone.

"I told you that the matter must remain confidential," she said sharply. "No, he must not discover the original file."

She ended the call when she noticed Richard.

He closed the door behind him.

"Who were you speaking to?"

Victoria returned the phone to her desk.

"That is none of your concern."

"Really? Because I believe your secrets have become everyone's concern."

She stared at him.

"Did you follow your brother last night?"

Richard's expression hardened.

"Someone used a vehicle connected to my company. I have already dealt with that problem."

"You should have been more careful."

"And you should have told me what happened at St. Vincent's."

Victoria walked around her desk.

"I told you everything you needed to know."

"No. You told me enough to make me believe I was protecting my position in this family."

He leaned forward.

"Was the boy in that photograph connected to the inheritance?"

Victoria didn't answer.

Richard laughed bitterly.

"I see."

"Richard, listen to me. Whatever Alexander has discovered, we can still contain it."

"Contain it?"

He shook his head.

"He's already met Whitmore. Catherine Moore has contacted Elizabeth. And now he's asking questions about our grandfather's will."

Victoria's expression changed.

"He knows about the will?"

"He knows enough to be dangerous."

She sat down slowly.

For the first time, Richard realized she was not simply afraid of losing control.

She was afraid of something specific.

Something that could destroy her.

"Mother," he said quietly, "what did you do five years ago?"

Victoria looked at him.

Then she reached into a drawer and removed a sealed envelope.

Richard stared at it.

"What is that?"

"The reason you must stop Alexander before he discovers the truth."

She placed it on the desk between them.

He didn't touch it.

"Open it," she ordered.

Richard broke the seal.

Inside was a photocopy of an old legal document, dated several months before his grandfather's death.

His eyes moved across the page.

Then stopped.

He read the crucial paragraph twice.

"No," he whispered.

Victoria said nothing.

Richard looked up at her, his face suddenly pale.

"This can't be real."

"It is."

He dropped the document onto the desk.

"Does Alexander know?"

"Not yet."

Richard stepped backward.

For the first time in his life, the inheritance he had spent years fighting for seemed insignificant.

Because the document didn't merely change who would control Hayes Corporation.

It threatened to expose a truth about his own place in the family.

And somewhere in the city, Alexander was getting closer to discovering it.

---

At eleven thirty, Daniel arrived at Alexander's apartment with a new report.

Alexander was in the living room, helping Grace build a tower out of wooden blocks.

Grace looked up when Daniel entered.

"Are you Alexander's friend?"

Daniel smiled.

"I work with him."

"Can you build a tower?"

Daniel glanced at Alexander.

"I suppose I can try."

Grace handed him several blocks.

"Be careful. It falls down easily."

Alexander laughed.

"She's describing the entire Hayes family."

Elizabeth, who was standing nearby, gave him a warning look.

"Alexander."

"What? It's an observation."

Daniel cleared his throat, trying not to smile.

"Sir, may I speak with you privately?"

Alexander nodded and followed him into the study.

"What have you found?"

Daniel placed a folder on the desk.

"We've located an archived copy of your grandfather's original will."

Alexander opened it.

The first few pages contained familiar provisions concerning the family estate and corporate ownership.

Then he reached an amendment dated shortly before his grandfather's death.

He read it once.

Then again.

His expression changed.

"Why was this amendment never included in the version the family received?"

"We're still investigating that. But the document appears to be authentic."

Alexander's gaze moved to the final page.

A name had been added to a clause concerning the family trust.

A name that should not have been there.

A name connected to the mysterious second maternity file.

He slowly lowered the document.

"Daniel, I want you to verify every signature on this page."

"Yes, sir."

"And find out who had access to the original will after my grandfather died."

Daniel nodded.

Alexander looked toward the living room, where Grace was laughing at something Elizabeth had said.

He had spent years believing his family's greatest secret concerned money and power.

Now he was beginning to suspect that the inheritance was only the beginning.

Because the amendment suggested that someone had been promised a place in the Hayes family long before Grace was born.

And if the document was genuine, the person named in it had a claim that could change everything.

Alexander closed the folder.

"Find the original."

Daniel hesitated.

"Sir, there's one more thing."

Alexander looked up.

"What?"

Daniel lowered his voice.

"The amendment contains a handwritten note. We've had a specialist examine the writing."

"And?"

Daniel took a breath.

"The note appears to have been written by your grandfather himself."

Alexander's eyes narrowed.

"What does it say?"

Daniel opened the folder to the final page.

Three handwritten words sat beneath the signature.

The rightful heir.

Alexander stared at them.

Then he looked again at the name beside the clause.

For the first time, he understood why his mother had been willing to lie, why Richard had become so desperate, and why someone was threatening a five-year-old girl.

The secret was never simply about two babies.

It was about who had the right to inherit the Hayes empire.

And the child at the center of it might be the one person who could take everything away from Alexander.