Chapter 6
They returned to the estate before dark.
Donna did not speak until the doors were locked.
Dominic waited.
Michael did not.
“Who?”
Donna looked toward him.
“Your brother’s name was Adrian.”
Dominic stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Older?”
“Three years older than you.”
Dominic’s mind rejected it.
Richard and Donna had been married two years before Dominic was born.
“Your son?”
Donna shook her head.
“Richard’s.”
The distinction cut.
“Mother?”
Donna looked ashamed.
“Before we married.”
“Who was the mother?”
“Elise Vale.”
Michael whispered:
“Vale.”
Silas.
Donna nodded.
“His sister.”
Everything changed.
Richard Coleman had fathered a son with Silas Vale’s sister.
Before marrying Donna.
“What happened to Elise?”
“She died when Adrian was six.”
“Then?”
“Silas took the boy.”
“Richard allowed it?”
“At first.”
Dominic laughed darkly.
“Father allowed another man to raise his son.”
“He thought Silas loved him.”
“And?”
“He did.”
Donna’s expression hardened.
“In his way.”
Dominic understood.
Silas had raised Adrian.
Then Richard built a legitimate family with Donna.
Dominic was born.
Years later Michael.
Adrian became the forgotten son outside the house.
A first son who existed close enough to threaten succession.
“Did I ever meet him?”
Donna nodded.
Dominic went still.
“When?”
“You were eight.”
Memory came strangely.
A teenage boy at the summer estate.
Dark hair.
Laughing as he taught Dominic to throw knives into a tree.
Dominic had been told he was a distant cousin.
The boy disappeared after a week.
“Adrian.”
“Yes.”
Dominic sat slowly.
“What happened?”
“Richard wanted him home.”
“Silas refused.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian belonged to him by then.”
Not blood.
Loyalty.
Possession.
Donna continued.
“Richard tried to take him back.”
“And?”
“Adrian refused.”
Dominic looked toward the leash.
“Then Father’s murder.”
Donna nodded.
“Twenty-six years ago, Richard discovered Silas was preparing Adrian to challenge you.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“For the family.”
“Yes.”
“Was Adrian part of it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Father?”
“He believed Adrian was trapped.”
“Then what happened?”
“The hunting lodge.”
Donna’s hands trembled.
“Richard met Silas there.”
“Elise’s brother.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian?”
“He was supposed to come.”
“Did he?”
“I never saw him.”
“What did you see?”
Donna closed her eyes.
“Richard on the floor.”
“Silas?”
“Leaving through the rear.”
“Alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why blame Moretti?”
Donna whispered:
“Because their symbol was burned into the wood.”
“Obviously planted.”
“I know that now.”
“Did Father?”
“He was dying.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Did he speak?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Donna’s face crumpled.
“He said, ‘Don’t let Silas take the second boy.’”
Michael froze.
Dominic looked at him.
“Second boy.”
Donna nodded.
“You thought he meant Michael.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I took Michael away from the estate for months.”
Michael stared at his mother.
“I remember Florida.”
“You weren’t in Florida.”
His face changed.
“Where?”
“With Elena.”
Everyone looked at the housekeeper.
Elena stood near the doorway.
Michael whispered:
“You.”
She nodded.
“My husband Samuel and I hid you.”
“Why don’t I remember?”
“You were terrified.”
Donna answered.
“You had nightmares. Fever. You kept saying Silas was coming.”
Michael looked toward the window.
Pieces of childhood turning unreliable.
Dominic continued.
“Then who was the second boy?”
Donna shook her head.
“I never knew.”
“Adrian was first.”
“Yes.”
“I was second.”
She looked at Dominic.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Richard’s dying warning had not been about Michael.
It had been about Dominic.
Don’t let Silas take the second boy.
Silas had failed to take Dominic then.
Twenty-six years later, he was back inside the house.
Dominic looked at the leash tag.
SECOND.
Not a message about Michael.
May you like
A message to him.
Silas had finally come for Richard’s second son.
