Chapter 4 - THE NAME ON THE PHOTOGRAPH
Emergency lights flickered on.
Mason's security team rushed into the corridor.
Doctors shouted for patients to remain inside their rooms.
Hannah pulled Lily against her chest.
Claire stood frozen beside the hospital bed.
Evelyn looked toward Daniel.
“Was that planned?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if it were planned, Mason would already be dead.”
Daniel moved toward the corridor.
Mason grabbed his arm.
“Don't leave.”
Daniel looked down.
Mason's grip was weak but determined.
“Not this time.”
Daniel nodded.
“Then we stay together.”
Three minutes later, the hospital generator restored full power.
The screaming had stopped.
A security officer ran toward them.
“Mrs. Vale, someone entered the service elevator during the outage.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
Mason's face tightened.
“Check every exit.”
The officer left.
Lily tugged at Hannah's sleeve.
“Mama.”
“What?”
“The picture.”
“What picture?”
“The one Mr. Mason has.”
Mason looked at her.
“You've seen this?”
Lily nodded.
“Not that one. Another one.”
She pointed toward Daniel's coat.
Daniel removed the photograph.
Lily studied it.
“The man in the window.”
“Yes.”
“He had a red mark on his hand.”
Everyone stared.
Daniel turned the photograph toward the light.
There was indeed a faint reddish mark near the man's wrist.
Evelyn whispered, “A birthmark.”
Mason looked at her.
“You recognize it?”
“I recognize the shape.”
“Whose?”
Evelyn's face became pale.
“Your grandfather's.”
Mason stared.
“That can't be.”
“Your grandfather died before you were born.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then the man in the photograph isn't him.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed to the wrist.
“The mark belonged to his older brother.”
Mason looked confused.
“I never knew my grandfather had a brother.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
The answer opened another wound.
Mason looked at his mother.
“How many things have you kept from me?”
“Enough to keep you alive.”
“Apparently not enough.”
Evelyn flinched.
Claire suddenly spoke.
“I know who he is.”
Everyone turned.
Claire's hands were shaking.
“The man with the mark.”
Mason stared at her.
“How?”
“Because I met him.”
Daniel moved immediately.
“When?”
“Before I met you.”
“Where?”
“At my father's house.”
Mason frowned.
“Your father?”
Claire nodded.
“My father knew people in your father's business.”
“What was his name?”
“Richard Whitmore.”
Mason's eyes hardened.
“Your father has been dead for six years.”
“I know.”
Claire looked toward the photograph.
“But he kept an old photograph of that man.”
Daniel asked, “Why?”
Claire swallowed.
“Because he was afraid of him.”
Mason slowly lowered himself back against the pillows.
“What was his name?”
Claire whispered,
“Victor Vale.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Daniel stepped backward.
Mason stared at them.
“Victor Vale?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your grandfather's older brother.”
“Why have I never heard of him?”
“Because your grandfather erased him from the family.”
“Why?”
“Victor wanted control.”
Mason's voice became colder.
“Control of what?”
“Everything.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Then tonight wasn't about poisoning Mason.”
Mason looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone wanted to create a succession crisis.”
Evelyn understood.
“If Mason died tonight, there would be a fight over the family.”
“And Victor's people could step in.”
Claire shook her head.
“But Victor has been gone for decades.”
Daniel answered quietly.
“People disappear.”
“They don't live forever.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“But their plans can.”
A security officer entered.
“Mrs. Vale, we found something.”
He held up a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a silver watch.
Evelyn stared.
“That is not mine.”
Mason recognized it.
“That's my father's.”
Daniel took a step forward.
“Where was it found?”
“In the hospital parking garage.”
Mason's stomach tightened.
“Who found it?”
“One of the cameras caught a man dropping it.”
“Face?”
“Covered.”
“Anything else?”
The officer hesitated.
“A vehicle.”
“What kind?”
“Black sedan.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“License plate?”
The officer gave him the number.
Daniel went silent.
Mason noticed.
“You know it.”
Daniel nodded.
“It's registered to Whitmore Holdings.”
Claire's face collapsed.
“My father's company?”
“It shouldn't exist anymore,” Daniel said.
Claire looked at Mason.
“I swear to you, I didn't know.”
Mason believed her fear.
But he no longer knew what belief meant.
Then Lily spoke from behind Hannah.
“That's not the car.”
Everyone turned.
“What car?” Mason asked.
“The one outside the kitchen.”
“What did it look like?”
“Black.”
Mason waited.
“Anything else?”
Lily nodded.
“There was a little silver horse on the front.”
Daniel and Evelyn exchanged a look.
Mason frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn whispered,
“The Vale family crest.”
Daniel suddenly pulled his phone from his pocket.
He called security.
“Lock down the estate.”
Mason stared.
“Why?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because someone didn't come to the hospital to kill you.”
“Then what did they come for?”
Daniel's face was grim.
“To retrieve something.”
“What?”
Daniel looked at Lily's cloth doll.
The child held it tightly against her chest.
Daniel whispered,
“The thing your father hid inside the house twenty years ago.”
Lily looked down at her doll.
Then slowly touched its stitched pocket.
May you like
Her face changed.
“I think I have it.”
