The Hidden heir’s revenge

CHAPTER 23 THE FATHER WHO WATCHED FROM THE SHADOWS

Varek stared at the security monitor.

The man on the screen looked older than the photographs he had seen, but there was no mistaking his face.

Jonathan Thorne.

The man who had supposedly died twenty-nine years ago.

The man whose name had appeared in the original birth register.

The man who had just called him his son.

“Where are you?” Varek demanded.

Jonathan smiled.

“That’s not the first question you should be asking.”

“Then give me a reason not to destroy every screen in this building.”

“Your anger is understandable. But anger won’t tell you who you are.”

Varek stepped closer to the monitor.

“You’ve spent twenty-nine years hiding while everyone else destroyed my life. You don’t get to speak to me like you know me.”

Jonathan’s smile disappeared.

“I know more about you than anyone alive.”

“Then tell me who my mother was.”

“Helena Vale.”

“Who was my father?”

Jonathan paused.

“I was.”

Varek laughed bitterly.

“Richard said you were my father. Alistair said you were my father. Cassian said something different. Everyone has a story.”

“Because everyone has been protecting a different secret.”

“I’m tired of secrets.”

Jonathan leaned closer to the camera.

“Then come and find me.”

The screen went black.

Varek turned toward Adrian.

“Can you trace the signal?”

Adrian was already examining the control panel.

“I’m trying. The transmission came through an encrypted private network.”

“Can you locate it?”

“Give me a minute.”

Behind them, Cassian was trying to stop Richard’s bleeding.

“Richard needs a hospital,” he said.

Varek looked down.

Richard’s eyes were barely open.

“Take him,” Varek ordered.

Cassian nodded.

Two minutes later, they had managed to get Richard onto a stretcher found in the adjoining room.

Sebastian was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is Sebastian?” Varek asked.

Adrian checked the corridor.

“Gone.”

Varek looked at the open door.

“He was standing right there.”

“Not anymore.”

Varek’s jaw tightened.

“Find him.”

Adrian shook his head.

“We have a bigger problem.”

He turned the laptop toward Varek.

A map appeared on the screen.

One location was blinking.

Adrian pointed to it.

“The signal came from an abandoned building in the old Thorne industrial district.”

Varek studied the location.

“That’s where Jonathan is?”

“It’s where the transmission originated.”

“Good enough.”

Cassian looked up.

“Don’t go there.”

Varek turned.

“Why?”

“Because Jonathan doesn’t invite people unless he has already prepared their graves.”

Varek stared at him.

“You’re warning me about him?”

Cassian lowered his eyes.

“I know what he’s capable of.”

“Then you should have told me twenty-nine years ago.”

Cassian had no answer.

Varek walked toward the exit.

Adrian followed.

But before they reached the door, a phone began ringing.

It was Richard’s.

Varek picked it up.

The screen displayed a saved contact.

HELENA.

He stared at the name.

Then he answered.

“Hello?”

A woman’s voice came through.

“Richard?”

Varek froze.

“Who is this?”

There was a brief silence.

Then the woman whispered:

“Varek?”

His heart began pounding.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Helena.”

Varek couldn’t speak.

The woman continued.

“Please, you have to listen to me. Jonathan is lying to you.”

Varek gripped the phone.

“Are you alive?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you yet.”

“Are you my mother?”

A sob escaped her.

“Yes, my son.”

Varek closed his eyes.

For twenty-nine years, he had been searching for the truth.

Now the woman whose name had appeared in the birth register was speaking to him.

“Why did you leave me?”

“I didn’t leave you.”

“Then why was I raised by Eleanor?”

“Because Jonathan took you from me.”

Varek looked toward Adrian.

The other man was watching him closely.

“Where is Jonathan?”

Helena’s voice became urgent.

“He has been using your identity to access the family trust. He wants you to come to him because he needs something only you can give him.”

“What?”

“Your blood.”

Varek frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your grandfather created a biological security system for the inheritance. It requires the DNA of the original heir to unlock the final account.”

Varek remembered the fingerprint scanner, the encrypted vault, and the inheritance system that had repeatedly rejected different identities.

“So Jonathan needs me to access the money?”

“No. He needs you to unlock something much more dangerous.”

“What?”

Before Helena could answer, a man’s voice sounded behind her.

“That’s enough.”

Varek stood straighter.

“Helena?”

The line crackled.

Then Jonathan’s voice came through.

“Hello again, my son.”

Varek’s expression hardened.

“Where is she?”

Jonathan laughed softly.

“Your mother is safe.”

“Put her on the phone.”

“She has already said too much.”

A muffled struggle followed.

“Varek!” Helena screamed.

Then the call ended.

Varek stared at the phone.

Adrian stepped closer.

“Was that Helena?”

“Yes.”

“Your biological mother?”

Varek nodded.

Adrian looked disturbed.

“Then we need to move.”

Varek turned toward him.

“Why?”

“Because if Jonathan has Helena, he has the one person who can confirm the original birth records.”

Varek looked at the photograph still in his hand.

Jonathan.

Helena.

The little boy who looked exactly like him.

There was something else in the picture he hadn’t noticed before.

A hospital bracelet around the child’s wrist.

He enlarged the image on Adrian’s laptop.

The bracelet carried a name.

JONATHAN THORNE JUNIOR.

Varek stared.

“What is this?”

Adrian examined the photograph.

“Maybe a hospital identification.”

“But the register listed me as Varek Vale.”

“Then someone changed the name.”

Varek looked at the little boy again.

The child was approximately four years old.

If the photograph was genuine, it had been taken years after his birth.

“Who is this child?”

Adrian studied the face.

“I don’t know.”

Varek’s phone vibrated.

A message had arrived from an unknown number.

It contained a photograph of the same child.

This time, the boy was standing beside Jonathan.

Beneath the picture was a message:

YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT YOURSELF FOR TWENTY-NINE YEARS.

Varek felt a chill.

Adrian read the message over his shoulder.

“What does that mean?”

Varek slowly shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

Another message arrived.

THE BOY IN THE PHOTOGRAPH IS NOT YOU.

Varek’s stomach tightened.

Then a final message appeared.

HE IS THE SON YOU WERE REPLACED WITH.

Adrian stepped backward.

“That’s impossible.”

Varek looked at him.

“Is it?”

Before Adrian could answer, the building’s emergency lights switched on.

A loud alarm sounded.

The security monitor came back to life.

Jonathan appeared again.

This time, he wasn’t smiling.

“Varek, I hope you’re listening carefully.”

Varek approached the screen.

“Where is my mother?”

Jonathan ignored the question.

“Your grandfather created a fourth identity to protect the inheritance. But he made one mistake.”

“What mistake?”

“He assumed that the child carrying the identity would remain hidden forever.”

Jonathan looked directly into the camera.

“The boy in that photograph is the real Jonathan Thorne Junior.”

Varek’s blood ran cold.

“Then who am I?”

Jonathan leaned closer.

“You are Varek Vale. Helena’s son. The child I stole.”

Varek stared at the screen.

“Why did you give me another identity?”

“Because I needed the world to believe my son was dead.”

“Why?”

Jonathan’s expression darkened.

“Because my son was never supposed to inherit the Thorne fortune.”

Varek stepped closer.

“Then who was?”

Jonathan smiled again.

“You were.”

The screen went black.

For several seconds, Varek remained motionless.

Then Adrian spoke.

“Varek, there’s something else.”

He pointed toward the laptop.

A new file had appeared in the system.

It was a scanned hospital report.

The date matched Varek’s birth.

Three children were listed.

The first was Varek Vale.

The second was Damian Mercer.

The third was Jonathan Thorne Junior.

But beneath the third child’s name was a red stamp.

DECEASED — AGE FOUR.

Varek stared at the report.

The boy in the photograph had supposedly died twenty-five years ago.

Yet Jonathan had just spoken about him as though he were alive.

Adrian opened another attachment.

A recent photograph appeared.

A man stood outside the hospital where Eleanor had been treated.

His face was partly hidden beneath a cap.

But the eyes were unmistakable.

Varek looked at Adrian.

“Do you recognize him?”

Adrian nodded slowly.

His voice was barely audible.

“That’s the man who raised me.”

Varek stared at the photograph.

“Cassian?”

Adrian shook his head.

“No.”

He enlarged the image.

Then he pointed to the man’s face.

“That’s Jonathan Thorne.”

Varek turned toward the corridor.

The man who had been speaking to him through the monitor wasn’t hiding in some distant location.

He had been close enough to visit the hospital.

Close enough to watch them.

And possibly close enough to have been standing beside them all along.

Then Adrian noticed something at the bottom of the report.

A signature.

AUTHORIZED BY: VAREK VALE.

Varek stared at it.

“I never signed this.”

Adrian looked up.

“Someone used your identity.”

A final notification appeared on the laptop.

PATIENT TRANSFER COMPLETED.

JONATHAN THORNE JUNIOR — LOCATION: BLACKSTONE ESTATE.

Varek slowly closed the laptop.

His voice was cold.

“Get the car.”

Adrian frowned.

“Where are we going?”

Varek looked at him.

“To meet the boy who supposedly died twenty-five years ago.”

And somewhere inside the Blackstone estate, a man wearing Varek’s face was waiting for him.