Chapter 6 - The Fire Behind the Walls
For one frozen second, no one moved.
Then Samuel ran toward the office.
Melissa called emergency services.
Robert grabbed a fire extinguisher from the hall cabinet.
Natalie turned back toward her mother.
“Give me the envelope.”
Evelyn held it against her chest.
“Mom!”
Derek moved toward them.
Natalie stepped between him and Evelyn.
“Get out of my way,” he said.
“You started a fire.”
“It was an accident.”
“You are holding the lighter.”
His eyes flicked toward the envelope.
“Give it to me.”
Evelyn backed away.
Smoke rolled into the hallway.
Robert discharged the extinguisher inside the office, filling the room with white chemical dust. Samuel pulled a burning wastebasket away from the curtains and stamped out several pages scattered across the carpet.
Derek lunged.
Natalie caught his arm.
He shoved her hard enough that she struck the edge of a table.
Melissa shouted.
Samuel came out of the office and drove Derek backward against the wall.
“Do not move.”
“This is my parents’ house!” Derek yelled.
“It belongs to Natalie,” Melissa said.
Sirens approached from the street.
Derek’s face changed.
He looked suddenly younger.
Not innocent.
Afraid.
“I was only destroying copies,” he said.
“Copies of what?” Samuel asked.
Derek said nothing.
Police officers entered less than two minutes later.
The fire was contained to the office, but several financial records had been damaged. Derek was handcuffed after officers reviewed the camera footage Samuel had recorded from the moment they arrived.
Evelyn protested.
“He did not mean to hurt anyone.”
Natalie looked at her mother.
“He shoved me into a table.”
“He was frightened.”
“He set a fire.”
“He panicked.”
“He stole money.”
“He made poor choices.”
Natalie’s voice dropped.
“And what would he have to do before you stopped protecting him?”
Evelyn’s mouth opened.
No answer came.
An officer took the brown envelope as potential evidence. Evelyn resisted until Melissa explained that concealing it could lead to additional charges.
As Derek was led outside, he looked at Natalie.
“You think you won?”
She stared back.
“You have no idea what she did,” he said, nodding toward their mother. “Ask her why Grandma changed the will. Ask her who paid for your first apartment. Ask her what happened to Michael Hayes.”
The name meant nothing to Natalie.
But Robert reacted.
He gripped the doorframe.
“Who is Michael Hayes?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
At the police station, Natalie gave a statement concerning the fire, the forged property documents, and the stolen company information.
Melissa remained beside her.
By the time they finished, it was nearly six in the evening.
“Derek will likely be released pending further investigation,” Melissa said as they walked outside.
“After setting a fire?”
“The damage was limited, and he will claim he intended only to burn personal papers.”
“He attacked me.”
“You were not seriously injured.”
Natalie touched the bruise forming near her ribs.
“He always survives because the damage is never considered serious enough.”
“This time, the financial evidence is larger than the fire.”
“What happens to the will?”
“The police will preserve it, then we can petition for access.”
“How long?”
“Possibly several days.”
Natalie stopped beside the curb.
“And my mother’s claim that Robert is not my biological father?”
Melissa studied her.
“Do you believe her?”
“I do not know.”
“Do you want to know?”
Natalie looked toward the evening traffic.
For most of her life, she had wondered why Robert loved her differently.
He praised Derek’s smallest achievements.
He rescued Claire from every poor decision.
With Natalie, he offered respect only when she was useful.
Perhaps biology explained it.
Or perhaps that explanation was another weapon Evelyn had saved for the moment it could cause maximum pain.
“I want facts,” Natalie said.
The next morning, Robert arrived at Natalie’s condominium.
She nearly did not let him inside.
He stood in the hallway holding an old wooden box.
“I found this in the garage,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Your mother’s old correspondence.”
Natalie stepped aside.
Robert placed the box on the dining table.
Inside were letters tied with faded blue ribbon, photographs, and envelopes dated more than forty years earlier.
“Who was Michael Hayes?” Natalie asked.
Robert sat slowly.
“My best friend.”
Natalie waited.
“We met in graduate school. He introduced me to your mother.”
“Did she have an affair with him?”
Robert looked at the floor.
“I suspected something before we married. She denied it.”
“When did he die?”
“He disappeared.”
Natalie frowned.
“People do not disappear.”
“He left California. At least, that is what I was told.”
“By Mom?”
“Yes.”
Robert opened the box and removed a photograph.
Three young people stood beside a lake.
Robert wore thick glasses and a wide smile.
Evelyn stood between him and a tall man with dark hair.
Michael Hayes.
Natalie stared at his face.
The resemblance was not dramatic.
It was unmistakable.
The same dark eyes.
The same chin.
The same slight tilt of the head.
“How old was I when he disappeared?”
“Eight months.”
Natalie sat opposite Robert.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“But you never asked?”
“I asked your mother. She swore you were mine.”
“Did you ever take a test?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because by then, I already loved you.”
Natalie’s throat tightened.
“You had a strange way of showing it.”
Robert flinched.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That if I loved you too openly, I would forget the betrayal.”
The honesty struck harder than denial.
“So you punished me for something I did not do.”
“I told myself I was protecting the family.”
“No. You protected your pride.”
Robert nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Natalie looked away.
It was the first time she had heard her father accept blame without adding an excuse.
“Why would Grandma leave me the company?”
“Perhaps she knew Michael.”
“She did,” Robert said. “He worked for Mercer Manufacturing.”
Natalie turned back.
“In what role?”
“He was an engineer. Brilliant. He designed several of the systems the company later patented.”
“Did he own part of the company?”
“I do not know.”
Robert removed a letter from the box.
It was addressed to Evelyn but never opened.
The return address belonged to a law office in Seattle.
The sender’s name was Michael A. Hayes.
The postmark was dated thirty-seven years earlier, on Natalie’s third birthday.
“Why was this never opened?” Natalie asked.
“I found it hidden beneath the lining.”
She carefully opened the envelope.
Inside were two pages.
Evelyn,
I kept my promise and stayed away, but Margaret contacted me. She says Robert has been told the wrong story about the company and about Natalie. I will not allow my work to be used to enrich Derek while my daughter is treated as though she belongs nowhere.
The room blurred.
Natalie forced herself to continue.
I transferred my patent interests to Margaret under the condition that Natalie inherit them when she became old enough. If anything happens to me, the documents are with my attorney. Tell Robert the truth. Natalie deserves a father who chooses her with full knowledge, not one who loves her while wondering.
At the bottom was a telephone number that no longer existed.
Robert covered his mouth.
“He knew,” Natalie whispered.
Robert’s eyes filled.
“He called you his daughter.”
“He believed he was my father.”
“So do I.”
Natalie looked at him.
“You spent thirty-seven years making me pay for your doubt.”
Robert bowed his head.
“I know.”
“No. You are beginning to know.”
Melissa called before either of them spoke again.
“The court granted us access to the will,” she said. “It is validly executed and witnessed.”
“What does it say?”
“You inherit Margaret’s controlling interest in Mercer Manufacturing, including all intellectual property transferred to her by Michael Hayes.”
Natalie held the letter tighter.
“There is a separate memorandum,” Melissa continued. “Your grandmother instructed the trustee to locate Michael if possible.”
“Was he found?”
“We are checking.”
“What about the company assets?”
“The sale to Bayline Heritage Group may have been fraudulent.”
“Who signed the sale?”
“Your mother, acting under a power of attorney.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
Of course.
“What else?”
“The will contains a statement from Margaret.”
“Read it.”
Melissa hesitated.
“It says: ‘Natalie has spent her life being taught that love must be earned through usefulness. I leave her this not because she needs wealth, but because she deserves something no one can force her to apologize for owning.’”
Natalie pressed one hand to her mouth.
Her grandmother had seen everything.
Long before the plastic plate.
Long before the house.
Long before Natalie understood that generosity without boundaries could become another form of self-destruction.
Robert rose and moved toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To speak to your mother.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Natalie folded the letter.
“Do not ask her to protect Derek.”
“I will not.”
“Do not ask me to forgive her.”
“I will not.”
“And do not call yourself my father only because Michael may be dead.”
Robert looked at her with tears in his eyes.
“I am your father because I stayed.”
Natalie’s expression did not change.
“You stayed in the house,” she said. “That is not the same as standing beside me.”
He absorbed the words.
Then nodded.
“You are right.”
When he left, Natalie reread Michael’s letter.
One sentence remained unanswered.
If anything happens to me, the documents are with my attorney.
Michael had not merely disappeared.
May you like
Something had happened to him.
And Thomas Vale’s father had worked at the Seattle law office named on the envelope.
