CHAPTER 7: THE OTHER HEIR
I should have gone directly back to Emily.
Instead, I drove to Seattle.
That was the old Gavin—the man who believed information was more valuable than instinct and that every crisis could be solved through confrontation.
Marcus waited in my penthouse beside the windows overlooking the city.
He had poured two glasses of bourbon.
I knocked his glass from his hand.
It shattered across the marble.
“You threatened my wife.”
“Ex-wife.”
I grabbed his collar.
“Say that again.”
He raised both hands.
“You’re proving Charles’s argument.”
“I don’t care.”
“That is exactly why you lost the company.”
I released him with enough force to send him backward.
Marcus adjusted his shirt.
He was forty-two, clean-cut, controlled, and almost painfully ordinary in appearance. That had always been his advantage. People trusted Marcus because he looked incapable of cruelty.
“Why did you contact Emily?” I demanded.
“Because Charles ordered me to manage the situation.”
“You told her to terminate the pregnancy.”
“I gave her an option.”
“You gave her a threat.”
Marcus walked toward the bar.
“You think this is about one baby. It isn’t. It’s about succession.”
“Who is the other heir?”
He opened a folder.
Inside was a birth certificate.
The name on it was Lucas Rowan.
Born twenty-four years earlier.
Father: Charles Rowan.
Mother: Claire Bennett.
I looked up.
“My cousin.”
“Charles’s illegitimate son.”
“What does he have to do with the trust?”
“The succession clause does not specify your child. It recognizes the first legitimate descendant of the founder’s direct bloodline who is publicly acknowledged and approved by the trust administrator.”
“Lucas was born first.”
“But Charles never acknowledged him. Doing so would have exposed an affair and damaged his position with your father.”
“Now he plans to acknowledge him.”
Marcus nodded.
“If Noah is declared unsafe, illegitimate, or removed from Emily, Charles can introduce Lucas as the stable alternative.”
“Why would the trust accept a twenty-four-year-old stranger?”
“Because Lucas has been prepared for this his entire life.”
Marcus showed me photographs.
Lucas at private schools.
Lucas at technology conferences.
Lucas shaking hands with executives connected to Rowan Technologies.
Charles had built a replacement heir in secret.
“Where is he?”
“Seattle.”
“Does he know?”
“He knows Charles is his father. I don’t think he knows about the violence.”
“You expect me to believe you suddenly grew a conscience?”
“No.”
Marcus poured himself another drink.
“I expect you to believe I don’t want Charles to win.”
“You helped him.”
“I helped myself.”
At least he admitted it.
“For years, Charles promised me the CEO position after you were removed. Yesterday, he informed me Lucas would become interim chief executive.”
I laughed without humor.
“So this is revenge.”
“This is survival.”
“Why should I care?”
“Because I have the original financial records.”
My anger paused.
“Where?”
“In a secure server Charles cannot access.”
“Give them to me.”
“Not until you protect me from prosecution.”
“You attempted to bribe Emily into ending a pregnancy.”
“I delivered Charles’s message.”
“You forged emails in my name.”
“Yes.”
“You falsified medical information.”
“Yes.”
“You helped destroy my marriage.”
For the first time, Marcus looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I thought about Noah.
A week ago, I might have chosen anger.
Now I needed evidence.
“You testify,” I said. “You give Daniel every record. You admit what you did to Emily.”
“In exchange?”
“I tell federal investigators you cooperated.”
“That isn’t immunity.”
“It’s more than you deserve.”
Marcus studied me.
“You’ve changed.”
“No. I’ve finally discovered something more important than winning.”
My phone rang.
Victoria.
I answered.
Her voice was frantic.
“Gavin, Emily is gone.”
The room became cold.
“What?”
“She left the house twenty minutes ago.”
“With Noah?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you let her leave?”
“She received a message from your number.”
I looked at my phone.
“I didn’t send anything.”
“The message said you had been injured in Seattle and asked her to meet you at St. Anne’s Hospital.”
I closed my eyes.
A trap.
“Track her car.”
“Daniel is trying.”
Marcus set down his drink.
“What happened?”
I put the call on speaker.
Daniel’s voice came through.
“We found her vehicle abandoned near Interstate Five. The carrier is gone. There are no signs of blood.”
My knees weakened.
“Who sent the message?”
“We’re tracing it.”
Marcus walked toward his laptop.
“Charles has access to the company’s internal communications system. He can mirror Gavin’s number.”
I grabbed my coat.
“Where would he take them?”
Marcus typed rapidly.
“If Charles wants the guardianship petition granted, he needs Emily to appear unstable.”
Victoria whispered, “He may force her to run.”
“No,” Marcus said. “He’ll stage something worse.”
A file appeared on the screen.
A private mental health facility outside Tacoma.
Cedar Ridge Behavioral Center.
My mother made a sound of recognition.
“That was one of your father’s clinics.”
Marcus nodded.
“Charles still owns it through a holding company.”
My blood turned to ice.
He had used private clinics before.
He had erased Victoria from my life by labeling her unstable.
Now he planned to do the same to Emily.
We drove south in Marcus’s car while Daniel contacted state police. Victoria insisted on joining us.
During the drive, Marcus explained the plan.
Cedar Ridge could admit Emily under an emergency psychiatric hold if someone claimed she was a danger to herself or Noah. The facility would document confusion, paranoia, and postpartum instability.
By the guardianship hearing, Charles would have professional testimony proving she was unfit.
“And Noah?” I asked.
“Transferred to a temporary guardian.”
“Charles.”
“Or Lucas.”
We reached Cedar Ridge shortly before midnight.
The entrance was locked.
A receptionist behind reinforced glass denied that Emily was inside.
Marcus placed his access badge against the door.
The light turned green.
“You still have credentials?” I asked.
“I designed their financial system.”
Inside, the corridors were nearly empty.
We found Emily’s name on an intake screen.
Status: involuntary psychiatric observation.
Child transferred.
Destination blank.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Victoria touched the screen.
“This is exactly what they did to me.”
A nurse appeared at the end of the corridor.
When she saw us, she turned and ran.
We followed her to a secured wing.
Emily was inside a small white room.
She wore a hospital gown. Her wrists were restrained. A bruise darkened her cheek.
I hit the glass.
“Emily!”
Her eyes opened.
For one second, she looked terrified.
Then she recognized me.
“Noah,” she mouthed.
I demanded the access code.
The nurse refused until Marcus threatened to expose the facility’s illegal payment records.
The door opened.
I rushed inside and removed the restraints.
Emily collapsed against me.
“They took him,” she cried. “A woman said she was from child services. Gavin, they took our baby.”
“I’ll find him.”
“You promised he would be safe.”
The accusation destroyed me because I had promised.
And I had failed within twenty-four hours.
Victoria entered the room.
Emily pulled away from her.
“No.”
“Emily—”
“No! This happened because of your family.”
Victoria stopped.
“You’re right.”
No defense.
No manipulation.
Only guilt.
A phone rang in the corridor.
It was not mine.
The nurse pulled a hidden device from her pocket.
Daniel took it and answered.
Charles’s voice came through the speaker.
“Gavin, I assume you found your former wife.”
“Where is my son?”
“He is safe.”
“If you touch him—”
“Listen carefully. Tomorrow morning, you will publicly resign from Rowan Technologies. Victoria will sign over her trust authority. Emily will withdraw all allegations against Cedar Ridge.”
“And Noah?”
“You’ll receive him afterward.”
Emily gripped my arm.
Charles continued.
“You have until eight a.m.”
The line went silent.
Daniel traced the call.
“It originated from the Rowan Foundation headquarters.”
Marcus looked at me.
“The old children’s hospital.”
I knew the building.
Half of it had been closed for renovations.
Dozens of private rooms.
Underground entrances.
Noah could be anywhere inside.
We left Cedar Ridge with Emily wrapped in my coat.
As we reached the parking lot, a news alert appeared on every phone.
ROWAN TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES NEW INTERIM CEO.
A photograph loaded beneath the headline.
Lucas Rowan.
Twenty-four years old.
Green eyes.
Dark hair.
A face shaped like mine.
Under the photograph was a statement from Charles:
THE TRUE FUTURE OF THE ROWAN FAMILY HAS ARRIVED.
Emily looked at the image.
Then she looked at me.
“What if Lucas has Noah?”
Before I could answer, another message appeared.
It came from an unknown number.
A photograph of Noah sleeping in someone’s arms.
The person holding him was Lucas.
May you like
Beneath the image were six words.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT HIM BACK.
