“if you choose them over me, there will be consequences.”
“Are you threatening me now?”
Nathan asked.
“Just like you threatened Evelyn?”
“I’m warning you,”
Patricia said.
“I have power in this city. Connections. Money. I can make life very difficult for you and your little family.”
Nathan felt something cold settle in his chest. Not fear. Something else. Determination.
“Then I guess we’re going to war,”
he said quietly. Patricia’s face went pale.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do,”
Nathan said.
“You tried to bury the truth, but the truth doesn’t stay buried forever. And neither will what you did.”
“What are you going to do?”
Patricia asked. For the first time, Nathan heard something new in her voice. Worry. Maybe even fear.
“I’m going to tell everyone,”
Nathan said.
“Everyone. About what you did. About how you faked Evelyn’s death. About how you threatened her. About how you kept me from my son.”
“No one will believe you,”
Patricia said quickly.
“It’s my word against hers. And I’m Patricia Cole. I have a reputation. She’s nobody.”
“Maybe,”
Nathan said.
“But I’m going to try anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.”
He walked to the door.
“If you leave now,”
Patricia called after him,
“don’t bother coming back. You’ll be nothing to me. No son of mine.”
Nathan stopped at the door. He didn’t turn around.
“Good,”
he said.
“Because I don’t want to be the son of a woman like you.”
And he walked out, slamming the door behind him. Nathan sat in his car in his mother’s driveway, shaking all over. His phone rang. He looked at the screen. It was Rebecca, his assistant. He answered.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Cole, thank goodness. I’ve been trying to reach you all day. We have a situation.”
“What situation?”
Nathan asked tiredly.
“Mrs. Patricia Cole, your mother, she called the office an hour ago,”
Rebecca said.
“She’s claiming that someone broke into your old property on Maple Street. She wants you to call the police and have them removed.”
Nathan’s blood went cold.
“She what?”
“She said squatters have been living there illegally,”
Rebecca explained.
“She wants them arrested. She said she’s going to call the police herself if you don’t handle it. Mr. Cole, what’s going on?”
Nathan closed his eyes. His mother was already making her move. She was going to have Evelyn and Lucas arrested, thrown out of the house, maybe even thrown in jail.
“Rebecca, don’t do anything,”
Nathan said quickly.
“Don’t call the police. Don’t talk to my mother. Don’t do anything until you hear from me again.”
“But Mr. Cole.”
“I said don’t do anything!”
Nathan shouted, then more quietly.
“Please trust me on this.”
He hung up before she could respond. Nathan started his car and drove fast. He had to get back to Maple Street. He had to warn Evelyn. His mother wasn’t going to let this go. She was going to fight back, and she was going to fight dirty. The war had begun.
Nathan’s car screeched to a stop in front of the house on Maple Street. He jumped out and ran to the front door, his heart pounding. He knocked hard.
“Evelyn! It’s me!”
The door opened quickly. Evelyn stood there, her face pale and scared.
“What’s wrong?”
she asked.
“You look.”
“We need to talk,”
Nathan said, breathing hard.
“Right now. Can I come in?”
Evelyn hesitated, then stepped aside. Nathan came in and closed the door behind him.
“Where’s Lucas?”
he asked.
“Still in his room with his headphones on,”
Evelyn said.
“Nathan, what happened? Did you see your mother?”
“Yes,”
Nathan said.
“And it was worse than I thought. She admitted everything, Evelyn. She admitted she knew you were alive. She admitted she got rid of you on purpose.”
Evelyn’s hand went to her mouth.
“Oh no.”
“But there’s more,”
Nathan said.
“She called my office. She’s trying to have you arrested for living here illegally. She’s going to call the police.”
All the color drained from Evelyn’s face.
“What? No. No, she can’t.”
“She can and she will,”
Nathan said.
“My mother doesn’t make threats she doesn’t follow through on. We need to act fast.”
“Act fast? How?”
Evelyn asked, her voice rising with panic.
“Nathan, if the police come, they’ll arrest me. They’ll take Lucas. They’ll put him in foster care or.”
“That’s not going to happen,”
Nathan said firmly.
“I won’t let it happen.”
“How are you going to stop it?”
Evelyn asked.
“Your mother is powerful. She has money and lawyers and connections. What do we have?”
“We have the truth,”
Nathan said. Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“The truth, Nathan? The truth doesn’t matter when you’re up against someone like your mother. She’ll twist it. She’ll make me look crazy. She’ll make everyone believe I’m lying.”
“Not if we have proof,”
Nathan said. Evelyn shook her head.
“What proof? It happened 8 years ago. The car burned. Any evidence is long gone.”
Nathan started pacing, thinking hard.
“There has to be something. Some record, some paper trail. My mother is smart, but she’s not perfect. She had to leave evidence somewhere.”
“Like what?”
Evelyn asked.
“The men she hired,”
Nathan said.
“To take you to the warehouse. To burn the car. She had to pay them somehow. There would be records. Bank transfers, checks, something.”
“And how are we supposed to get those records?”
Evelyn asked.
“We can’t just break into her bank.”
Nathan stopped pacing. An idea was forming in his mind.
“No,”
he said slowly.
“But I know someone who can help us.”
“Who?”
Evelyn asked.
“My father,”
Nathan said. Evelyn’s eyes widened.
“Your father? But I thought he and my mother got divorced 3 years ago.”
“They did,”
Nathan explained.
“They had a nasty split. He might know things. He might have access to her financial records from when they were married.”
“Would he help us?”
Evelyn asked doubtfully.
“I don’t know,”
Nathan admitted.
“We haven’t spoken much since the divorce, but it’s worth a try.”
Before Evelyn could respond, they heard footsteps upstairs. Small footsteps coming down. Lucas appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He’d taken off his headphones. His eyes were red like he’d been crying.
“Mom,”
he said quietly.
“Is everything okay? I heard shouting.”
Evelyn rushed over and knelt down in front of him.
“Everything’s fine, baby. We were just talking.”
Lucas looked at Nathan with suspicious, scared eyes.
“Is he staying? The man from yesterday?”
Nathan’s heart broke a little. His own son was scared of him.
“Just for a little while,”
Evelyn said gently.
“He’s He’s an old friend. He’s going to help us with something.”
“Help us with what?”
Lucas asked. Evelyn looked at Nathan, uncertain. How do you explain this to an 8-year-old child? Nathan knelt down, too, so he was at Lucas’s eye level. He kept some distance, not wanting to scare the boy more.
“Lucas,”
Nathan said gently.
“I know you don’t know me. And I know I probably seem scary right now. But I promise you, I’m not here to hurt you or your mom. I’m here to help.”
Lucas studied him with those green eyes. Nathan’s eyes.
“Why do you want to help us?”
Nathan swallowed hard.
“Because Because your mom and I were friends a long time ago, before you were born. And friends help each other.”
It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was all Lucas needed to know right now. Lucas thought about this for a moment. Then he asked.
“Are we in trouble?”
“No,”
Nathan said quickly. Then, more honestly.
“Maybe a little bit. But I’m going to fix it. I promise.”
“Mom says we shouldn’t make promises we can’t keep,”
Lucas said seriously. Nathan felt his throat get tight.
“Your mom is very smart. But I’m going to keep this promise. Okay?”
Lucas looked at his mother. Evelyn nodded slightly, telling him it was okay to trust this man.
“Okay,”
Lucas said quietly. Nathan wanted to hug him, wanted to tell him the truth, that he was his father, that he’d been looking for him without even knowing it, that he loved him already. But he couldn’t. Not yet. It was too much, too soon.
“Lucas, can you do me a favor?”
Evelyn asked.
“Can you go back upstairs and play quietly in your room for a little while? The grown-ups need to talk about some important things.”
“Are you sure everything’s okay?”
Lucas asked, worry in his voice.
“I promise,”
Evelyn said, kissing his forehead.
“Everything is going to be okay.”
Lucas nodded and went back upstairs. They heard his bedroom door close. Evelyn stood up and turned to Nathan.
“You really think your father will help us?”
“I don’t know,”
Nathan said honestly.
“But we have to try. Do you have a phone I can use?”
Evelyn got her old cell phone, a cheap one with a cracked screen, and handed it to Nathan. Nathan dialed a number he hadn’t called in 3 years. The phone rang once, twice, three times. Then a man’s voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Dad,”
Nathan said.
“It’s me, Nathan. I need your help.”
30 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Evelyn jumped, her hand flying to her chest.
“Is that the police?”
Nathan looked out the window.
“No. It’s my father.”
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