Chapter 2 - THE MAN WITH HIS FATHER'S FACE
“Eveina, take Theo inside. Now.”
Alistair Blackthorn's voice was quiet, but something in it made the two bodyguards near the terrace straighten.
Eveina didn't move.
“You don't get to give me orders.”
“Someone is pretending to be me, and he's planning to take our son tomorrow. We can argue about everything else after I know he's safe.”
Our son.
Two words she had spent six years trying not to imagine hearing.
Theo clutched her sweater.
“Mommy, did I do something bad?”
She immediately knelt.
“No, sweetheart. You did exactly the right thing by telling us.”
Alistair crouched several feet away.
“The man who came to your school,” he asked gently. “Did he tell you his name?”
Theo nodded.
“He said he was my dad.”
Eveina felt her stomach tighten.
“And what did you say?”
“I said my daddy doesn't live with us.”
Alistair looked down.
For six years, he'd been told Eveina was dead.
For six years, his son had been told his father couldn't come home.
Neither of them had known the other was waiting.
Alistair took out his phone.
“Mrs. Bell? This is Alistair Blackthorn. I need to know about the man who visited your school yesterday.”
The principal sounded confused.
“Mr. Blackthorn, I thought we had already settled everything.”
His expression changed.
“Settled what?”
“Your son's transportation arrangements.”
Eveina grabbed his wrist.
“What transportation arrangements?”
Alistair put the call on speaker.
Mrs. Bell hesitated.
“A gentleman identifying himself as Mr. Blackthorn visited Wednesday afternoon. He brought identification, a photograph of Theodore, and written authorization from a family representative.”
“What authorization?” Eveina demanded.
“Mrs. Hart?”
“I'm Theo's mother. I haven't authorized anyone to take him anywhere.”
Silence.
Then Mrs. Bell said, “The gentleman was supposed to return Friday at three.”
Alistair stood.
“Send me every document he brought. And preserve your security footage. Nobody releases my son to anyone except his mother. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
He ended the call.
Eveina stared at him.
“You have people everywhere. Who would be stupid enough to pretend to be you?”
“Someone who believes I won't find out until it's too late.”
“Or someone who knows exactly how your people operate.”
That stopped him.
Because she was right.
His security organization controlled access to every Blackthorn property. His personal movements were protected. His family connections were carefully guarded.
Whoever had visited Theo's school had walked into a public building using his name without apparently expecting anyone to challenge him.
Alistair turned toward the nearest bodyguard.
“Have the car brought around. Nobody contacts Gideon until I say so.”
The guard hesitated.
“Mr. Vale handles family security.”
“Not tonight.”
Eveina noticed that.
“Who's Gideon?”
“My head of security. He's worked for my family for twenty-three years.”
“And you don't trust him?”
Alistair looked toward the mansion.
“I trusted everyone who told me you were dead.”
He said it without bitterness.
That somehow made it worse.
They moved into a private sitting room beyond the terrace. The charitable fundraiser continued outside, its guests unaware that the man funding their medical programs had just discovered he was a father.
Eveina had attended only because her clinic was receiving a substantial equipment grant.
She hadn't known the Blackthorn family was involved until she arrived.
Now she wondered whether even that had been arranged.
Alistair's phone vibrated.
Mrs. Bell had sent three photographs.
The first showed a visitor's identification card.
The second showed a school release form.
The third was a still image from the hallway camera.
Alistair enlarged it.
A tall man stood outside Theo's classroom wearing a dark wool coat.
His hair was black.
His face was narrow.
His eyes appeared pale gray.
At a glance, he could have been Alistair himself.
But Eveina noticed something.
“His mouth.”
Alistair nodded.
“There's a scar at the corner.”
He knew that scar.
He'd caused it accidentally when he and his older cousin were teenagers, playing basketball behind the family garage.
“Dorian,” he whispered.
“Who?”
“Dorian Blackthorn. My father's nephew.”
Theo leaned toward the screen.
“That's him.”
Eveina's fingers turned cold.
Dorian was family.
Someone Alistair had known his entire life.
“Why would your cousin want my son?”
Alistair didn't answer.
Instead, he enlarged the man's wrist.
An old silver watch showed beneath his coat sleeve.
Its glass was cracked diagonally across the face.
“My father's watch.”
Eveina looked at him.
“Your father?”
“He gave it to Dorian before he died. Dorian was supposed to keep it.”
“Where is Dorian now?”
“That's what I'm going to find out.”
A second message arrived.
This one contained the release form.
Eveina leaned forward.
At the top were Theo's full name, his classroom, his emergency contact information, and the exact time he usually left school.
Someone had done careful homework.
But the signature at the bottom was what made Alistair stop breathing.
Helena Blackthorn.
His mother.
The woman who had stood beside him at Eveina's funeral.
The woman who had watched him place a white rose on an empty coffin.
Eveina read the signature twice.
“Your mother?”
Alistair didn't answer.
“Did she know about Theo?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“Eve, until twenty minutes ago, I didn't know he existed.”
His voice cracked.
She turned away.
For the first time, she saw more than the frightening man she'd once loved.
She saw a father who had missed six birthdays.
Six Christmas mornings.
The first tooth.
The first word.
Every ordinary miracle that couldn't be purchased or recovered.
Theo slipped off the sofa.
He approached Alistair carefully.
“Do you have a watch?”
Alistair looked surprised.
“Yes.”
“Can I see?”
Alistair removed the simple black watch from his wrist and held it out.
Theo studied it.
“The other man had a broken one.”
“I know.”
“He said it used to belong to his daddy.”
Alistair swallowed.
“That part was true.”
Theo considered this.
“Then why did he say he was you?”
Alistair looked at Eveina before answering.
“Because he was lying, buddy.”
Theo nodded seriously.
“Mommy says lying makes problems bigger.”
“She sounds pretty smart.”
“She is.”
Alistair smiled faintly.
Then his phone rang.
His mother's name appeared.
He answered.
“Mother.”
“Alistair, where have you been? Gideon says you've dismissed the security detail.”
“Did you sign a document allowing someone to collect a six-year-old boy from school?”
Silence.
He heard her breathing.
Then Helena whispered, “You weren't supposed to find out this way.”
Eveina caught the edge of the table.
Alistair closed his eyes.
“Find out what?”
His mother began to cry.
“Alistair, please don't bring that little boy here.”
“He's already here.”
A sharp gasp came through the phone.
May you like
Then Helena said something that made the room feel suddenly colder.
“Then you need to get him out of that house. Because Gideon has already told them where to find him.”
