Chapter 2 - The Youngest Son Revealed Why He Was Afraid of His Father, and Catherine Discovered the Boy Had Been Protecting Her for YearsDeclan locked the estate down.
No one entered.
No one left.
He ordered every guard searched.
Catherine watched him move through the house with terrifying precision.
Orders.
Phones.
Passwords.
Cameras.
Everything became controlled.
Everything except one thing.
Gideon.
The boy sat in Catherine's room holding a stuffed bear he had owned since kindergarten.
Catherine sat beside him.
“You're safe.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Gideon.”
“They know.”
“Who?”
“The people who know about Dad.”
“What do they know?”
He looked toward the door.
“That I'm not his.”
Catherine froze.
She stared at her son.
“What?”
Gideon’s eyes filled.
“They said my real father wants me.”
Catherine could not speak.
Declan entered the room.
He had heard.
For several seconds, husband and wife stared at each other.
Then Declan closed the door.
“Gideon.”
The boy shrank back.
Declan stopped.
He did not approach.
Instead he sat on the floor several feet away.
“Look at me.”
Gideon slowly did.
“I love you.”
“I know.”
“No matter who your biological father is.”
Gideon cried.
“You knew?”
Declan looked devastated.
“I suspected.”
Catherine's chest tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Declan looked at her.
“Gideon was born during the one year I wasn't in Philadelphia.”
“What?”
“You remember.”
Catherine did.
Declan had been overseas.
She had been separated from him.
But their marriage had been difficult.
There had been accusations.
Distance.
A brief separation.
Then she discovered she was pregnant.
Declan returned.
He never asked questions.
He simply accepted the baby.
Catherine had always assumed his silence was love.
Now she wondered whether it had been fear.
“Why did you never tell me?”
Declan looked at Gideon.
“Because his biological father was dangerous.”
“Who?”
Declan whispered the name.
“Julian Rook.”
Catherine knew it.
A rival crime boss.
Dead, supposedly.
But apparently not.
“He's alive?”
Declan nodded.
“Somebody hid him.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows what happened.”
Catherine looked at Gideon.
“What happened when you were born?”
Declan closed his eyes.
“Your mother was almost killed.”
Catherine's heart stopped.
“I never knew.”
“I made sure you didn't.”
She stared.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed truth would put you in danger.”
Gideon interrupted.
“It did.”
Catherine looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
He opened the tablet.
Another hidden folder.
Inside were photographs.
Catherine at the hospital.
Declan outside.
A nurse.
A man standing in the parking lot.
Julian Rook.
Gideon had been collecting the images.
“How did you get these?”
“The messages.”
“They sent them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“So I'd know.”
“Know what?”
“That Dad wasn't the person I should be afraid of.”
Declan looked down.
Catherine suddenly understood.
The anonymous messages had been designed not only to scare Gideon.
They had been showing him pieces of the past.
Trying to make him distrust his father.
But Gideon had interpreted them differently.
He had investigated.
He had watched.
He had protected Catherine.
For ten years.
The youngest child in the family had become the quietest observer.
And he knew more than anyone realized.
Then one of the security monitors went black.
Declan's phone rang.
He answered.
A voice said:
“Come outside.”
Declan’s jaw tightened.
“Who is this?”
“Your son knows.”
The call ended.
Catherine grabbed Declan's arm.
“Don't go.”
“I won't.”
The front gate camera activated.
A man stood outside.
Julian Rook.
Alive.
Older.
Scarred.
Smiling.
Catherine's blood froze.
He held up a photograph.
Gideon as a baby.
Then pointed at him.
The message was obvious.
He's mine.
Declan walked toward the door.
Catherine blocked him.
“No.”
“I need to handle this.”
“You are not leaving.”
“He'll come inside.”
“Then we face him together.”
Declan stared at her.
For the first time in seventeen years, Catherine saw fear in his eyes.
Not for himself.
For Gideon.
She understood.
Julian didn't want money.
May you like
He wanted revenge.
And Gideon was the weapon.
Related Stories
