Chapter 2 - THE DNA TEST PROVED THE WAITRESS’S DEAD BABY WAS ALIVE—BUT WHEN GIDEON LEARNED HE WASN’T OWEN’S BIOLOGICAL FATHER, THE WOMAN WHO STOLE THE CHILD REVEALED WHY THE MAFIA BOSS HAD BEEN CHOSEN TO RAISE HIM
Mallerie had imagined finding her son alive.
During the darkest months, she had imagined impossible phone calls.
Hospital mistakes.
Miracles.
A stranger appearing at her apartment.
She had never imagined finding him in the arms of another parent.
That was the problem nobody in the room knew how to solve.
Owen was hers.
Biology proved it.
But for ten months, Gideon had been the man waking at 2:00 a.m. when Owen cried.
The man who knew he hated peas but loved carrots.
The man who knew which song calmed him during thunderstorms.
The man Owen called Da.
Truth had restored Mallerie’s motherhood.
It had not erased Gideon’s fatherhood.
At 12:40, an attorney arrived.
Then another.
Mallerie immediately became suspicious.
“I’m not signing anything.”
Gideon looked offended.
“I didn't ask you to.”
“You brought lawyers.”
“One is yours.”
She stared.
“What?”
“I hired—”
“No.”
He stopped.
Mallerie pointed at him.
“Rule three.”
Gideon closed his eyes.
“Right.”
The attorney tried not to smile.
Gideon corrected himself.
“I contacted an independent family-law attorney and asked whether she would be willing to speak with you. I have not retained her for you.”
“Better.”
“I'm learning.”
“Slowly.”
The attorney introduced herself as Rachel Kim.
Mallerie agreed to speak with her privately.
Gideon left.
That mattered.
Rachel explained the obvious and the complicated.
Mallerie had a powerful biological claim.
But Owen's legal history was fraudulent.
Gideon's adoption documents might be invalid.
Custody could not ethically be solved by simply removing a ten-month-old child from the only home he remembered.
“What do I do?” Mallerie whispered.
Rachel answered carefully.
“You protect your son from becoming evidence in an adult war.”
Mallerie looked through the glass door.
Gideon sat on the floor outside.
Owen crawled over his legs.
Gideon lifted him automatically.
The baby laughed.
Mallerie's heart hurt.
“I'm not taking him away today.”
Rachel nodded.
“Then we build a transition around Owen rather than around winning.”
Gideon expected a custody war.
Mallerie surprised him.
“You remain his father for now.”
He stared.
“For now?”
“I don't know what comes later.”
Pain moved across his face.
She continued before he misunderstood.
“But I'm not ripping you out of his life because somebody else committed a crime.”
Gideon looked toward Owen.
“What do you want?”
“I move into a guest suite temporarily.”
He looked at her.
“My home?”
“Don't look pleased.”
“I wasn't.”
“You were.”
“Marginally.”
“Separate rooms. Separate lives.”
“Obviously.”
“We get a child psychologist.”
“Agreed.”
“We follow legal advice.”
He hesitated.
“Agreed.”
“And nobody changes his name.”
Gideon nodded.
Owen Vale.
But perhaps not born Owen Vale.
“What did you name him?” Gideon asked.
Mallerie became quiet.
“Elias.”
Gideon looked at the baby.
“Elias.”
Owen threw a block.
It struck Gideon’s shoe.
Mallerie almost smiled.
“Apparently he has an opinion.”
“What do we call him?”
“For now?”
She looked at her son.
“Owen.”
Gideon nodded.
Identity could wait until safety stopped being uncertain.
Federal investigators found Dr. Voss forty-eight hours later.
She had never reached Zurich.
Her ticket was misdirection.
She was arrested in a private airfield hangar outside Milwaukee.
When confronted with the DNA evidence, she asked for an attorney.
Then immunity.
Then protection.
Because, she said, Gideon Vale was not the person she feared.
That surprised everyone.
Especially Gideon.
Voss eventually gave investigators the name.
Victor Sloane.
Gideon knew it.
Mallerie saw him change.
“Who is he?”
“My former business partner.”
“Former?”
“Enemy is more accurate.”
Gideon stood at the window.
Twenty years earlier, Gideon and Victor had built part of their criminal network together.
Shipping.
Construction.
Protection rackets.
Eventually Gideon tried moving legitimate holdings away from drugs and trafficking.
Victor considered that weakness.
Their partnership ended violently.
Gideon survived.
Victor disappeared.
“What does that have to do with my baby?”
Gideon looked ashamed.
“I don't know.”
Voss supplied the answer.
Victor had learned Elizabeth Vale was dying.
He also knew Elizabeth desperately wanted Gideon to become a father.
A legitimate adoption would have involved background checks Gideon could never survive.
So Victor created an opportunity.
A newborn could be stolen.
Records could be changed.
A dying sister could be convinced a private arrangement was legal.
And Gideon would accept the child without asking questions he did not want answered.
Mallerie stared at him.
“Did you ask?”
Gideon said nothing.
“Gideon.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Elizabeth arranged it.”
“That isn't an answer.”
He looked at her.
“I wanted to believe it.”
The honesty hurt.
“You knew your history made adoption difficult.”
“Yes.”
“And suddenly a healthy newborn appeared without months of screening.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't ask.”
“No.”
Mallerie stood.
Anger shook her.
“My son was stolen because men like you created a world where babies could appear without paperwork and nobody powerful asked why.”
Gideon did not defend himself.
“You're right.”
She had expected argument.
His agreement made her angrier.
“You don't get points for admitting it.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
He became silent.
Mallerie walked away.
The next revelation was worse.
Victor had not chosen Mallerie randomly.
Her late mother, Elaine Reed, had worked for Vale Maritime twenty-six years earlier.
Bookkeeping.
Mallerie knew that.
What she did not know was that Elaine had discovered money laundering involving Victor.
She copied records.
Then quietly helped federal investigators.
Victor lost millions.
Several associates went to prison.
Elaine entered a limited witness-protection arrangement but refused relocation because she had a twelve-year-old daughter.
Mallerie remembered that year.
The sudden move.
Her mother changing jobs.
The strange man who watched their apartment for weeks.
The burn on Mallerie's wrist had happened during that move when she knocked over a hot pan.
Victor remembered Elaine Reed.
Years later, he found her daughter.
Pregnant.
Alone.
Perfect.
Steal Mallerie's baby.
Give him to Gideon.
Then, someday, reveal the truth.
One act would destroy the daughter of the woman who betrayed him and the man who abandoned him.
Except Victor had not expected Mallerie and Owen to meet accidentally at the gala.
The plan had been designed for later.
When the photograph from the ballroom reached Victor, he panicked.
He sent the fake hotel employee.
“Why later?” Mallerie asked.
Voss looked down.
“Mr. Sloane intended to reveal Owen's identity when the boy was old enough to understand.”
Mallerie felt sick.
“He wanted a child traumatized.”
“He wanted Gideon destroyed.”
Gideon's voice became cold.
“And Mallerie?”
Voss whispered:
“She was collateral.”
Mallerie laughed once.
A horrible sound.
“My mother ruined his money twenty-six years ago, so he stole my baby.”
Nobody answered.
Then Mallerie asked the question everyone had avoided.
“Who is Owen's biological father?”
Voss's expression changed.
Gideon noticed.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Voss looked toward Mallerie.
“Daniel Reed.”
Mallerie frowned.
“That isn't possible.”
Daniel Reed was not her partner.
He was her cousin.
Voss shook her head.
“Not Reed. Daniel Reeve.”
Mallerie stopped.
Daniel Reeve.
A man she had dated for six months.
The relationship ended before she knew she was pregnant.
Daniel had moved to Seattle.
She had emailed him after discovering the pregnancy.
No response.
She assumed he wanted nothing to do with the child.
Voss looked ashamed.
“Victor intercepted your communications.”
“What?”
“He had access to your accounts through a contractor.”
Mallerie's hands shook.
“Daniel never received my message?”
“No.”
“Does he know he has a son?”
“No.”
Mallerie turned away.
One stolen child.
Two stolen parents.
And one man who had become a father through a lie.
Daniel arrived in Chicago four days later.
He cried when Mallerie told him.
He cried harder when he met Owen.
Gideon watched from another room.
For the first time, he understood what Mallerie must have felt at the gala.
A stranger touching the child you loved.
A biological connection you could not compete with.
Fear that blood might erase history.
Mallerie found him in the kitchen.
“You disappeared.”
“I was giving you privacy.”
“That's almost emotionally healthy.”
“Prison may be my next option if you keep complimenting me.”
She did not smile.
“Are you afraid?”
Gideon looked through the doorway.
Daniel held Owen awkwardly.
Owen stared at him with curiosity.
“Yes.”
“Of losing him?”
“Yes.”
Mallerie sat.
“So am I.”
Gideon looked surprised.
“You're his mother.”
“I lost ten months. Daniel lost all of them. You lost the story you thought was true.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Everybody wants someone to win.”
“And you?”
“I want Owen not to lose.”
That became the plan.
No custody ambushes.
No public announcements.
No immediate name changes.
Daniel would build a relationship slowly.
Mallerie would become Owen's daily caregiver.
Gideon remained Dad.
For now.
Perhaps forever.
They would let the child's needs define the family rather than biology, ego, or revenge.
It was almost working.
Then Victor Sloane sent Gideon a package.
Inside was a photograph of Mallerie leaving the pediatric psychologist's office with Owen.
Across her face, someone had drawn a red X.
Beneath it:
YOU TOOK MY FAMILY.
NOW I'LL TAKE YOURS.
And for the first time, Gideon did not issue an order.
He walked into the room where Mallerie sat.
Placed the photograph in front of her.
May you like
And asked:
“What do you want to do?”
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