Chapter 2 - The Grandson Richard Never Knew
The stranger’s name was Nathan Reed.
He was twenty-eight.
And within two hours, Richard learned that Nathan was not an impostor.
He was Daniel’s first son.
Daniel had met Rebecca Reed during college. Their relationship ended before Rebecca discovered she was pregnant. She chose to raise Nathan privately and initially refused Sterling involvement.
When Nathan was eleven, Rebecca finally contacted Daniel.
Daniel arranged DNA testing.
The result confirmed paternity.
He began seeing Nathan quietly.
Why had Richard never known?
Because Daniel and Richard were barely speaking during those years.
Richard wanted his son inside Sterling Holdings.
Daniel wanted to build a life outside his father’s shadow.
By the time they reconciled, Daniel kept postponing the introduction.
Three weeks before Daniel died, he gave Nathan the Sterling crest ring.
Not as ownership.
Not as inheritance.
As acknowledgment.
“You’re my son even if my father doesn’t know yet.”
Richard sat silently as Nathan explained.
Then he looked at Noah.
Two descendants of Daniel had been hidden from him.
Nathan intentionally.
Noah through something darker.
Richard ordered private DNA testing alongside police-approved procedures.
The result established overwhelming probability that Richard was Noah’s biological grandfather and Nathan was Noah’s paternal half-brother.
Sarah had not lost Daniel’s baby.
Noah was that baby.
Richard went pale.
“I was told he died before birth.”
Noah stared at him.
“My mom said you didn’t want me.”
“I never knew you existed.”
The boy’s expression changed.
Not trust.
Confusion.
Nathan then explained why he had been driving the black car.
Sarah had called him four days earlier.
She sounded terrified.
She told him she had finally found something Daniel had hidden before his death.
If she disappeared, Nathan was to watch Noah and make sure he reached Richard.
Nathan arrived at Sarah’s apartment that morning.
No Sarah.
No Noah.
He spent hours searching.
That was how he found Noah near Richard’s restaurant.
Noah had seen the same style of black luxury car outside his apartment days earlier and assumed Nathan was the man his mother feared.
“That’s him!” had referred to the car, not Nathan’s face.
Richard’s grief supplied the rest.
But one question remained.
Where was Sarah?
Nathan placed her phone on the table.
She had left it inside apartment.
The last outgoing call was to a number Richard recognized immediately.
Malcolm Voss.
May you like
Richard’s former chief financial officer.
And the man who, ten years earlier, personally delivered the letter saying Sarah’s unborn child had died.
