Chapter 10: The Man With Daniel’s Face Made an Impossible Choice
The stranger on the balcony stared down at Daniel.
“No,” Daniel whispered.
The man had the same eyes, the same jawline, and the same mark beside his left ear. But a long scar crossed his forehead.
Elena looked between them. “Who are you?”
The stranger answered, “My name is Michael Reed.”
Adrian gripped the railing below. “You said Lucas died.”
Michael looked at him. “Lucas did die.”
“You were Lucas.”
“That’s what our parents called me. But it wasn’t the name on the hospital bracelet.”
Margaret began shaking. “You were the other baby.”
Michael’s eyes fixed on her. “You knew.”
“I suspected. I never had proof.”
“You had enough proof to stay silent.”
Robert shifted Noah in his arms. “Family reunions are touching, but we have business.”
Daniel pointed at the carrier. “Give me my son.”
“Slide the trust document forward.”
Michael looked at Robert. “You said no one would be hurt.”
Robert’s smile vanished. “Do not become sentimental now.”
Michael glanced down at Elena. “He found me three months ago. He told me Daniel had stolen my life.”
Daniel answered, “I didn’t even know you existed.”
“I know that now.”
Robert pressed the gun against Noah’s blanket. “Michael, take the document.”
Michael moved toward the stairs.
Adrian stepped in front of him. “You grew up as my brother.”
“I grew up in foster homes after Laura died.”
Adrian’s face fell. “We were told you died in the river.”
“Robert paid a doctor to issue the certificate. He needed the questions to stop.”
Margaret looked up at Robert. “You hid a child for twenty-nine years?”
“I corrected a mistake.”
Daniel shouted, “You created the mistake!”
Robert’s expression twisted. “The hospital switched the babies. I simply chose the child I wanted to raise.”
The words echoed through the ruined corridor.
Margaret sank against the wall. “You knew from the beginning.”
“I knew you loved Thomas’s child more than you ever loved me. So I raised him until I could use him.”
Daniel stared at the man he had called father. “None of it was real.”
Robert laughed. “Your education was real. Your money was real.”
“My love for you was real.”
“That was your weakness.”
Michael reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped beside the trust document.
Robert ordered, “Pick it up.”
Instead, Michael kicked it toward Elena.
Robert raised his weapon.
Michael shouted, “Run!”
Daniel charged up the stairs as Elena pulled Margaret behind a concrete pillar. Adrian raced toward Noah’s carrier beneath the light, cutting the trip wire with a piece of broken metal.
Robert fired.
The bullet struck the railing inches from Daniel’s head.
Michael tackled Robert. Noah slipped from Robert’s arm, but Daniel caught the carrier strap before the baby fell.
“I have him!” Daniel shouted.
Elena ran forward and took Noah, sobbing as she checked his face.
Robert and Michael crashed through a rotten door into the records room.
Daniel followed.
Robert stood near a broken window, one arm around Michael’s throat and the gun against his chest.
“Stay back,” Robert warned.
Police voices echoed below.
Michael struggled. “Let them arrest you.”
Robert shook his head. “Prison is for men who lose.”
He looked at Daniel.
“You have ten seconds to choose. Save your brother, or save the hospital records behind me.”
Daniel saw flames spreading through a pile of files. Robert had already set them on fire.
Those records could prove the baby switch, the forged death certificate, and every crime committed that night.
Michael gasped, “Get the records. The truth matters.”
Daniel stepped closer. “So do you.”
Robert dragged Michael toward the window.
“Choose!”
Daniel lunged.
A shot exploded.
The burning floor collapsed beneath all three men.
Elena screamed Daniel’s name as smoke filled the corridor.
When firefighters finally reached the records room, they found Robert’s gun, Michael’s blood, and Daniel’s wedding ring beside the open window.
But there were no bodies below.
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Then Elena’s phone rang.
A distorted voice whispered, “Daniel is alive. Bring the original DNA report to the train station at midnight—and tell no one which brother you intend to save.”
