Chapter 18 - MARCUS'S BROTHER
Elena knew almost nothing about Thomas Morgan.
Marcus rarely discussed him.
Thomas was six years older.
Brilliant.
Reckless.
Dead at twenty-five after a motorcycle crash.
That was the family version.
Sophie listened as if hearing about a stranger.
“My mother never mentioned Thomas.”
Diane looked uncomfortable.
“That doesn't surprise me.”
Elena turned.
“You've suddenly become an encyclopedia.”
“I knew the family before you did.”
There it was.
An old Diane sentence.
Hierarchy.
Seniority as authority.
Then Diane caught herself.
“I shouldn't have said it like that.”
That surprised Elena almost as much as Sophie's arrival.
Daniel continued investigating.
The trust paperwork suggested Marcus did not believe Sophie was his daughter.
He believed she might be Thomas's.
But then why had Marcus held her as a baby?
Why had Valerie accused him of appearing out of guilt?
Sophie called her mother.
Valerie refused to speak.
Three hours later, she sent one message:
Leave the Morgans alone.
Sophie stared at it.
“She spent my whole childhood telling me my father left us.”
“Did she name Marcus?” Elena asked.
“No.”
That mattered.
“When did you decide it was Marcus?”
“Six months ago. I found photographs after Mom moved.”
The photograph of Marcus holding Sophie.
Birthday cards signed M.
A deposit book showing monthly transfers.
Sophie had assembled a conclusion.
A reasonable one.
Possibly the wrong one.
Daniel obtained records from the attorney who had originally established SR-17.
The man had retired but retained archived notes.
One sentence stood out:
Client intends fund for minor child pending resolution of disputed paternity involving deceased brother.
Marcus had not been secretly supporting his own daughter.
He had been trying to determine whether his dead brother had left one behind.
Sophie cried when she read it.
Not loudly.
Just tears.
“Then why did he disappear?”
Nobody had an answer.
Elena called Valerie herself.
No response.
Then Diane said:
“I might.”
Elena looked at her.
“Might what?”
“Know why Marcus stopped seeing Sophie.”
Every muscle in Elena tightened.
Diane stared at her hands.
“Valerie came to my house once.”
“When?”
“When Sophie was almost three.”
“What happened?”
“She wanted me to convince Marcus to sign something.”
“What?”
Diane shook her head.
“I never saw all of it.”
“Mom.”
“It was an acknowledgment of paternity.”
Sophie leaned forward.
“For Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“Did he sign?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Diane looked at her.
“Because Marcus already had Thomas's blood type records.”
Silence.
“And?”
“Marcus knew Sophie couldn't be his child.”
Sophie looked as though the floor had shifted.
“But that doesn't prove Thomas was my father.”
“No.”
Diane's voice became softer.
“It only proved Marcus wasn't.”
Sophie stood abruptly.
“I need air.”
She walked outside.
Elena followed.
Sophie wiped her face angrily.
“This is ridiculous.”
“I know.”
“My father changes every twelve hours.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Sophie turned.
“You had him.”
Elena stopped.
Sophie immediately looked ashamed.
“I'm sorry.”
“No. You’re allowed to be angry.”
“I don't want your money.”
“You've said that.”
“I want to know why he kept records about me for years and never found me.”
Elena had wondered the same thing.
Then Daniel called.
He had found another archived document.
A letter Marcus wrote to Valerie fifteen years earlier.
The opening line said:
I know what Thomas did to you.
And what followed was worse.
Because Marcus had written:
May you like
If Sophie ever learns the truth, it must come from you—not from me.
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