Chapter 2 - The Address He Already Knew

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“Mr. Whitmore...” I took a step back, pulling Annie behind my jacket. “How do you know where we live?”
The grandfather clock in the vaulted entryway ticked with deafening resonance. Arthur slowly lowered the black telephone receiver, his silver-bearded jaw tightening. The piercing grey eyes that had commanded shipping fleets and boardrooms softened into an ocean of profound grief and tenderness.
He set his silver cane against the mahogany desk and walked toward us. Instead of looming over us with billionaire arrogance, Arthur slowly lowered himself onto one knee, bringing himself down to eye level with Annie and me.
“I know where you live, Caleb,” Arthur said, his voice trembling with years of unshed tears. “Because for the past six months, I have had a private security detail watching over your apartment every single night.”
Annie blinked, clutching my sleeve. “Why would you watch us? We didn't do anything bad!”
Arthur reached into the breast pocket of his tailored tweed vest and pulled out a worn leather wallet. He opened it and revealed a faded photograph of a young man in his mid-twenties. The young man had dark chestnut curls, a warm, crooked smile, and bright hazel eyes.
Looking at that picture was like looking into a mirror. The man in the photograph looked identical to the portrait of our father that hung above our sofa on Elmwood Avenue.
“This was my only son, Thomas,” Arthur whispered, tracing the photo with a calloused thumb. “Ten years ago, after a bitter, foolish argument about the corporate business, Thomas walked away from this estate. He refused to touch my money. He took his mother’s maiden name—Vance—and married the woman he loved. When Thomas and your mother passed away in that terrible accident three years ago, I didn't find out until it was too late.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Our father... was your son?”
“You are my grandchildren,” Arthur said, tears finally breaking past his lashes and rolling down his weathered cheeks. “You, Annie, and Grace. You carry the Whitmore blood.”
“If you knew who we were,” I asked, my voice cracking with confusion, “why didn't you come to our door? Why did you leave Grace to scrub floors until she collapsed?”
Arthur bowed his head in deep sorrow. “Because whenever my investigators approached your building, someone inside my own company intervened, intercepting my letters and telling me that Grace hated my very name and would run away with you two if I ever tried to contact you.”
He looked up, his jaw setting like hard iron.
May you like
“Someone in my inner circle wanted you to stay poor, desperate, and forgotten. But today, the truth walked through my front gate.”
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