CHAPTER 195: Jonathan

POV: Avalon Pierce

He read the messages three times.

Selene read them beside him without speaking.

The kitchen was very still.

We share a father, Mr Pierce.

He put the phone down.

Picked it up again.

Put it down.

“Say something,” Selene said.

“I don’t have anything yet,” he said.

“Okay,” she said.

“My father had another son? he asked. 

“That’s what the message says,” she said.

“Daniel Reyes,” he said. “The man who spent fourteen months trying to destroy everything I built. The man who used our daughter. Who blackmailed Catherine. Who paid your father to file a fraudulent claim.” He looked at the phone. “My half brother.”

“Allegedly,” Selene said carefully.

“He says he has proof,” Avalon said.

“People say many things,” she said.

“Yes,” he said. “But this—” He stopped.

“What?” she asked.

“This would explain things,” he said. “Why he was so personal. Why it wasn’t just about money or liability. Why he came at us from every direction simultaneously.” He looked at her. “If Jonathan Pierce was his father too and nobody acknowledged it—”

“He wanted to take apart what the acknowledged son built,” Selene said quietly.

“Yes,” he said.

She looked at the phone.

“We call Kim,” she said. “Tonight.”

“It’s nine PM,” he said.

“I know what time it is,” she said. “Call him.”

Kim answered on the second ring.

“You’ve seen the messages,” Kim said immediately.

“You knew,” Avalon said.

“We found the connection during the phone seizure,” Kim said. “I was going to call you tomorrow morning. I wanted the DNA confirmation first.”

“You have DNA,” Avalon said.

“Daniel submitted to testing voluntarily when he was arrested,” Kim said. “As a condition of his cooperation discussion. His lawyer thought it would establish mitigating circumstances.” A pause. “The results came back an hour ago.”

“Tell me,” Avalon said.

Kim told him.

Avalon closed his eyes.

Selene watched his face.

When he opened them he looked at her and she knew before he said anything.

“He’s my brother,” Avalon said.

They sat at the kitchen table for a long time.

Elena woke at eleven, Selene fed her and came back and they sat with cold coffee between them weighing the information that rearranged everything you thought you understood about your own history.

“Jonathan Pierce had a son nobody knew about,” Selene said.

“Apparently,” Avalon said.

“Before you,” she said. “The dates in Kim’s file. Daniel is four years older than you.”

“Yes,” he said.

“Which means Jonathan knew,” she said. “Or didn’t know. We don’t know which.”

“No,” he said. “We don’t.”

“Nene might have known,” she said.

“Nene knew everything eventually,” he said.

“If she knew about Daniel and didn’t tell you—” Selene started.

“Then she had a reason,” he said. “She always had a reason.”

“That’s a lot of grace to give her,” Selene said.

“I’ve been giving her grace for two years,” he said. “I’m not stopping now.”

She looked at him.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Ask me tomorrow,” he said.

“I’m asking now,” she said.

He looked at his hands.

“I have a brother,” he said. “Who spent fourteen months trying to destroy my life. Who used our daughter’s dead sister’s medical records as a weapon. Who paid your father to file a fraudulent claim.” He paused. “And I keep thinking — what did he know about me. Did he know who I was when he joined the board? Was all four years of that a strategy.”

“Kim will find out,” she said.

“I know,” he said. “But tonight I’m sitting here and I have a brother and he’s in federal custody and he tried to take everything from us and I don’t know what to do with any of that.”

She reached across the table.

He took her hand.

“You don’t have to do anything with it tonight,” she said.

“I know,” he said.

“Tomorrow,” she said. “We will deal with it tomorrow.”

“Yes,” he said.

She held his hand.

He held hers.

Elena made a small sound from the nursery, settled and everything went silent again.

At midnight Jonathan Reeves — Daniel Reyes — sent one more message.

Avalon saw it on the phone between them.

I know what I did. I’m not asking for anything. I just needed you to know the truth existed. Whatever you decide about it is yours.

Avalon read it.

Read it again.

“What are you going to do?” Selene asked.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly.

“That’s okay,” she said.

“Is it,” he said.

“You found out two hours ago that you have a half brother who tried to destroy everything you built,” she said. “Not knowing what to do is the only reasonable response.”

He looked at the message.

At whatever you decide about it is yours.

“He sounds like he’s given up,” Selene said.

“Yes,” Avalon said.

“People who’ve given up sometimes mean it,” she said. “And sometimes it’s the most sophisticated manipulation of all.”

“I know,” he said.

“Which do you think,” she said.

He was quiet for a long moment.

“I think he’s a man who grew up knowing his father chose another family,” he said slowly. “And spent his whole life being angry about it. He found a way to act on the anger that cost him everything.” He paused. “And I think I understand that more than I want to.”

Selene looked at him.

“Because of your own walls,” she said.

“Because of my own walls,” he said. “Yes.”

“That’s not the same,” she said.

“No,” he said. “But I understand the architecture of it.”

She was quiet.

“Avalon,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Whatever you decide,” she said. “About him. About what this means. I’m with you.”

“I know,” he said.

“Not managing it from you,” she said. “With you.”

“I know the difference,” he said.

“Good,” she said.

He went to the nursery at one AM.

Sat in the chair.

Looked at Elena sleeping.

At her face in the low light.

At Nene’s expression even in sleep.

“Your grandfather had another son,” he said quietly. “Before me. He’s in federal custody right now because he spent over a year trying to take apart everything we built.” He paused. “I don’t know what to do with that yet. I don’t know if he’s someone I’ll ever speak to again or someone I’ll spend the rest of my life not thinking about.” He looked at Elena. “But I know this….whatever he took from us or tried to take — you’re still here. The foundation is still standing and the centre held.”

Elena breathed.

Slow and certain.

“Your great grandmother asked a question fifteen years ago,” he said. “What are we actually building toward? I think part of the answer is this. That we build things strong enough to survive the people who try to take them apart. Including the people we share blood with.”

He sat in the chair for a long time.

When he came back to bed Selene was awake.

“The nursery,” she said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Talking to her,” she said.

“Yes,” he said.

“What did you tell her,” she said.

“That the center holds,” he said.

Selene looked at the ceiling.

“Does it,” she said. 

He thought about it honestly.

“Yes,” he said. “Tonight genuinely.”

She turned toward him.

He toward her.

Her phone lit the nightstand.

Maya called at 1:30 AM.

Selene answered immediately.

“I’m okay,” Maya said before Selene could speak. “Don’t panic. I’m okay.”

“Then why are you calling at one thirty,” Selene said.

A pause.

“Because I took a test,” Maya said. “Twenty minutes ago.”

Selene sat up.

“Maya,” she said.

“It’s positive,” Maya said. Her voice was different. It was layered with fear, hope and disbelief all at once. “Lena. It’s positive.”