MY STEPMOTHER THREW MY FATHER’S PHOTO DOWN THE STAIRS—THE PAPER HIDDEN INSIDE SAID HIS SECOND SON WAS STILL MISSING

Celeste finally answered Sylvester’s call from a motel outside Albany. Her voice sounded exhausted rather than defiant. She said she left because Miles had contacted her at 3:40 a.m., less than three hours after the document emerged, and told her to come alone if she wanted her father “protected from consequences he would not survive.”

Sylvester wanted her location.

Celeste refused until Mason confirmed Leo was safe.

That demand changed how Sylvester heard her.

“You knew about Leo.”

“Yes.”

“For nine months.”

“Yes.”

“You watched my son from a car.”

Celeste began crying. “I needed to know if he was okay.”

“You needed to tell me.”

“I know.”

“No. You knew then.”

The distinction ended whatever remained of their marriage, but it also clarified that Celeste was now afraid of Miles. She told them Miles had summoned her to a private medical archive owned by an Arden subsidiary. He claimed Julia’s missing files could implicate Malcolm in infant trafficking, fraud and falsified death records. Celeste believed Miles intended to make her father carry the entire scheme.

Rebecca instructed Celeste not to meet him.

Celeste admitted she already had.

The previous afternoon, before returning to the mansion, she met Miles in Manhattan. He wanted the Northgate document. Celeste told him she did not know where Julia hid it. Miles said Evan carried Julia’s old photograph constantly and suggested she start there.

That explained why she targeted the frame.

Miles knew.

The investigation shifted from reconstructing old actions to preventing new ones. If Miles understood the paper had surfaced, he could destroy remaining records, pressure Malcolm or interfere with Leo’s legal identity before Sylvester established paternity formally.

Rebecca filed emergency motions to preserve the Mercer trust and suspend Miles’s administrative control.

Miles responded within hours by claiming Sylvester’s newly asserted paternity over Leo was based on unlawfully obtained genetic testing and challenging Grace’s adoption records.

He was no longer hiding.

He was fighting for control.

The reason appeared in an upcoming trust event. The Mercer Children’s Trust was scheduled for a mandatory independent audit on the twins’ ninth birthday because Julia added a posthumous estate instruction after she began investigating Miles. The audit was less than four months away.

If auditors learned two beneficiaries existed, they would reconstruct eight years of transactions.

Miles faced exposure not only for the Arden investment but for dozens of later transfers Rebecca had only begun to identify.

Sylvester changed strategy. Instead of chasing Miles through old documents, he asked what Miles needed now.

Rebecca answered immediately.

“He needs Leo not to become a recognized beneficiary.”

That could happen in several ways without harming the child: challenge paternity, invalidate Grace’s records, argue the second infant legally died and Leo is unrelated despite DNA, or bury the original chain of identity so deeply that litigation extends beyond the audit.

They needed proof connecting Leo Reed not merely genetically to Sylvester, but administratively to Child Two from Arden Medical Center.

Grace’s letters were valuable.

Northgate was valuable.

DNA was powerful.

But Miles could still argue Grace substituted some other infant before adoption.

They needed the missing hospital chain.

Celeste said Malcolm might know where it was.

Then her voice dropped.

“My father kept one thing from Miles.”