Alistair read the papers until the sun came up. Sawyer was born eight months after the divorce. On the birth certificate, the father’s name was blank. Nellie raised him alone in a tiny room in a poor neighborhood. She worked early mornings cleaning train stations and collected cardboard in the afternoon to get money.
There were school photos too. Sawyer had the same small spot next to his eyebrow as Alistair. His smile looked just like Alistair’s late father.
“How did he die?” Alistair asked with a shaking voice.
The secretary handed him another paper.
“The public report says it was a small accident with no injuries,” the secretary said. “But the real logbook says a heavy metal beam fell and crushed the boy. Nellie lost her leg trying to pull him out.”
“Why was my son at a dangerous building site?” Alistair asked angrily.
“That is the worst part, sir,” the secretary answered.
Two men hired by a private guard company tried to grab the boy after school. Sawyer got scared, ran away, and went into the construction yard to hide. Nellie ran in after him. The site did not have any safety walls, and a big crane was moving heavy metal even though it was broken.
Alistair hit the desk with his hand.
“Who hired those men to scare my boy?” he shouted.
The secretary opened a red folder marked “Secret.” Inside were bank papers, emails, and a note from Katie Carpenter.
The note said: “Get the boy. He is the only male heir. Do not let Alistair know until we have full custody.”
Alistair dropped the paper.
His mother knew about Sawyer for ten years and tried to steal him from his mother.
After the accident, Katie paid 120 million dollars to the building company, city officials, and two news writers. They deleted the death from the records so the government would not close the new hospital building.
That night, Alistair went to the big family house to face his mother.
“Did you order men to kidnap my son?” Alistair asked coldly.
Katie did not deny it.
“I wanted to bring him to the family where he belonged,” she said.
“He had a mother who loved him!” Alistair said.
“She was a poor woman who made him sleep in a dirty office,” Katie said back. “I could give him a great school, a rich name, and a real future.”
“You killed his future!” Alistair yelled.
Katie’s face became very cold.
“It was just an accident,” she said. “We had to protect the hospital name. Thousands of people need our business.”
Alistair showed her an old notebook from her desk. On one page, she wrote Sawyer’s name and the words: “Case closed. Do not tell Alistair.”
“To you, my little boy was just a problem to hide,” Alistair said with disgust.
“Alistair, listen to me,” she said, using his childhood name. “I did it all for our family name.”
“Never call me that name again,” Alistair said.
The next morning, Alistair called a big meeting with the hospital board. He showed them the bank papers, the notes, and the real logbook. Katie walked in smiling, thinking her son would help her cover it up.
But when Alistair turned on the big screen, the first picture was Sawyer’s school photo.
“Before we vote today,” Alistair told the board, “you will all learn who this child was and who paid money to hide his death.”
Katie stood up fast and tried to shut his computer.
Alistair caught her hand and pulled it away.
“Sit down, Mother,” he said coldly. “Today, the truth is coming out.”
Then a video started playing on the screen. No one knew this video existed.
In the movie, Katie arrived at the accident site before the police or the doctors.
What she said next would destroy the Carpenter family forever.
PART 3
The video came from a security camera on a nearby store. The sound was bad, but the picture was clear. Katie got out of a big car while workers tried to lift the heavy metal beams. A few steps away, Nellie was crying and screaming next to Sawyer’s still body.
A boss ran over to Katie and showed her some papers. She looked at the dead boy under a sheet, made a phone call, and pointed at the cameras.
A sound expert had fixed the audio from that call.
“Take the video tapes out before the police arrive,” Katie said on the phone. “The boy must not be linked to our clinic. Pay off the builder and the news. My son Alistair must never know.”
The whole room became completely quiet.
Katie’s face turned white.
“That video is fake,” she whispered.
“Three experts checked it,” Alistair said. “I already gave a copy to the police chief this morning.”
The old woman looked like she had been hit.
“Are you sending your own mother to jail?” she asked.
“I am stopping the person who tried to steal my son, hid his death, and left his mother to live on the street with one leg,” Alistair said.
Katie looked at the board members for help, but everyone looked down at the table. She had ruled the clinic for forty years, giving out jobs and money. Many people owed her their success, but the evidence was too big.
Alistair asked for a vote to remove her from the clinic. Every single hand went up.
“You are fired from the board right now,” Alistair announced.
Katie walked up to him, shaking with anger.
“I am your mother,” she said. “Everything you have is because of me.”
Alistair pointed at Sawyer’s picture.
