Chapter 15 - LilySebastian did not knock on Lily’s door.
Rebecca did.
It was her right.
Claudia stood beside Sebastian at the edge of the driveway.
Rachel Mercer opened the door.
She was forty-five.
A pediatric physical therapist.
Her husband David was an architect.
They had adopted Lily believing the process was legal.
When Rebecca explained, Rachel nearly closed the door.
Then Rebecca said:
“Her twin brother is dying.”
Everything stopped.
Lily was twelve.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
She appeared behind Rachel.
“Mom?”
Sebastian felt something inside him fracture.
He had seen Sophie grow from six to eleven.
He had held Noah through fevers.
He had watched Emilia take her first breaths.
But twelve years of Lily’s life existed without him.
First words.
First steps.
First day of school.
He had missed everything.
Lily looked at the strangers outside.
“Who are they?”
Rachel began crying.
The truth came carefully.
Not all at once.
Not dramatically.
A family therapist was called.
Medical professionals explained the donor procedure.
Lily listened.
Then asked one question.
“Do I have a brother?”
Rebecca nodded.
“A twin.”
Lily looked stunned.
“Is he nice?”
Rebecca laughed through tears.
“Sometimes.”
That made Lily smile.
Then she looked at Sebastian.
“And you’re…”
Sebastian could barely speak.
“Biologically, yes.”
“My father?”
“David is your father.”
David’s face changed.
Sebastian continued.
“I’m the man whose DNA you share.”
Lily studied him.
Claudia had never loved Sebastian more than in that moment.
He did not claim.
He did not demand.
He gave the child room.
Lily agreed to additional compatibility testing.
The match was extraordinary.
The transplant was scheduled.
Three days later, Lily met Ethan through glass.
He was too immunocompromised for close contact.
She lifted a handwritten sign.
HI, TWIN.
Ethan laughed.
Then cried.
He wrote back:
YOU’RE SHORT.
Lily stared at him.
Then wrote:
WE’RE TWINS, IDIOT.
Even Sebastian laughed.
The transplant succeeded.
But recovery would take time.
Weeks.
Possibly months.
During those weeks, the families learned one another.
Awkwardly.
Carefully.
Rebecca and Rachel cried together.
David struggled with fear that Sebastian’s wealth could overwhelm Lily’s life.
Sebastian understood.
“I’m not taking her.”
David looked surprised.
“I wouldn’t let you.”
“Good.”
“What?”
Sebastian looked through the hospital window at Lily.
“She needs someone willing to protect her relationship with you.”
David’s suspicion softened slightly.
“You really mean that?”
“Yes.”
“I researched you.”
“That seems sensible.”
“You’re terrifying.”
“I’m told therapy has improved that.”
David laughed despite himself.
The anonymous messages continued.
One appeared on Claudia’s phone.
YOU FOUND THE GIRL.
NOW ASK WHY ALEJANDRO NAVARRO WANTED HER GONE.
Claudia showed Sebastian.
He stared.
“There’s more.”
There was always more.
They returned to Alejandro’s files.
This time, Claudia noticed something strange.
The payment to Dr. Cross occurred three days before Rebecca gave birth.
Meaning Alejandro had arranged intervention before anyone knew whether the baby was a boy or girl.
Unless—
Claudia pulled Rebecca’s prenatal records.
Twins had been diagnosed at twenty weeks.
One boy.
One girl.
Alejandro knew.
But why remove only the girl?
Then Sebastian found a legal document.
A trust.
Created by his grandmother decades earlier.
The Navarro family’s controlling company shares passed through blood descendants under a bizarre inheritance structure.
Sebastian had never cared because his father had restructured most holdings.
But one asset remained.
Navarro Atlantic Holdings.
Worth nearly $400 million.
The document contained a clause.
If Sebastian produced a biological daughter before age thirty-five, a portion of Alejandro’s controlling interest would transfer directly into trust for her.
Sebastian stared.
“He stole my daughter…”
Claudia finished:
“…to keep control of the company.”
A human being.
Removed from her mother.
Separated from her twin.
All for shares.
Sebastian looked physically ill.
Then Claudia noticed a signature at the bottom.
Witness to the trust modification.
Thomas Greer.
The investigator.
The man now missing.
And beside his signature was another name.
A name Sebastian recognized immediately.
Someone still alive.
Someone still inside Navarro Maritime.
Someone who had attended Sophie’s birthday three months earlier.
Sebastian whispered:
“No.”
Claudia looked at him.
“Who is it?”
May you like
His face hardened.
“My mother.”
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