Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Victoria refused to sit.
She stood in the middle of the bakery office, watching Adrian examine the documents.
The birth certificate was genuine.
The hospital bracelet carried a date from five years earlier.
And the photograph showed a baby girl with dark hair and a tiny dimple.
Adrian looked up.
“Where did you get this?”
“From our father's private archive.”
“You told me that archive was empty.”
“I told you Daniel had destroyed most of it.”
“Why didn't you show me this before?”
Victoria's eyes flickered toward Claire.
“Because I didn't know what Daniel would do if I did.”
Claire felt anger replacing fear.
“Everybody keeps saying Daniel's name like he's some unstoppable force. What exactly did he do?”
Victoria placed another document on the desk.
“A month before our father died, he discovered that Evelyn had given birth to a daughter. He wanted to acknowledge the child and establish a trust.”
Adrian frowned.
“But the child disappeared.”
“Not immediately.”
Victoria explained that Evelyn had been moved between private residences after the birth. Daniel had told the family she was unstable and had taken the baby overseas.
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Did you believe him?”
“I was twenty-nine and trying to protect a family business worth billions. I believed what I was told.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No,” Victoria said. “It isn't.”
Claire looked at the birth certificate again.
“Why is Adrian listed as the father?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Because Daniel changed the record.”
Silence.
“What?” Adrian demanded.
“Your father had a medical condition that made him unable to have biological children. The original record named him. The amended record named you.”
Adrian stared at her.
“My father knew?”
“He discovered the alteration shortly before he died.”
Claire felt sick.
Daniel had not merely separated her from Adrian.
He had been manipulating an entire family.
“Where is Evelyn now?” she asked.
Victoria looked down.
“Dead.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Why wasn't I told?”
“Because Daniel said the matter had been settled.”
Claire stood.
“Settled? A woman died, and you all decided it was settled?”
Victoria didn't defend herself.
Instead, she opened the folder and removed a letter.
It was addressed to Adrian.
The handwriting belonged to his father.
Adrian read it silently.
His expression changed with every line.
“What does it say?” Claire asked.
He passed it to her.
The letter described the trust, Evelyn's daughter, and a warning that Daniel had been diverting money from family accounts.
But the final paragraph was what made Claire's heart race.
If anything happens to me, do not trust Daniel with the records of the children. He knows about the pregnancy in San Francisco. He knows what happened at the hospital.
Claire looked up.
“What happened at the hospital?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Victoria suddenly reached for the letter.
“There's more.”
She pulled a folded sheet from the back.
It contained a hospital discharge record.
The date matched the twins' birth.
Claire stared at it.
Her name was printed across the top.
But the record showed a third baby.
A male infant.
Born prematurely.
The status column read: transferred.
Claire's fingers went numb.
“No.”
Adrian moved closer.
“Claire?”
She shook her head.
“I had twins. I had two babies.”
Victoria looked at the document.
“Then why does this say three?”
Claire remembered the delivery room.
The emergency.
The anesthetic.
The nurse telling her that everything was fine.
She remembered waking up and seeing two bassinets.
She had never questioned it.
Because she had been exhausted and frightened.
Because the hospital had told her the birth was uncomplicated after the initial emergency.
Because she had trusted the people caring for her.
Adrian picked up his phone.
“I want the hospital records. Everything.”
Before he could make the call, Claire's phone rang.
An unknown number.
She answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
“Mrs. Bennett? My name is Rachel. I was a nurse at Harborview Medical Center five years ago.”
Claire gripped the phone.
“What do you want?”
“I saw your third baby.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“Where is he?”
There was a long silence.
Then Rachel said:
“He wasn't taken by mistake. Someone signed him out.”
“Who?”
The nurse began crying.
“Your husband's family.”
Adrian took the phone.
“Who signed the paperwork?”
Rachel whispered a name.
“Daniel Seo.”
Then the call disconnected.
Adrian looked at Claire.
For the first time since the festival, he seemed unable to control his anger.
And then a message arrived on Claire's phone.
A photograph.
Three newborn babies.
Two wearing identical hospital bands.
The third lying in a separate bassinet.
May you like
Underneath it were six words.
Your missing son is still alive.
