Chapter 7 - The Baby Who Was Never Supposed to Survive
We returned to the mansion with Richard under guard.
Adrian ordered the old family archive opened.
The brass key fit a small lock hidden behind a portrait of Victor Romano.
Inside was a narrow compartment containing several documents.
Hospital records.
Adoption papers.
And a letter from a doctor.
Adrian read it silently.
Then he handed it to me.
The document described the night Isabella gave birth.
She had delivered two babies.
Twins.
One girl had been declared dead shortly after birth.
The other had survived.
But the records had been altered.
My heart pounded.
“Twins?”
Adrian nodded.
“Apparently.”
“Where is the other baby?”
He turned another page.
A name appeared.
Sophie Romano.
The surviving twin had been transferred to a private clinic under a false identity.
I looked at the photograph attached to the file.
A little girl with brown curls and blue eyes.
She looked remarkably like Lily.
“Who is she?”
Adrian stared at the date.
“She would be twenty-eight now.”
I suddenly understood.
There was another daughter.
Another member of Isabella's family.
But why had my mother never told me?
Adrian ordered Marco to locate the doctor who had signed the records.
His name was Dr. Samuel Hayes.
He was still alive.
And he lived less than an hour away.
When Marco returned, he carried another shocking piece of information.
Dr. Hayes had died two days earlier.
His house had been burned.
But one neighbor had seen a woman leaving shortly before the fire.
A blonde woman.
Vanessa.
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Bring her back.”
Vanessa was found at a private airport trying to board a flight to Switzerland.
She was brought to the mansion under guard.
This time, she didn't pretend to be innocent.
“You have no idea what you're doing,” she snapped.
Adrian placed the hospital records in front of her.
“Who is Sophie?”
Vanessa stared at the documents.
Then she smiled.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Ask why your sister's second daughter was given to a family that could never have children.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where is she?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Closer than you think.”
Adrian stood motionless.
Vanessa continued.
“Your father knew about the twins. He planned to use one child as leverage against Daniel and Isabella. But Daniel discovered the arrangement and escaped with the surviving baby.”
“Then where did the second child go?”
Vanessa's smile faded.
“Your mother took her.”
I stared at her.
“My mother?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Elizabeth raised one child under her own name. But she arranged for the other to be raised elsewhere.”
I felt dizzy.
“Why?”
“Because she couldn't protect both of you from Victor.”
Adrian looked at Vanessa.
“Who is Sophie?”
Vanessa finally answered.
“Your fiancée's real name was never Vanessa Cross.”
The room went silent.
She looked at me.
“My name is Sophie Romano.”
I stumbled backward.
May you like
The woman who had tried to destroy me was my twin sister.
And she had known it all along.
