Chapter 2 - Jonathan had heard many lies in his life.None had ever sounded as carefully constructed as the one Celeste told him next.
“There is no dead woman.”
She stood rigid beneath the chandelier, her face still pale.
“That woman is an opportunist.”
The stranger laughed.
Not loudly.
Not angrily.
Just once.
A tired, broken laugh.
“You still call me that?”
Jonathan turned toward her.
“You know Celeste?”
“I knew her before you did.”
Celeste snapped, “Security!”
Two guards entered.
Jonathan stepped in front of Emma.
“Don't touch her.”
The guards hesitated.
Jonathan was one of the owners of the company hosting the gala, and more importantly, no one in that room wanted to be the person who physically moved him.
Celeste stared at the stranger.
“You should have stayed gone.”
The woman answered quietly.
“I tried.”
Jonathan felt a chill.
“What is your name?”
The woman looked at Emma.
“My name is Mara.”
Emma watched her carefully.
Mara crouched.
She did not reach for the child.
She simply lowered herself to Emma’s eye level.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
Emma frowned.
“My mommy?”
Mara nodded.
“Yes.”
Emma looked at Jonathan.
“Is she talking about Mom?”
Jonathan felt his heart tighten.
Emma's mother had died when Emma was still an infant.
That was the story he'd been given.
An accident.
A rainy night.
A bridge.
A car that never made it home.
He had believed it because he had been shown photographs, police documents, even a death certificate.
He had grieved.
He had buried a coffin he never opened.
And he had spent six years believing Emma was the only part of her he had left.
Now a stranger was standing in his ballroom claiming everything was a lie.
Jonathan opened the envelope again.
The pages inside were legal documents.
Medical records.
A hospital discharge form.
An adoption transfer.
And one photograph.
He turned it over.
On the back someone had written:
Patient: Amelia Rose Hart. Mother: Mara Hart.
Jonathan looked up sharply.
“Mara.”
She nodded.
“That's me.”
Celeste stepped forward.
“She forged those documents.”
Mara’s eyes hardened.
“You forged the originals.”
Richard grabbed Celeste's arm.
“Stop.”
She glared at him.
“You stop.”
Jonathan heard the tremor in Richard's voice.
“You've said too much already.”
Jonathan stared at them.
“You both knew?”
Richard looked down.
Jonathan took a step closer.
“You both knew?”
The old woman near the wall spoke.
“All of us knew something.”
Jonathan turned.
“Then tell me everything.”
The old woman shook her head.
“I was there the night Emma was born.”
Celeste's voice cracked.
“Margaret.”
But Margaret continued.
“She wasn't supposed to survive.”
Emma looked confused.
Jonathan's face went still.
“What do you mean?”
Margaret’s eyes closed.
“The baby was born with complications.”
Mara whispered,
“She wasn't supposed to survive?”
“No.”
Margaret looked toward Celeste.
“Celeste couldn't have children.”
Jonathan frowned.
“So?”
“So she wanted one.”
Celeste stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Margaret ignored her.
“Her family had lost everything. They needed an heir. A child they could control. A child who would belong to them.”
Jonathan's stomach turned.
“You're saying Emma was stolen?”
Mara answered.
“Not exactly.”
Everyone looked at her.
Mara’s hands shook.
“My daughter was taken from me before I could even hold her.”
Jonathan looked down at Emma.
Her tiny hand was still gripping his jacket.
“Where were you?”
“In the hospital.”
“Then how did she disappear?”
Mara looked at Celeste.
“Ask her.”
Celeste said nothing.
The room fell silent.
Then Jonathan looked back at the envelope.
There were more pages.
He flipped through them.
A hospital security report.
One line had been highlighted in red.
BABY REMOVED FROM ROOM 314 AT 2:13 A.M.
Underneath:
AUTHORIZED BY: C. VALE.
Jonathan froze.
Celeste's maiden name was Celeste Vale.
He looked up.
“You authorized this?”
Celeste’s eyes filled with something Jonathan couldn't identify.
Fear.
Or regret.
“Jonathan.”
“Did you take her?”
“I saved her.”
Mara stepped forward.
“You kidnapped her.”
“I protected her.”
“You stole her.”
“I gave her a life!”
Mara's voice broke.
“She already had one!”
The words echoed through the ballroom.
Jonathan felt Emma tug on his jacket.
“Daddy?”
He looked down.
Emma was crying.
“Why are they talking about me?”
Jonathan knelt.
“I'm going to find out.”
Then the ringing phone came again.
Richard answered this time.
His face immediately changed.
Jonathan watched him.
“Who is it?”
Richard slowly lowered the phone.
“It’s the hospital.”
Jonathan stood.
“What hospital?”
Richard looked at Celeste.
“The hospital where Emma was born.”
Jonathan's heartbeat quickened.
“What do they want?”
Richard swallowed.
“They found another record.”
“What record?”
Richard whispered,
“Emma wasn't the only baby taken that night.”
Jonathan's face went blank.
Mara stumbled backward.
“No.”
Richard looked at her.
“There were two babies in room 314.”
Jonathan stared at Emma.
Then at Mara.
“Where is the other one?”
No one answered.
Until the old woman said,
“That's the problem.”
May you like
She pointed toward the ballroom entrance.
“We don't know.”
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