Chapter 2 - Three Babies, Three SecretsCaleb didn't ask another question in the square.
He simply took off his coat, wrapped it around Olivia and ordered his driver to bring the SUV around.
Olivia resisted.
“Mr. Hart, I can't go to your house.”
“You're going to a hotel.”
“No.”
“A hospital?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
She looked terrified.
“Somewhere nobody can find us.”
That sentence silenced him.
George exchanged a glance with Caleb.
The old man had always believed people revealed their truth when they were frightened enough.
Olivia looked like someone who had been frightened for months.
They drove to a private clinic Caleb owned through one of his investments.
The doctors examined the babies.
All three were underweight.
One was dehydrated.
The smallest had a mild respiratory infection.
But they were alive.
That was all Olivia cared about.
She stood beside the incubator, gripping the edge of the bed.
“You can rest,” Caleb said.
“I can't.”
“You haven't slept.”
“I'll sleep when they're safe.”
Caleb rubbed his forehead.
“What happened?”
Olivia looked at him.
For a long moment she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “I was a nanny before I became your housekeeper.”
Caleb listened.
“I worked for a woman named Rebecca.”
His expression changed.
Rebecca Hart.
The name was familiar.
Not because he knew her.
Because his father did.
George suddenly became very still.
Olivia noticed.
“You know her?”
George's face hardened.
“Keep talking.”
Olivia lowered her voice.
“Rebecca had a baby girl.”
George's hands tightened around his cane.
“She was afraid of her family. She told me they wanted the child hidden.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Who was the father?”
Olivia shook her head.
“She never told me.”
Caleb stared at his father.
“Dad?”
George didn't answer.
Olivia continued.
“Then, two weeks after the baby was born, Rebecca disappeared.”
“Disappeared how?”
“She never came home.”
Caleb felt a knot form in his stomach.
“And the baby?”
“I took her.”
George whispered, “Why?”
“Because someone had already come looking for her.”
Olivia's eyes filled with tears.
“She begged me to protect the child.”
Caleb looked toward the sleeping baby.
“Lily?”
Olivia nodded.
“And the other two?”
“They came later.”
She explained that Noah belonged to another woman who had worked at the same private estate.
Emma belonged to a young mother who had died after childbirth.
All three women were connected to one wealthy family.
A family whose name Olivia refused to say.
Caleb felt a strange chill.
“Why bring them to the square?”
“I lost my apartment.”
“What happened?”
“They stopped paying me.”
“Who?”
Olivia hesitated.
Then she looked directly at him.
“Your payroll department.”
Caleb stared.
“What?”
“My wages were reduced.”
“That shouldn't happen.”
“I complained.”
“What did they say?”
“That I had missed work.”
“But you hadn't.”
“I know.”
Caleb's jaw tightened.
He picked up his phone.
“I'm calling payroll.”
Olivia grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
He looked down at her hand.
“Why not?”
“Because they will know I talked.”
“Who will know?”
She released him immediately.
“I shouldn't have said anything.”
George stepped forward.
“Olivia, look at me.”
She did.
“Who are you afraid of?”
Her face crumpled.
Before she could answer, the clinic door opened.
A tall man in a black suit stepped inside.
He didn't look at Caleb.
He looked at Olivia.
Then at the babies.
And finally at George.
His face changed.
George whispered one word.
“Victor.”
Caleb turned.
“Who is Victor?”
The man smiled.
May you like
“That's exactly what I'm here to explain.”
Then he locked the clinic door behind him.
