Chapter 5 - I didn't sleep.I couldn't.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the hospital room.
The white walls.
The fluorescent lights.
The nurse carrying Sophie toward me.
The first time I held her.
The little red face.
The tiny fingers closing around mine.
I remembered whispering,
"Mommy's here."
Was that a lie?
By dawn, I had covered the kitchen table with documents.
Ethan sat across from me.
Neither of us had spoken for almost an hour.
The hospital birth record was real.
At least, it looked real.
The signatures looked authentic.
The date matched.
But the mother's name had been altered.
Only fragments remained.
JAC...
MO...
Jacqueline Moore.
I looked at Ethan.
"Could this be forged?"
"Absolutely."
"Could the hospital have made a mistake?"
"Possible."
"But why would Daniel have it?"
"That's the question."
I stared at the security footage.
The previous night's recording showed Daniel and Jacqueline.
I watched the moment Jacqueline said,
"She doesn't know about the child."
But what child?
Sophie?
Someone else?
Maybe the answer wasn't in our house.
Maybe it was in the hospital.
I called Saint Vincent Medical Center.
They told me patient records from fifteen years ago required authorization.
I said I was the mother.
The woman on the phone asked for my social security verification.
I gave it.
She put me on hold.
Thirty seconds later, she came back.
"Ms. Carter, we don't have a maternity file under your name for that date."
I went completely still.
"What?"
She repeated it.
"No maternity record."
I looked at Ethan.
"That's impossible."
"I understand."
"No. You don't understand."
My voice cracked.
"I gave birth there."
The woman paused.
"Ms. Carter, our records show you were admitted that morning for complications."
Relief flooded me.
Then she continued.
"But there is no delivery record."
I stopped breathing.
"Who delivered the baby?"
"I can't access that."
"Was there another patient?"
"Ms. Carter..."
"Please."
Silence.
Then the woman said,
"There was one other woman admitted to the maternity unit that morning."
"Name?"
"I can't disclose that."
"Was it Jacqueline Moore?"
A pause.
Too long.
Then the woman said,
"I need to transfer you to medical records."
The call disconnected.
I stared at my phone.
Ethan said softly,
"That wasn't nothing."
"No."
I grabbed my coat.
"We're going there."
At the hospital, I showed my identification.
The clerk disappeared.
Five minutes later, an older woman approached.
She looked at my face.
Then at my ID.
Then back at me.
"You're Emily Carter."
"Yes."
"You were here fifteen years ago."
"Yes."
She hesitated.
"Your file was sealed."
"By whom?"
"I don't know."
"Who requested it?"
She lowered her voice.
"A physician."
"Which physician?"
She looked uncomfortable.
"Dr. Alan Whitmore."
Ethan searched the name.
"Dead," he said.
I turned back to the clerk.
"Why was my file sealed?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because there was a court order."
My stomach tightened.
"What kind of court order?"
She opened her mouth.
A man appeared behind her.
Dark suit.
Gray hair.
He looked at me.
Then at Ethan.
"Emily?"
I recognized him.
Not immediately.
But enough.
He had been in the background of one of my father's photographs.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Victor Hale."
He looked toward the clerk.
"Give us a moment."
She left.
Victor lowered his voice.
"Your father asked me to watch over you."
"When?"
"After your mother died."
"Did you know about the sealed records?"
"Yes."
"What was inside?"
He looked away.
"Something your father believed would destroy you."
"What?"
Victor hesitated.
Then said,
"Sophie was born alive."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
He looked directly at me.
"Another baby was born that same night."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"A girl."
Ethan stepped forward.
"Where is she?"
Victor shook his head.
"That girl disappeared."
"When?"
"The night she was born."
"Who was the mother?"
Victor closed his eyes.
"Jacqueline."
The room spun.
"Then Sophie..."
Victor interrupted.
"Your daughter is yours."
I stared at him.
"Then what was Jacqueline's baby?"
He answered quietly.
"Your father's."
Silence.
The words barely made sense.
"My father had a child with Jacqueline?"
"Before you were born."
Ethan looked stunned.
Victor continued.
"Your mother discovered the affair."
I shook my head.
"No."
"She wanted to leave."
"My parents never divorced."
"Because they reconciled."
"Then why Jacqueline?"
"Because Jacqueline never accepted it."
I felt something breaking inside me.
"Where is the baby?"
Victor looked toward the hospital corridor.
"That is the part your father never solved."
"And what does any of this have to do with Daniel?"
Victor's face hardened.
"Everything."
He reached into his coat.
He pulled out an old envelope.
"Your father gave me this the week before he died."
The envelope had my name on it.
I opened it.
One sentence.
Daniel knows where the missing girl is.
I looked up.
"What missing girl?"
Victor didn't answer.
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I stared at the screen.
He called again.
Then sent a message.
Come home alone. Jacqueline wants to talk to you.
A second message followed.
She says you deserve to know what really happened to Sophie.
My blood ran cold.
Ethan took the phone from my hand.
"We're not going."
I looked at him.
"Actually..."
I stood.
"We are."
Because suddenly I understood something.
Daniel had spent six years controlling the conversation.
He knew I would demand answers.
He knew I would confront him.
And yet, he was inviting me.
That meant he had something ready.
Something designed for me to see.
Something he believed would break me.
May you like
And I wanted to know what it was.
Even if it destroyed the last thing I believed about my family.
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