Chapter 6 - THE SECRET I DIDN'T REMEMBER“What baby?”
No one answered.
I looked from Amber to David to Miller.
“What are you talking about?”
David stepped toward me.
“Sarah…”
“No.”
I backed away.
“Tell me.”
Amber began sobbing.
“You weren't supposed to find out this way.”
“Find out what?”
David said:
“Daniel had a daughter.”
The room went silent.
I laughed.
A nervous, broken laugh.
“That’s impossible.”
“You had a daughter.”
“No.”
“You were pregnant four years ago.”
I stared at him.
I remembered being pregnant.
I remembered Daniel's excitement.
I remembered the hospital.
I remembered giving birth.
But something was wrong.
My memories stopped there.
I remembered holding a baby.
Then waking up.
Then Daniel telling me the baby hadn't survived.
I had been devastated.
For years.
I buried the memory so deeply that I'd stopped talking about it.
I whispered:
“She died.”
David shook his head.
“No.”
My knees weakened.
“No.”
Amber cried:
“She was alive.”
I stared at her.
“What did you do?”
“We didn't take her.”
“Then who did?”
David looked at Miller.
“There's an old adoption record.”
My chest tightened.
“You're saying my daughter was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
David didn't answer.
I grabbed his shirt.
“WHERE IS SHE?”
Miller pulled me back.
“Sarah, calm down.”
“My daughter was alive!”
Amber whispered:
“Her name was Emma.”
The name hit me.
Emma.
A strange flicker moved through my mind.
A baby crying.
A woman in a white coat.
Daniel arguing with someone.
A folder.
A signature.
Then darkness.
I pressed my fingers against my temples.
“I don't remember.”
Miller looked concerned.
“Trauma can affect memory.”
Amber shook her head.
“You weren't told the truth.”
“Then tell me.”
She swallowed.
“The baby was born healthy.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Daniel wanted to keep her.”
“What happened?”
“Someone came to the hospital.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
My hands went numb.
“He said Daniel owed him.”
“Owed him what?”
“Money.”
“That's impossible.”
“He threatened to destroy Daniel's career.”
“What did he demand?”
Amber whispered:
“The baby.”
I couldn't breathe.
“No.”
“Victor said if Daniel didn't give him the child, he'd expose the money laundering.”
I stared at her.
“Why would he want a baby?”
“Because Emma wasn't ordinary.”
“What does that mean?”
“She had something Victor needed.”
“What?”
Amber looked at the notebook.
“Her birth records.”
I frowned.
“What?”
David finally spoke.
“Daniel discovered that the company had been using identities of children who didn't legally exist.”
I didn't understand.
“Explain.”
“Fake identities. Fake birth certificates. Money transferred into accounts belonging to nonexistent children.”
My stomach turned.
“Emma was one of those identities.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Daniel had found out.
He had tried to stop them.
And somehow my newborn daughter had become part of the scheme.
I looked at Amber.
“Where is she?”
Amber opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice said:
“Your son is alive because you haven't asked the wrong question yet.”
My heart stopped.
“Who is this?”
“You want your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Then bring me Daniel's notebook.”
“I don't have—”
The caller interrupted.
“You have one hour.”
“Where?”
A pause.
Then:
“The house where your husband died.”
The line went dead.
I looked at the notebook.
Then at Miller.
“I'm going.”
Miller shook his head.
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“You'll be walking into a trap.”
“Maybe.”
I tightened my grip on the notebook.
“But my daughter may be alive.”
And for the first time in four years…
May you like
I had something more powerful than grief.
I had hope.
