Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Knew Too MuchMatteo didn't sleep.
Neither did Liana.
By dawn, the estate had become a war room.
Every file Sofia had left behind was placed across the study floor.
Hospital records.
Financial transfers.
Photographs.
Names.
Dates.
Three columns slowly emerged.
Babies classified as healthy.
Babies classified as unstable.
Babies classified as transferred.
The third category had one strange detail.
None of the transferred infants appeared in public records afterward.
Liana stared at the list.
“Where did they go?”
“Private adoption,” Matteo said.
“But these children weren't adopted.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the transfer dates are wrong.”
Matteo looked up.
“What?”
Liana pointed.
“These two babies were transferred forty-eight hours before their adoption paperwork was created.”
The investigator nodded.
“She’s right.”
Matteo stared at her.
“You're a maid.”
“My mother was a nurse.”
“So?”
“She taught me to read medical records.”
Liana looked back at the documents.
“And someone was very careless.”
A name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Adrian Bell.
Another appeared underneath.
Vivian Shaw.
A director of the hospital's neonatal department.
Matteo knew Vivian.
He had paid her family for years.
Legal business.
Illegal business.
Everything blended together around the Varrics.
“She worked for Sofia,” Matteo said.
Liana looked at him.
“How?”
“She secretly investigated the hospital.”
“Why would your wife care?”
“Because Nico became sick after his first vaccination.”
“And then?”
“He stopped sleeping.”
“Like now?”
Matteo nodded.
Liana stared at Nico.
“What if the crying isn't random?”
Matteo frowned.
“What are you saying?”
“Maybe something happened to him.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
Nico stirred.
Liana moved toward him.
He opened his eyes.
Again, his gaze went immediately to her.
Matteo watched.
“There's something else,” Liana said.
“What?”
“Why does he calm down with me?”
Matteo didn't answer.
“Every time.”
“I've noticed.”
“I don't know why.”
Nico reached for her hand.
Liana let him grab her finger.
He closed his tiny fingers around it.
Then his body relaxed.
Liana remembered Gabriel.
He had done the same thing.
Always.
She suddenly felt tears burning behind her eyes.
She whispered,
“I'm sorry.”
Matteo watched silently.
“Are you sure your baby died?” he asked.
Liana looked at him.
“I held him.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
She stiffened.
“What are you implying?”
“Your son's medical record has been altered.”
“By who?”
“That is what we're finding out.”
Liana stood.
“I need to see Dr. Bell.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone altered your son's records, Bell knows why.”
“Then we need him.”
Matteo shook his head.
“We don't know who works for him.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
Matteo's expression softened for half a second.
Then it vanished.
“Because I already lost one family.”
Liana stared at him.
“What happened to Sofia?”
Matteo looked toward the rain-streaked windows.
“She died in a car accident.”
“Do you believe that?”
“No.”
Liana felt a chill.
“Why?”
“The brakes were cut.”
Silence.
“And you think it was related to the babies?”
“I know it was.”
Matteo opened a drawer.
Inside was a photograph.
Sofia standing beside a black sedan.
The photograph had been taken the day before she died.
Liana studied it.
“Look at her hand.”
Matteo pointed.
She zoomed in.
Sofia was holding a paper.
A hospital envelope.
The corner contained a handwritten number.
17-09-04.
Liana's stomach dropped.
“That looks like the locker code.”
“Exactly.”
Before they could continue, the study doors opened.
A guard stepped in.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found someone inside the east garden.”
“Who?”
The guard looked nervous.
“A woman.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
“She says her name is Vivian Shaw.”
Matteo went pale.
Liana stood.
“The hospital director?”
The guard nodded.
“She asked to speak to the mother.”
Liana's heart slammed against her ribs.
“Me?”
The guard swallowed.
“She said…”
May you like
“What?”
“She said, 'Liana Graves is raising someone else's child.'”
Related Stories
