Chapter 15 - Three Children Was Only the BeginningThe medical archive sent the file within an hour.
Emily sat at the dining table.
Adrian stood behind her.
Margaret waited nearby.
The document showed four pregnancies.
Four fetal heartbeats.
Four entries.
Three births.
One missing.
Emily stared.
“Could it be an error?”
The doctor shook his head over video.
“No.”
“Then where is the fourth child?”
“We don't know.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Who had access to the records?”
“Your husband's clinic.”
Emily swallowed.
“Blake.”
The doctor nodded.
“There was an unauthorized transfer.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Another secret.
Another betrayal.
But this time, something felt different.
She remembered the letters.
Her grandmother's warnings.
The hidden trust.
The three children.
The mysterious fourth record.
Maybe her grandmother hadn't hidden three children.
Maybe she had hidden the truth about all four.
Emily stood.
“We need to find that child.”
Adrian nodded.
“For once, I agree with you.”
They returned to Carson Meridian headquarters.
The building felt different now.
Employees greeted Emily respectfully.
The board had restored her position.
But she ignored the celebrations.
She went straight to the archives.
Thomas had discovered a hidden medical billing account.
One payment.
Seven years ago.
A private clinic.
Name:
Sterling Children's Foundation.
Emily looked at Adrian.
“Your foundation.”
He frowned.
“I didn't have one then.”
Thomas turned another page.
“The account was opened using your name.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“Someone impersonated me.”
Emily stared at the payment.
The recipient was a children's facility in Vermont.
They drove there that evening.
The building was old.
Quiet.
A woman at the reception desk recognized Emily immediately.
“You took your time.”
Emily stopped.
“What?”
The woman looked at Adrian.
“You promised you'd return.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I've never been here.”
The woman smiled sadly.
“That isn't what your file says.”
She led them to a storage room.
There, among hundreds of boxes, sat one labeled:
CARSON FAMILY.
Emily opened it.
Inside was a hospital blanket.
A newborn bracelet.
A photograph.
A child's file.
The name on it was:
NOAH VALE.
Emily frowned.
“Vale?”
The receptionist nodded.
“Sienna's family.”
Emily's heart dropped.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
The woman pointed upstairs.
Emily ran.
A little boy sat by the window.
He was seven years old.
Dark-haired.
Gray-eyed.
Emily stopped in the doorway.
He looked up.
Their eyes met.
The boy stood slowly.
“Are you Emily?”
Her knees weakened.
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“My mom said you would come.”
Emily's breath caught.
“Sienna?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
The boy pointed toward the hallway.
“My grandmother.”
A woman entered.
Emily recognized her instantly.
Sienna's mother.
The woman looked at Emily with tears in her eyes.
“She never wanted you to know.”
“Know what?”
“That Noah is your son.”
Emily couldn't speak.
Adrian closed his eyes.
The woman continued.
“Charles took three embryos.”
Emily's blood went cold.
“But the fourth…”
She looked at Noah.
“The fourth child was born separately.”
Emily walked slowly toward him.
Noah looked frightened.
“Are you my mother?”
Emily nodded.
“Yes.”
He whispered:
“I knew.”
She knelt.
“How?”
“Grandma showed me pictures.”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
Noah stepped forward.
She opened her arms.
He hugged her.
For the first time in seven years, Emily held her fourth child.
Her family was complete.
But the woman gave her one final envelope.
“This came with Noah's file.”
Emily opened it.
Her grandmother's handwriting appeared.
“My darling Emily,
If you ever find Noah, then the worst of what Charles planned has already failed.
But remember this: the four children were never merely heirs.
They are witnesses.
They know what happened the night your grandfather died.
Emily looked at Noah.
“What does he know?”
The boy pulled away.
He looked frightened.
Then he whispered:
“Daddy was there.”
Emily froze.
“Whose daddy?”
Noah looked toward Adrian.
“Yours.”
Adrian stared.
The room went silent.
Emily turned toward him.
“What is he talking about?”
Adrian's face had gone completely pale.
He whispered:
“I don't know.”
Noah shook his head.
“You do.”
Emily stood.
The boy pointed at Adrian.
“Daddy told me never to say.”
Adrian looked at Emily.
“I swear…”
Then Noah finished the sentence.
“He said you killed Grandma.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Adrian didn't move.
Outside, thunder rolled over the Vermont hills.
The entire room seemed to freeze.
Emily looked at the man she had loved.
The father of her children.
The man who had saved them.
The man who had returned to her life after seven years.
And suddenly, one impossible question rose above every other secret.
Had Adrian Sterling really been her protector?
Or had he been the final villain all along?
Emily stepped backward.
Adrian reached for her.
She pulled away.
“No.”
“Emily, listen to me.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“You don't understand.”
She looked at him through tears.
“Then explain it.”
Adrian opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Noah whispered:
“He wasn't there alone.”
Emily froze.
“Who was with him?”
The boy looked at the door.
Then said a name.
“Blake.”
Emily's blood ran cold.
Three years after signing the divorce papers, she had finally found her children.
She had reclaimed her company.
She had uncovered the conspiracy that destroyed her marriage.
And now, standing in a quiet room with four children watching her, Emily realized the truth she had been chasing was much darker than revenge.
Because the man who divorced her…
The man who supposedly betrayed her…
The man who supposedly saved her children…
might have been hiding the biggest secret of them all.
And somewhere in New York, Blake Carson was still alive.
Still keeping one final secret.
May you like
A secret that could destroy the entire Carson family.
END OF PART ONE.
