Chapter 19 - Emma's Last SecretThey locked themselves in the room.
Callum read every page.
Sadie watched his expression change.
“What does it say?”
He turned the notebook toward her.
Names.
Dates.
Meetings.
Every detail from the past ten years.
Then one sentence repeated throughout.
CALLUM MUST NEVER KNOW.
Sadie frowned.
“Know what?”
Callum reached the final page.
His hands were shaking.
Emma had written:
Callum Russo is not the son of Elena Russo.
Sadie stared.
“We already know.”
“No.”
Callum shook his head.
“It goes further.”
He read the next line.
He is Michael Miller's son.
Sadie felt cold.
Then the final sentence.
And Sadie Miller is not his sister.
Silence.
Callum dropped the notebook.
“What?”
Sadie looked at him.
“No.”
She flipped through the pages.
There were hospital records.
Birth dates.
A photograph.
Two babies.
One labeled:
MILLER CHILD A
The other:
MILLER CHILD B
Sadie stared.
“The records were switched.”
Callum whispered:
“Emma and I…”
He could not finish.
Sadie's mind raced.
No.
Impossible.
Emma and Callum had been engaged.
But if Callum was her father's son…
Then Callum was not related to Sadie.
Which meant something else.
They were not siblings.
They were not family.
They had been separated as children.
And the entire Russo identity was constructed.
A knock sounded.
Three slow knocks.
Callum reached for his weapon.
The door opened.
Hale stood there.
Older.
Tired.
Unarmed.
“It's time you know.”
Callum aimed at him.
“Tell me everything.”
Hale nodded.
“Your biological father was Michael Miller.”
Callum's jaw tightened.
“Your mother was not Elena.”
“Then who?”
Hale looked at Sadie.
“Your mother.”
Sadie stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Hale smiled.
“Because your mother was never Evelyn Miller.”
He looked at Callum.
“She was Elena.”
Callum stopped breathing.
“You are telling me…”
Hale nodded.
“Your real parents are Elena Russo and Michael Miller.”
Sadie stared.
“But then…”
Hale continued.
“Callum was raised under the Russo name.”
“And me?”
“Your mother had another child.”
Sadie's heart pounded.
“Who?”
Hale looked at her.
“Emma.”
Silence.
Sadie stepped backward.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Emma was not her sister.
She was her mother.
Or so the records claimed.
Hale placed an envelope on the table.
“DNA.”
Callum opened it.
Three reports.
One for him.
One for Sadie.
One for Emma.
Callum read.
Then looked at Sadie.
Their eyes met.
The report stated:
No biological relationship.
Sadie exhaled.
At least that nightmare was over.
Then she saw the second line.
Sadie Miller is biologically related to Elena Russo.
Callum turned the page.
A final note.
Probability of parent-child relationship: 99.99%.
Callum looked at Sadie.
“Our mother.”
Sadie whispered:
“Elena.”
Then Hale smiled.
“But there is one thing the report doesn't tell you.”
“What?”
He pointed to the date.
“Emma was born eleven months before Callum.”
Sadie's heart dropped.
“So Emma was…”
“Yes.”
Hale looked at Callum.
“Your biological mother.”
Callum went completely still.
Everything had been backwards.
Emma had not been his fiancée.
She had been his mother.
Sadie had not been Emma's sister.
She had been her daughter.
And Michael Miller had been the father of them all.
The Russo family had been a lie built around a terrible truth.
Hale turned toward the door.
“Now you know why Emma died.”
Callum's voice was barely audible.
“Why?”
Hale looked back.
“Because she discovered the children had been switched.”
He left.
Sadie stared at Callum.
Neither spoke.
Then the notebook's last page turned by itself in the wind.
A hidden message appeared.
THE CHILD WHO WAS SWITCHED IS STILL ALIVE.
May you like
And beneath it:
FIND HER BEFORE AURELIA DOES.
