CHAPTER 2 — The Secret Buried Twenty Years Ago
The city seemed to disappear.
The blaring horns.
The hurried footsteps.
Even the cold November wind.
Everything faded as Victoria Bennett stared into the tarnished silver locket.
Inside were two newborn photographs.
One baby wore a tiny blue knit cap.
The other wore the exact same cap.
On the back of one faded picture, written in her own handwriting, were words she recognized instantly.
To our twin sons. Wherever life takes you, may you always find each other. Love, Mom and Dad.
Her knees nearly gave out.
"No..." she whispered.
"That's impossible."
Beside her, eleven-year-old Ethan clutched her sleeve.
"Mom... who's he?"
The homeless boy remained perfectly still.
His face revealed nothing except exhaustion far too old for a child.
"My name is Noah," he said quietly.
"I've had this necklace as long as I can remember."
Victoria reached toward him before pulling her hand back.
"Where... where did you get it?"
"I told you."
"I've always had it."
He swallowed.
"The woman who raised me said my parents abandoned me."
Victoria covered her mouth.
Twenty years of carefully buried memories crashed back all at once.
The emergency delivery.
The premature twins.
The hospital power failure during a violent storm.
The panic.
The doctors assuring her that one baby had died after birth.
She had begged to see him.
They refused.
Her husband, Daniel, had signed the paperwork while she was unconscious from surgery.
The hospital gave them one son.
A tiny death certificate.
And a lifetime of grief.
Daniel had died in a plane crash six years later, never speaking about that night again.
Victoria suddenly looked at Noah with new eyes.
Not because he resembled Ethan.
Because he resembled Daniel.
Exactly.
Her breathing became uneven.
"I need answers."
She pulled out her phone.
"Call my driver."
"No," Ethan interrupted.
He walked slowly toward Noah.
"Are you... really my brother?"
Noah looked down at his bare feet.
"I don't know."
"But I've always felt like half of me was missing."
Without thinking, Ethan removed his own expensive winter coat.
He wrapped it around Noah's shoulders.
"You look cold."
For the first time...
The homeless boy smiled.
May you like
Only for a second.
But it was enough for Victoria's heart to break.
