Chapter 7 - The Child Without a Name
The little girl was transported to St. Catherine’s under police protection.
She wore a yellow coat that was too large for her.
Her hair had been cut unevenly.
A fading bruise marked the inside of her wrist.
She did not cry after reaching the hospital.
She watched every adult with silent suspicion.
Lily stood on the other side of the examination-room window.
Her hands shook.
The child looked like Claire.
The same dark eyes.
The same narrow chin.
The same habit of pressing her lips together when she was frightened.
Dr. Moreno joined Lily.
“She is physically stable.”
“Has she spoken?”
“One word.”
“What word?”
“Claire.”
Lily closed her eyes.
“My sister raised her.”
“It appears so.”
“Why would the note say I’m her mother?”
“To create confusion.”
“Or to give her legal protection.”
Dr. Moreno looked at Lily.
“What do you mean?”
“If someone registered the child under my name, Claire could hide her connection to Julian.”
Detective Mercer entered with a social-services representative.
She placed a document on the table.
The child’s birth certificate identified her as Sophie Carter.
The mother was listed as Lily Anne Carter.
No father was named.
Lily recognized the address.
It was her former apartment.
“I never gave birth to her.”
Mercer nodded.
“Hospital records show a child was delivered under your name.”
“Where?”
“A Montigue Foundation clinic.”
Lily stared at her.
“The same organization Claire worked for.”
“Yes.”
“The attending physician lost his license last year.”
“He is one of the people paid through North Lake Consulting.”
Lily touched the glass.
Sophie looked toward her.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then the little girl placed her palm against the window.
Lily raised her own hand.
Their palms aligned through the glass.
Sophie whispered something.
Lily could not hear.
She entered the room.
The child backed away immediately.
Lily stopped.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
Sophie stared.
“My name is Lily.”
The child’s eyes widened.
“Li-li?”
Lily’s heart twisted.
Claire had taught Sophie her name.
“Yes.”
“I’m Lily.”
Sophie reached inside her coat.
Mercer moved quickly.
The child pulled out a small folded photograph.
It showed Lily and Claire standing beside Lake Michigan when they were teenagers.
The edges had been worn soft.
“Mommy,” Sophie whispered.
She touched Claire’s face.
Then she pointed toward Lily.
“Li-li.”
Lily knelt.
“Where is Mommy?”
Sophie’s expression changed.
She pointed toward the floor.
“Dark.”
“Is she in a dark place?”
Sophie nodded.
“Man.”
“What man?”
The child touched her own leg.
“Stick.”
Victor entered behind Mercer.
He heard the description.
“A man with a cane.”
Sophie looked at him.
Fear crossed her face.
She crawled beneath the examination table.
Victor stopped.
“She recognizes me.”
“No,” Lily said.
“She recognizes someone who looks like you.”
Julian and Victor shared the same dark hair and gray eyes.
To a frightened child, they could appear similar.
Victor stepped back.
Lily sat on the floor several feet from the table.
She did not reach for Sophie.
She began humming the song Claire had sung whenever thunderstorms frightened them.
The child slowly moved closer.
After several minutes, she allowed Lily to hold her.
Victor watched from the doorway.
Ethan had trusted Lily without hesitation.
Sophie trusted her because Claire had prepared the child to find her.
The realization carried an uncomfortable truth.
Claire had expected not to survive.
Mercer questioned Charles in a guarded hospital suite after his blood pressure became unstable.
He admitted ordering Peter to locate Sophie.
He denied ordering anyone to abduct her.
He claimed he wanted to protect the child from Julian.
Victor did not believe every word.
“Why did you use Peter?” he asked.
“He had already worked inside Julian’s network.”
“That makes him the last person you should have trusted.”
“I believed money mattered more to him than loyalty.”
Charles looked tired.
“I was wrong.”
“Where is Claire?”
“I do not know.”
“Who created Sophie’s false birth certificate?”
“Serena arranged access to the clinic.”
Victor’s anger sharpened.
“She knew about Claire before she met me.”
“Yes.”
“Did she enter my life because of Julian?”
Charles looked toward the door.
“I believe so.”
“Why would Julian need Serena engaged to me?”
“To gain access to Ethan’s trust.”
Charles’s answer came quietly.
“You and Ethan control the voting shares that stand between Julian and the company.”
“If something happened to both of you, the trust could be redirected through a guardian.”
“Serena.”
“Yes.”
Victor remembered Amelia asking whether he trusted Julian.
He remembered Serena appearing at a charity dinner six months after Amelia’s death.
She had seemed compassionate.
Patient.
Uninterested in his money.
Every quality had been selected for him.
“Did Julian kill Amelia?”
Charles did not answer.
Victor stepped closer.
“Did he?”
“I do not have proof.”
“You have suspicion.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since the morning after the accident.”
Victor stared at his father.
“You let me plan a wedding with the woman helping him.”
“I did not know Serena was involved until recently.”
“You knew enough to warn me.”
“I feared Julian would accelerate whatever he was planning.”
“So you stayed silent.”
Charles looked at him.
“I made the same mistake with Amelia.”
Victor’s voice turned cold.
“You do not get to call repeated cowardice a mistake.”
He left before Charles could respond.
At the mansion, investigators recovered more files from the hidden room.
Several videos showed Serena entering Ethan’s nursery at night.
Others showed Peter Lang placing documents inside Victor’s office.
The most disturbing file had been recorded on the night Ethan was born.
Victor, Charles, Julian, and Amelia’s physician stood in a private hospital corridor.
The video had no sound.
Amelia had suffered severe bleeding after delivery.
Victor remembered being told to remain outside the operating room.
The footage showed Julian speaking to the physician.
Then the physician handed him a syringe.
Victor watched the video at the hospital with Mercer and Lily.
“What happened after this?” Mercer asked.
“The doctor said Amelia stabilized.”
Victor’s voice was tight.
“She remained unconscious for six hours.”
“Did Ethan experience complications?”
“He had breathing trouble.”
“Serena’s message told Lily to ask you about that night.”
Mercer paused the footage.
“Was there any dispute about the baby?”
Victor looked toward Ethan’s room.
“Amelia accused someone of entering the nursery.”
“Who?”
“She never knew.”
“She said Ethan’s identification bracelet had been removed.”
Lily stared at him.
“Why wasn’t that investigated?”
“The hospital called it an error.”
“What did Amelia believe?”
“That someone wanted access to his blood.”
Mercer looked at the video again.
“Why?”
Victor did not know.
Dr. Moreno entered carrying a sealed laboratory report.
She had ordered DNA testing after Sophie was found.
“We confirmed Claire is Sophie’s biological mother.”
Lily held her breath.
“And Julian?”
“The laboratory requires a reference sample.”
Victor looked at Mercer.
“My DNA may establish whether the father belongs to my paternal family.”
Dr. Moreno nodded.
“That is why I tested you.”
Lily looked between them.
“You already had his sample?”
“I treated an injury last year.”
Victor showed no objection.
“What did you find?”
Dr. Moreno placed the report down.
“Sophie is biologically related to Victor through the Blackwood line.”
“That supports Julian being her father.”
“Yes.”
Dr. Moreno did not sit.
“There is another result.”
She looked toward Ethan’s room.
“I also compared Victor’s stored sample with Ethan’s.”
Victor became still.
“Why?”
“Because of the message about the night Ethan was born.”
Lily’s arms tightened around Sophie.
Dr. Moreno continued carefully.
“Victor is Ethan’s biological father.”
Victor released a breath.
“Then what is wrong?”
“The test confirmed paternity.”
“It also showed something unexpected in Ethan’s maternal markers.”
Victor’s face changed.
“Amelia was his mother.”
“The records say she was.”
“What do the results say?”
Dr. Moreno looked at Lily.
Then she looked at Sophie.
“Ethan and Sophie share the same maternal DNA.”
Lily did not understand at first.
Then she did.
“That’s impossible.”
Dr. Moreno’s voice was quiet.
“According to the laboratory, Claire Carter is Ethan’s biological mother too.”
Victor stared through the glass at the boy he had believed Amelia carried.
The room seemed to lose all sound.
Lily held Sophie against her chest.
Somewhere inside the Blackwood family’s history, two babies had been moved like pieces on a board.
Before anyone could speak, Ethan’s heart monitor began alarming.
They rushed into his room.
His bed was empty.
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The window stood open.
On the blanket lay a silver-headed cane.
