Chapter 6 - The Price of Disappearing
By morning, Conrad Sterling had already issued a statement.
He denied knowing Eric Dalton.
He called the photograph misleading.
He described Sarah as a “disgruntled former employee attempting to exploit a private family matter.”
The statement appeared on every major gossip website before breakfast.
Sarah read it while making Leo pancakes.
She turned off her phone.
Leo looked at her.
“Are people saying bad things about you?”
“Some people.”
“Because you’re my mommy?”
Sarah sat beside him.
“Because sometimes adults get scared when the truth becomes expensive.”
Leo considered that.
“Is Dad scared?”
Sarah glanced toward the window.
Julian had spent the night in a car outside the building because Sarah refused to let him sleep on her couch.
“Yes.”
She admitted.
“But I think he’s scared for us.”
At eight, someone knocked.
Sarah opened the door cautiously.
An elderly woman stood outside.
She wore a plain gray coat and carried a leather folder.
“My name is Margaret Wells.”
Sarah recognized the name immediately.
“You were Alexander Vance’s trust administrator.”
Margaret nodded.
“And somebody has been trying to prevent me from meeting you for seven years.”
Julian arrived upstairs seconds later.
Margaret opened the folder.
Inside were copies of annual trust reports.
Each report contained the same notation.
No eligible descendant documented.
Sarah felt sick.
“I gave birth at St. Catherine’s.”
Margaret nodded.
“I know.”
“Then why wasn’t Leo recorded?”
“Because the hospital sent a notice.”
Julian leaned forward.
“To whom?”
“Vance legal counsel.”
Margaret removed another page.
“The notice was acknowledged.”
Sarah stared at the signature.
It belonged to Julian’s father’s former attorney.
Henry Black.
The same silver-haired man seen inside Dalton’s SUV.
Margaret continued.
“Three days later, I received a death notification.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
“A what?”
“A document claiming the infant did not survive delivery.”
Julian stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
“No.”
Margaret looked at him.
“The document included a hospital seal.”
Sarah’s hands began trembling.
“They told the trust my son was dead?”
“Yes.”
“Who signed it?”
Margaret hesitated.
Then she turned the paper around.
The witness signature belonged to someone Sarah knew.
Someone who had visited her hospital room the morning after Leo was born.
May you like
Someone who had brought flowers and pretended to apologize for everything.
Victoria Sterling.
