Chapter 13
My breath caught.
“Vincent.”
He came to my side.
The box was lighter than it should have been.
Inside were three folders.
The first contained Belladonna bank records.
The second held photographs of buildings and handwritten notes.
The third was empty except for a small envelope.
My name was written across the front.
Emily Carter.
I stared at it.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
“That was left recently,” Marco said. “There’s no dust.”
“Don’t touch it,” Vincent warned.
But it was already addressed to me.
I lifted it carefully.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Emily,
If you are reading this, Ryan has failed to destroy everything.
Do not assume he is the person you believe him to be.
Do not assume Vincent is either.
The truth is in the photograph taken at St. Matthew’s Hospital.
Find the child listed under the name Grace Cross.
And whatever anyone tells you, remember this:
Daniel did not disappear.
He was hidden.
There was no signature.
My heart beat painfully.
“Who is Grace Cross?” I asked.
Vincent had gone pale.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“No.” His voice was barely audible. “But I know St. Matthew’s Hospital.”
“Why?”
“That is where Sophia was born.”
Marco was already searching the other files.
“There’s a photograph,” he said.
He held up a small envelope from the bottom of the box.
Inside was an old hospital picture.
A young woman lay in a bed, exhausted but smiling. Isabella, I assumed.
Daniel stood beside her, one hand resting on her shoulder.
In his other arm, he held a newborn wrapped in a white blanket.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then I noticed another infant bassinet near the edge of the frame.
Two babies.
A handwritten label had been attached to each.
The first read Sophia Cross.
The second read Grace Cross.
I looked at Vincent.
“You said Daniel had one daughter.”
“He did.”
“Then who is the second baby?”
Vincent took the photograph from Marco.
His hand trembled.
On the back, someone had written a date.
Beneath it was a sentence.
Vincent read it silently.
“What does it say?” I asked.
He looked at me as if the world had shifted beneath his feet.
Then he turned the photograph around.
The message on the back was written in the same hand as the letter addressed to me.
One child went home with Isabella.
The other went home with the woman who promised to keep her safe.
My mind resisted the meaning.
“There were twins?”
Vincent shook his head slowly.
“I was at the hospital. Isabella had one baby.”
“But the photograph shows two.”
“Then the second child belonged to someone else.”
Marco’s phone vibrated.
He stepped away to answer, speaking in a low voice.
I kept staring at the names.
Sophia Cross.
Grace Cross.
Something about Grace tugged at my memory.
Not a person.
A place.
A word written on a form.
I closed my eyes.
Ryan’s desk.
A file I had found while searching for Lily’s birth certificate.
The folder had been almost empty, containing only an old hospital bracelet and a receipt from a private records service.
The name on the bracelet had not been Lily’s.
It had been Grace.
I had assumed it belonged to one of Ryan’s relatives.
“I’ve seen that name,” I whispered.
Vincent looked at me.
“Where?”
“In Ryan’s office.”
Marco ended his call.
His expression had changed.
“We need to leave.”
“What happened?” Vincent asked.
“The online photograph from the plane has been removed.”
“That is good,” I said.
Marco looked at me.
“No. It was removed because the account that posted it never existed.”
A silence followed.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means the photograph was not released publicly. It was made to look public so we would believe strangers had seen it.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone wanted us together.”
Marco nodded.
“And there is more.”
He held out his phone.
A hospital record filled the screen.
The name at the top was Grace Cross.
The birth date was fourteen months ago.
The same day Lily was born.
My knees weakened.
Vincent caught my arm, then immediately released me when I stiffened.
I stared at the record.
“That can’t be right.”
Marco zoomed in.
May you like
The listed mother was not Isabella.
It was me.
