Chapter 34
“You don’t remember giving birth?” Victor asked.
Sofia’s face tightened.
“I remember being in a hospital. I remember waking after surgery. I remember being told the baby had died.”
“Then where did the three-month photograph come from?”
“Elena gave it to me later. She said the baby had survived and Father had hidden her.”
I looked through the papers.
“So you may have been shown a different baby.”
Sofia’s eyes filled with horror.
“I don’t know.”
The room seemed to shrink.
For twenty-four years, she had searched for a child using the wrong age.
Possibly the wrong face.
Victor opened a thin envelope.
Inside was a letter addressed to Elena.
He read silently.
Then he looked at me.
“What?”
“This is from Daniel.”
My heart stuttered.
“Read it.”
Victor handed me the letter.
The handwriting was careful and slanted.
Elena,
If you are reading this, then I did not make it to the investigator.
Protect Hannah. She is ours, and no document can change that.
But there is another child. Sofia does not know the truth. Her father gave her a baby and called the child Annie, but the real Anna was moved before Sofia ever saw her.
The original record is hidden with the birth seal.
Do not tell Victor until you know whether he has become his father—or escaped him.
My hands shook.
Victor read the final sentence over my shoulder.
He stepped back as though struck.
Sofia looked between us.
May you like
“What does it say?”
I handed her the letter.
