Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO WANTED TO TAKE MY CHILD
Victoria Blackwood had been telling my six-year-old son that I would disappear.
And now I understood why Elijah sometimes woke crying after his hospital appointments.
I sat beside his bed, forcing myself to remain calm.
"Sweetheart, did the lady tell you anything else?"
He looked down.
"She said I shouldn't tell you."
My heart broke.
I took his hand.
"Elijah, adults shouldn't ask you to keep frightening secrets from your mom."
His eyes filled.
"Am I in trouble?"
I immediately shook my head.
"No, baby."
He began crying.
I pulled him gently into my arms, careful around his medical equipment.
"You're not in trouble."
Kieran stood near the window.
His expression was terrifyingly still.
But he didn't interrupt.
For once, he understood that this moment belonged to Elijah and me.
Later, with support from the hospital's child protection team, Elijah's account was documented appropriately.
Rebecca helped me review who had access to his medical records and hospital visits.
Victoria's name appeared repeatedly.
She'd been listed as an authorized family visitor.
I stared at the document.
"I never approved this."
Rebecca nodded.
"Then we need to determine how it was added."
The authorization carried a digital signature.
My name.
But the signature timestamp placed me on a train to Westchester.
I had never signed it.
Detective Brooks began examining possible identity misuse.
Then investigators uncovered another troubling record.
Victoria had contacted a private guardianship consulting firm.
The documents described Elijah as a child whose mother was supposedly unable to provide stable care.
I stared.
"She was preparing to take him?"
Rebecca answered carefully.
"The documents suggest she was exploring a legal strategy, but that doesn't mean she could lawfully obtain custody."
My hands shook.
I wanted to scream.
For eighteen months, I'd worked double shifts inside the Blackwood estate.
Sent nearly every paycheck toward Elijah's care.
Missed birthdays.
Skipped meals.
And slept four hours a night.
Now someone was trying to portray me as an unfit mother because I was poor.
Kieran looked devastated.
"Saraphina, I didn't know."
I turned toward him.
"Then find out what your family has been doing."
He nodded.
"I will."
That evening, he handed investigators access to company records connected to Meridian Patient Services.
The financial review revealed payments to a private investigator.
The investigator had been monitoring my train journeys and work schedule.
I felt violated.
Then another payment appeared.
It went to a company registered under the name Torres Family Holdings.
My stomach tightened.
"I've never heard of that."
Kieran frowned.
"Neither have I."
Rebecca traced the company registration.
Its listed director was a man named Gabriel Torres.
My heart stopped.
"That's impossible."
Then she checked the incorporation date.
Three years after Gabriel's supposed death.
I stared.
"Someone used his name?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Possibly."
But the next document made everything worse.
A recent bank authorization carried Gabriel's signature.
Dated just eleven days earlier.
And beside it was a photograph of the person who signed.
A man with dark hair.
A scar beneath his chin.
May you like
And the same brown eyes as my son.
Gabriel Torres was alive.
