Chapter 9 - THE CHILD
For several seconds, I couldn't hear anything.
Iris.
The woman who had humiliated me.
The woman who had pretended to be Nathan's mistress.
The woman who was now dead.
She had raised my child.
Or had she?
I looked at Nathan.
"Tell me the truth."
He couldn't meet my eyes.
"I didn't know."
"You knew about the baby."
"Not where the baby went."
"Who took her?"
"Iris."
"Why?"
"Because Evelyn arranged it."
My hands began shaking.
"What was the plan?"
"Evelyn wanted you to believe the baby died."
"Why?"
"Because a child would give you another legal heir."
I stared.
"If I had a child..."
"The trust would have been divided."
"Unless the child disappeared."
Nathan nodded.
I felt sick.
My entire pregnancy.
The hospital.
The supposed miscarriage.
All of it had been a lie.
Then Diana called again.
"We found the original birth record."
"Where?"
"In a private archive."
"Is the baby alive?"
A pause.
"Yes."
My knees nearly collapsed.
"Where?"
"We're trying to locate her."
Then Nathan whispered:
"I know where."
I turned toward him.
"Where?"
He pulled out his phone.
There was a photograph.
A teenage girl.
Brown hair.
Green eyes.
A small birthmark near her left ear.
My heart stopped.
"How old is she?"
"Nine."
I touched the photograph.
"What's her name?"
Nathan looked at me.
"Emily."
I closed my eyes.
Emily.
My daughter.
Alive.
Growing up somewhere without me.
I couldn't stop crying.
"Where is she?"
Nathan hesitated.
"With a family in Connecticut."
"Who?"
"People Evelyn paid."
I stood.
"Take me there."
"We can't."
"Why?"
"Because Evelyn knows."
Diana arrived ten minutes later.
We showed her the photograph.
She immediately began making calls.
Within hours, we had a location.
A quiet suburban house.
A young girl lived there with an older couple.
We drove there with police officers we had verified through a federal contact.
I refused to trust anyone connected to the local department.
When the door opened, I saw her.
Emily.
She stared at me.
I couldn't speak.
The birthmark was there.
Exactly where it had been in the photograph.
The woman behind her started crying.
"I'm sorry."
I stepped forward.
"I'm her mother."
The woman nodded.
"I know."
"Why did you take her?"
"Evelyn paid us."
My heart broke.
"Does she know?"
"No."
"Who she is?"
"No."
Emily looked between us.
"What's happening?"
I knelt.
"I'm Sofia."
She stared at me.
"Why are you crying?"
I smiled through my tears.
"Because I've been looking for you for a very long time."
The police took the couple into custody.
But Evelyn was gone.
So was Charles Walsh.
So was Richard Hale.
And then we found the final piece.
A bank account in Evelyn's name had been emptied that morning.
The money had been transferred overseas.
But one transaction remained.
A payment to a private airfield.
Diana looked at me.
"She's leaving the country."
"When?"
"Tonight."
We raced to the airport.
But Evelyn wasn't alone.
Nathan came with us.
I didn't trust him.
But I needed him.
At the hangar, we found Evelyn standing beside a private jet.
She looked at me and smiled.
"I always knew you'd find out eventually."
I stepped forward.
"Where is Charles?"
"Safe."
"Where is Richard?"
"Probably running."
"And my father?"
Her smile disappeared.
"Dead."
"You're lying."
Evelyn looked at Nathan.
"You told her?"
Nathan stepped forward.
"It's over."
Evelyn laughed.
"No, Nathan."
She pulled out a folder.
"You still don't know what your wife did."
I frowned.
"What did I do?"
Evelyn looked at me.
"Ask her."
I turned toward Diana.
Diana's face had gone pale.
Evelyn smiled.
"Your attorney has been keeping a secret too."
Diana whispered:
"Sofia..."
I stared at her.
"What?"
She finally said:
"I knew your father."
I froze.
Evelyn climbed onto the plane.
May you like
Then she shouted:
"And she knows who really killed him."
