Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO WANTED MY BABY
Until that morning, Eleanor Callahan was only a name I vaguely remembered from Chicago society pages.
Now I was being told she had changed my daughter’s birth records.
Ethan’s SUV entered a gated estate north of the city.
I stared at the mansion.
“I’m not staying here.”
“You are until I know who followed you.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“No.”
His voice stayed calm.
“But keeping Sophie breathing is.”
I hated that he was right.
Inside, a gray-haired woman waited in the entry hall.
Elegant.
Perfect posture.
Pearls.
Cold eyes.
She looked at Sophie before she looked at me.
Ethan stopped.
“Mother.”
So this was Eleanor Callahan.
Her face changed when she saw Sophie.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
“Oh.”
One tiny word.
That was enough.
“You know my daughter,” I said.
Eleanor’s eyes moved to mine.
“I know who she is.”
I stepped forward.
“Then start talking.”
Ethan almost seemed surprised I spoke to his mother like that.
I didn’t care.
Eleanor dismissed the staff.
When we were alone, she said:
“Michael called me eleven months ago.”
My heart stopped.
“He told me about you.”
“Then why did nobody contact me?”
“Because Michael believed you would be safer if you knew nothing.”
Rage rose inside me.
“He abandoned me pregnant.”
“No.”
Eleanor’s voice sharpened.
“He left to protect you.”
“By disappearing?”
“He discovered someone inside our organization had learned your name.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You never told me.”
“You were already fighting three different wars after Patrick died.”
“Michael was my brother.”
“And therefore your weakness.”
Ethan’s eyes became ice.
But I interrupted.
“Why did you alter Sophie’s birth record?”
Eleanor looked at the baby in my arms.
“Because someone was searching every Chicago-connected hospital database for a female infant born to Rachel Morales.”
I went still.
“She was born in Los Angeles.”
“Yes.”
“That means they knew where I was.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Eleanor hesitated.
Ethan noticed.
“Mother.”
She walked toward a desk.
Opened a drawer.
Removed an envelope.
Inside were photographs of Michael.
Some with me.
One showed him outside my apartment.
Another showed him holding my pregnant stomach outside the diner.
I hadn’t even known that picture existed.
The last image showed Michael meeting an older man behind a warehouse.
Ethan took it.
His jaw tightened.
“Victor Kane.”
I didn’t know the name.
Ethan did.
“Who is he?”
“My father’s former partner.”
“Former?”
“He betrayed my family fifteen years ago.”
Eleanor continued.
“Michael discovered Victor was trying to identify the next Callahan heir.”
I looked down at Sophie.
“No.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“He wanted Sophie?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Not because she was Michael’s daughter.”
“Then why?”
Eleanor looked directly at me.
“Because Michael wasn’t Sophie’s father.”
Every sound in the room disappeared.
I whispered:
“What did you say?”
May you like
Eleanor’s next words shattered everything.
“Michael was protecting Sophie because he believed her real father was Ethan.”
