Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE
The wrong girl survived.
I repeated those words until they stopped sounding like English.
Camila had heard Connor say them.
The man who claimed he loved me.
The man who told me he wanted our baby.
The man who threw me out during a Montana blizzard.
And now he was disappointed I had survived.
I handed the phone to Lucia.
My fingers were shaking too badly to hold it.
She spoke with Camila while Adrien contacted the detective investigating my vehicle.
For the first time, I understood how little I knew about Connor.
We'd met at a real estate open house.
He was charming.
Funny.
Attentive.
He remembered small things.
My favorite coffee.
My mother's birthday.
The fact that I hated being called Maddie.
I'd mistaken attention for love.
But had he been studying me?
Learning my history?
Waiting for something?
Dr. Fontinelli arrived when my breathing became shallow.
He checked my blood pressure and asked about dizziness, abdominal pain, and bleeding.
There was none.
Still, he advised an obstetric follow-up and reminded me that after a significant collision, new symptoms required urgent evaluation.
I nodded.
Then asked the question that had been haunting me.
"Is my baby safe?"
He answered carefully.
"The evaluation so far is reassuring. We'll continue monitoring you."
I appreciated that he didn't make impossible promises.
That afternoon, Camila helped investigators recover my remaining belongings through the proper channels.
The blue envelope was still inside my old wooden keepsake box.
But it had been opened.
Someone had broken the seal.
Inside was a handwritten letter from my mother.
Madison,
There are things about our family's past that I hoped you would never have to carry.
Robert loved you from the moment you were born.
Never doubt that.
I pressed my hand against my mouth.
The letter continued.
If anyone ever tells you that Antonio Mancini was your father, ask them to show you the original hospital records.
The document with his name was created to protect you.
I froze.
"Created?"
Lucia leaned forward.
I kept reading.
Your father and Antonio made an arrangement after discovering that someone was using children's identities to move money through private trusts.
They believed keeping you connected to Antonio's family would discourage anyone from harming you.
My stomach tightened.
The birth certificate might have been part of a protective deception.
Not proof of my parentage.
Then I reached the final paragraph.
There is one person who knows exactly what happened.
Her name is Evelyn Ross.
I looked toward Adrien.
He went completely still.
"What?" I asked.
He swallowed.
"Evelyn Ross was my father's attorney."
"Where is she?"
Adrien glanced toward Lucia.
Then said, "She's been missing for seventeen years."
I stared.
"Missing?"
He nodded.
"Everyone believed she fled the country."
I looked down at the letter.
Mom had written one more sentence beneath Evelyn's name.
She didn't disappear. She's been living under another name in Montana.
May you like
And then came the part that made my blood turn cold.
You know her as Aunt Margaret.
