Chapter 11 - The Doctor Who Kept Celeste Hidden
Evelyn nearly dropped her phone when she heard her father's voice.
For eighteen years, she'd imagined what she might say if Daniel Hart ever returned.
She'd imagined shouting.
Crying.
Demanding to know why he'd missed every birthday and graduation.
But the first words out of her mouth were heartbreakingly simple.
"Daddy, where are you?"
A shaky breath came through the line.
"I'm in Vermont, sweetheart."
"Are you safe?"
"For now."
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Adrien stood nearby, watching without interrupting.
Evelyn gripped the phone.
"Why did you warn me about Celeste's doctor?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Because Dr. Nathaniel Price has been working for Isabella Bellandi for years."
Adrien went completely still.
Dr. Price had treated members of the Bellandi family for more than a decade.
He'd examined Celeste during her pregnancy.
He'd recommended specialists for the triplets after she disappeared.
And he'd repeatedly assured Adrien that their silence was something only time could heal.
"What did Price do?" Evelyn asked.
Daniel's voice tightened.
"He helped Isabella falsify medical and financial records. When Celeste discovered the trust fraud, Price became responsible for keeping her out of sight."
Adrien reached for the back of a chair.
Evelyn looked at him.
"Dad, is Celeste alive?"
A long silence followed.
Then Daniel whispered:
"Yes."
Adrien closed his eyes.
"But she's frightened," Daniel continued. "They've moved her between private facilities using false records."
"Where is she now?"
"I have an address. I couldn't approach it without putting her at risk."
Evelyn took a breath.
"Can you give it to the investigators?"
"Yes."
Within hours, Daniel provided documents identifying a private medical residence outside Hartford, Connecticut.
Authorities coordinated a welfare check and a lawful search.
Adrien wanted to accompany them.
Every instinct in his body demanded that he go.
But Evelyn stepped in front of him.
"Your children need you here."
He looked at her.
"Celeste might be there."
"I know."
"She's my wife."
"And Luca, Matteo, and Sophia are your children."
His jaw tightened.
For a moment, Evelyn thought he might shout.
Instead, he looked toward the playroom.
Sophia was sitting beside her brothers, arranging colored blocks.
Adrien exhaled slowly.
"You're right."
He sat down.
"I'll stay."
That evening, investigators entered the medical residence.
Inside, they found records of unauthorized confinement and evidence that someone had been kept there under a false identity.
Then they located a woman in an upstairs room.
Thin.
Exhausted.
With dark hair falling across her shoulders.
She was sitting beside a window, holding a photograph of three children.
When an investigator spoke her name, she looked up.
"Celeste Bellandi?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Yes."
"Are you being held here against your will?"
She nodded.
Then whispered:
"Are my babies alive?"
The investigator assured her that the children were safe.
Celeste began sobbing.
But before leaving, she insisted on telling investigators one final secret.
"Isabella didn't only steal the children's inheritance."
The investigator leaned closer.
"What else did she do?"
Celeste's voice trembled.
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"She arranged the accident that killed Adrien's father."
And Dr. Price had helped conceal the truth for sixteen years.
