Chapter 13 - THE THIRD CHILD
Nathan stared at the photograph.
Emma couldn't breathe.
“No.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Emma…”
“No.”
She grabbed the photograph.
“That isn't possible.”
The baby was newborn.
The hospital bracelet showed the same date as Ethan and Noah's birth.
Nathan's heart raced.
“Did you have triplets?”
Emma shook her head.
“I was told there were two.”
“Who told you?”
“The doctor.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
Nathan called him.
No answer.
They drove to Daniel's house.
The front door was open.
Inside, everything had been destroyed.
Medical files were scattered across the floor.
A safe had been broken.
Nathan found one surviving document.
It listed three births.
Baby A.
Baby B.
Baby C.
Emma covered her mouth.
“Baby C…”
Nathan read the name.
No name.
Just:
TRANSFERRED.
“Transferred where?”
At the bottom was a hospital code.
Nathan recognized it.
A private children's facility in Indiana.
They drove there.
The facility had closed six years earlier.
But its records survived.
Nathan found the administrator.
An elderly woman.
She looked at the photograph.
Then began crying.
“I knew someone would come.”
“Where is the child?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Please.”
“The baby was taken.”
“By whom?”
“Charles Harrison.”
Emma's knees nearly gave way.
“Why?”
The woman whispered,
“Because the third child was not his concern.”
Nathan frowned.
“Then whose?”
She looked at Emma.
“Yours.”
Nathan froze.
“What does that mean?”
“The third baby was a girl.”
Emma began sobbing.
“I didn't know.”
Nathan stared at the record.
“Where is she now?”
The administrator hesitated.
“She was adopted.”
“By who?”
She handed him an old file.
Nathan opened it.
The adoptive parents were listed.
A wealthy Chicago couple.
The father's name made Nathan's blood run cold.
Richard Sloan.
Richard had never been interested only in Noah.
He had known about all three children.
And the girl had been living under his protection for four years.
Nathan suddenly understood why Richard had wanted the trust.
The third child had a legal claim.
If all three children were acknowledged, the trust could not be controlled by any one person.
Richard had hidden her.
Nathan turned to Emma.
“We have a daughter.”
Emma whispered,
“Where?”
Nathan looked at the file.
“Chicago.”
They returned that night.
But Richard was gone.
So was the girl.
On the table inside Richard's abandoned house was a single note.
YOU FINALLY FOUND HER.
Underneath:
NOW FIND ME.
Then another line.
COME TO THE WEDDING.
Nathan frowned.
“What wedding?”
Emma looked at him.
Then her phone buzzed.
An invitation appeared.
The wedding was tomorrow.
Victoria Hale was marrying a powerful senator.
And the flower girl was listed as:
LILY SLOAN.
Emma stared.
“That's our daughter.”
May you like
Nathan looked at her.
“Then tomorrow, we get our little girl back.”
