Chapter 10 - the second child)
Daniel did not tell Lucy about the photograph.
He gave it to Marcus.
The image was old.
Approximately six years.
The bassinets bore partial hospital labels, but most details were obscured by angle and glare.
One label showed the letters CRO.
Cross.
Amelia Cross.
The other showed no readable surname.
Marcus enlarged the photograph.
A woman’s hand appeared near one bassinet.
She wore a red gemstone ring.
Vanessa recognized it immediately.
“Helena.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You’re sure?”
“She has worn that ring for twenty years.”
Marcus studied the photo.
“So Helena was at the hospital when Lucy was born.”
Vanessa nodded.
Daniel felt another layer of the story settle into place.
“Where was Evelyn?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked at Vanessa.
“You were twenty-five.”
“Yes.”
“Were you there?”
“No.”
“Think before answering.”
“I wasn’t.”
Marcus asked, “Did Helena have children?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“People said she had a daughter.”
“What happened to her?”
“No one knew.”
Evelyn, who had been silent near the fireplace, suddenly spoke.
“She died.”
Everyone turned.
“When?” Daniel asked.
Evelyn looked tired.
“More than thirty years ago.”
“Name?”
“Amelia.”
Daniel stared.
“Amelia Cross?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No. Amelia Vale.”
“Could she have changed her surname?”
“I suppose.”
“How did she die?”
Evelyn looked away.
“She didn’t.”
Vanessa stood.
“Mother.”
Evelyn pressed fingers to her temples.
“I was told she died.”
“By who?”
“Helena.”
Daniel came closer.
“Start at the beginning.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
She had known Helena since university.
They had been roommates for one year.
Helena was brilliant, wealthy, secretive.
At twenty-two, Helena became pregnant.
She refused to name the father.
The child, Amelia, was born the following year.
For several years Evelyn saw her occasionally.
Then Helena claimed Amelia had developed a rare illness and died overseas.
There was never a funeral.
Evelyn did not question it.
Years later Helena built Halcyon.
“Why didn’t this occur to you sooner?” Daniel demanded.
“Because Amelia would be over forty now.”
“And?”
“If Amelia Cross is Lucy’s mother…”
Evelyn stopped.
Vanessa whispered, “Then Lucy could be Helena’s granddaughter.”
The room went quiet.
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“Why would Helena steal her own granddaughter?”
Marcus answered.
“Control.”
Daniel turned.
“If Amelia was running from Helena, Lucy could be leverage.”
They searched records.
Amelia Vale disappeared from public documentation at age fourteen.
Then a new identity appeared around the same time.
Amelia Cross.
Same birth date.
Similar educational records.
But nearly everything after age twenty-six was sealed.
Marcus used contacts.
At thirty-seven, Amelia Cross worked for a nonprofit medical organization in Baltimore.
At thirty-nine, she became a whistleblower in a sealed federal investigation.
At forty-one, she disappeared.
That was six months before Lucy’s birth.
Daniel felt chills.
“What investigation?”
Marcus looked frustrated.
“Sealed.”
“Against who?”
“Also sealed.”
“But likely Halcyon.”
“Likely.”
Daniel walked to the window.
“Then the second baby?”
No one knew.
That evening, he finally confronted Vanessa about the confession again.
“Why did Helena order you to claim you locked Lucy upstairs?”
“To make you publicly threaten me.”
“The bat.”
“Yes.”
“She wanted me arrested.”
“Or discredited.”
Daniel remembered the camera flash.
Someone had photographed him.
The next morning, the image was everywhere.
PROMINENT ATTORNEY THREATENS FIANCÉE WITH BASEBALL BAT AT CHARITY GALA.
Video clips lacked the context.
They showed Daniel holding the bat.
Vanessa screaming.
Guests recoiling.
Not the locked room.
Not Lucy’s terror.
Not the message threatening to throw Lucy from a balcony.
By noon, Daniel’s firm placed him on temporary leave.
Child services requested a meeting.
Police asked him to surrender the bat.
Helena’s plan was working.
She was separating him from every institution capable of protecting Lucy.
At three-fifteen, a judge issued an emergency temporary order requiring Lucy to remain in the home while child welfare assessed Daniel’s behavior.
Daniel stared at the paperwork.
“They can take her from me.”
Marcus nodded grimly.
“If they decide you are dangerous.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
She said nothing.
“Vanessa.”
She looked at the court order.
“This is how Helena does it.”
“How?”
“She never kidnaps children from secure homes.”
May you like
Daniel felt dread.
“She has the system remove them first.”
