Chapter 4 - THE TRIP THAT WASN’T AN ACCIDENT
Two weeks later, Dylan’s company received an unexpected opportunity.
A hotel consortium in Zurich wanted him to personally oversee preliminary designs for a redevelopment project.
The contract was enormous.
The timing was terrible.
His business partner, Ethan Cole, insisted.
“You’ve been barely functioning for months. Go.”
Dylan resisted.
Then Victoria encouraged him.
“A change would be good.”
That should have made him suspicious.
Instead, he agreed.
His trip was scheduled from December 18 through January 7.
Olivia’s due date was January 11.
Victoria knew the dates.
So did whoever arranged the Zurich contract.
Dylan left Boston believing he could avoid the birth completely.
Then everything changed on December 22.
Olivia woke before dawn with severe pain.
At first she thought it was another false alarm.
By six in the morning, Margaret Sloan was driving her to the hospital.
By seven, Olivia was in premature labor.
Noah’s heartbeat dropped twice.
Doctors prepared for emergency intervention.
Olivia asked one question.
“Can someone call Dylan?”
Margaret hesitated.
Olivia saw it.
“I know.”
“He still deserves to know.”
Margaret called Dylan’s office.
No answer.
She called his personal phone.
Disconnected internationally.
She contacted Hayes Family Holdings.
Victoria answered.
Margaret spoke clearly.
“Olivia is in labor.”
There was a long silence.
Then Victoria said:
“Dylan is unavailable.”
“This baby is early.”
“Then handle it.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“I’m telling you because the father deserves to know.”
“My son is not the father.”
“We both know that isn’t true.”
Another silence.
Victoria spoke more quietly.
“You need to be very careful, Margaret.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s advice.”
Margaret hung up.
At 11:42 a.m., Olivia gave birth to a five-pound-six-ounce baby boy.
She named him Noah Michael Carter.
Michael for her father.
She left Hayes off the birth certificate.
Not because she wanted to erase Dylan.
Because she was finished allowing his absence to define her son.
Two days later, on Christmas Eve morning, Margaret discovered something disturbing.
A clerk brought her a birth-record amendment request.
The document requested addition of Dylan Hayes as the father.
It carried Olivia’s signature.
Margaret immediately knew something was wrong.
Olivia had been asleep at the time listed on the form.
Margaret took the document.
She called Olivia.
“Did you authorize any amendment?”
“No.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“Only discharge papers.”
Margaret’s heart began pounding.
Someone was attempting to alter Noah’s legal records.
Then she noticed something else.
The request did not merely add Dylan Hayes.
It included a second authorization.
Transfer of medical data to Hayes Family Medical Trust.
Margaret whispered:
“Oh my God.”
She knew that organization.
It had existed under different names for decades.
Michael Carter had once investigated it.
And Rebecca Carter had worked for a company that funded it.
Margaret made copies.
She placed one in a hospital safe.
One in her home.
And one in her handbag.
Then she called Olivia.
“I’m coming over tonight.”
“Why?”
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Something your father spent twenty years looking for.”
Olivia looked down at Noah.
“What does it have to do with him?”
Margaret’s answer was chilling.
“Possibly everything.”
At almost the exact same time, Dylan Hayes landed unexpectedly at Logan Airport.
The Zurich project had collapsed.
The consortium representative had abruptly disappeared.
The contract was withdrawn without explanation.
Dylan turned on his phone.
Seventy-three messages arrived.
One was from Ethan.
CALL ME IMMEDIATELY. YOUR MOTHER LIED TO US.
Another was an automated banking alert.
Hayes Family Holdings had authorized payments to a private investigative firm.
The reference name on one transfer:
CARTER.
Dylan stood in the airport terminal staring at the screen.
Then Ethan called.
“I found something in our corporate expense audit.”
“What?”
“Your mother’s office has been paying investigators.”
Dylan stopped walking.
“For what?”
“Olivia Carter.”
His blood went cold.
“How long?”
“Eight months.”
Dylan closed his eyes.
He thought of the photographs.
The clinic document.
Nathan.
The baby shoes.
“Send me the address.”
“What address?”
“Olivia’s.”
“You know where she lives.”
“She moved.”
Ethan went quiet.
Then gave it to him.
Dylan did not go home.
He took a car directly to Olivia.
He arrived at 4:17 p.m.
Snow had begun falling.
He stormed to the front door.
Olivia opened it.
She looked thinner.
Exhausted.
Her hair was tied loosely behind her head.
And in her arms was a newborn baby.
Dylan stared.
“What is that?”
Olivia’s face changed.
Not anger.
Disbelief.
“What did you just say?”
He looked past her.
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“The father.”
Olivia’s eyes filled with tears.
May you like
“There was never another man.”
And three seconds later, someone knocked at the door.
