Chapter 13 - The Child in Prague
Adrian was convicted on most charges.
The judge sentenced him to twenty-eight years in prison.
Outside the courthouse, reporters shouted questions at Sophia.
She made only one statement.
“This verdict does not restore what was taken from my family. But it proves that wealth does not make cruelty untouchable.”
Then she left with Noah in her arms.
The public saw justice.
Sophia saw another mystery.
She confronted Gabriel that evening at the lakeside house he had purchased for Vanessa during her recovery.
“What happened in Prague eight years ago?”
Gabriel became still.
“Who told you that?”
“Adrian.”
“Then Marcus contacted him.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa entered from the terrace.
“What is this about?”
Gabriel turned away.
Sophia stepped closer.
“Adrian says another child was born before Noah.”
Vanessa looked at Gabriel.
“Is that true?”
“No.”
The answer sounded rehearsed.
Sophia had heard too many lies from Bennett men to ignore the pattern.
“Look at me.”
Gabriel did.
His eyes contained guilt.
“Eight years ago,” he said, “I was investigating the Legacy Trust. I followed one of Harold’s doctors to Prague.”
“What did you find?”
“A maternity clinic operating under another name.”
Vanessa sat down slowly.
Gabriel continued.
“There were women carrying children for wealthy families. Some were voluntary surrogates. Others did not understand what had been done to them.”
Sophia felt sick.
“Did you shut it down?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“The clinic burned before authorities arrived.”
“And the child?”
Gabriel looked toward the dark lake.
“I found a newborn girl.”
“Whose daughter was she?”
“I didn’t know.”
“You do now.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Genetic tests showed she carried the Bennett line.”
“Through whom?”
“Through me.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“You have a daughter?”
Gabriel’s voice broke.
“I never agreed to create one.”
The room fell silent.
The trust had stolen his genetic material and used a woman at the Prague clinic to produce a child.
“Where is she?” Sophia asked.
“Safe.”
“What is her name?”
“Lily.”
“How old?”
“Eight.”
Vanessa stood.
“You found your daughter and never told me?”
“I only found you three months ago.”
“You told Sophia the trust was coming for Noah, but you already knew it had created another heir.”
“A female heir was never enough for Harold’s plan.”
Sophia remembered the hidden girls, the arranged marriages, the generations of manipulation.
“Lily may not be the heir,” she said. “She may be the mother of the next one.”
Gabriel’s face darkened.
“That is why I hid her.”
“Where?”
“I won’t say.”
“You don’t trust us?”
“I don’t trust anyone with her location.”
Sophia understood his fear.
Yet Marcus knew about Prague.
“He may already know where she is.”
Gabriel immediately reached for his phone.
He called someone.
No answer.
He tried again.
His expression became tense.
“Who are you calling?”
“The family protecting her.”
The third call connected.
Gabriel spoke in Czech.
His face lost color.
“What happened?” Vanessa demanded.
Gabriel ended the call.
“The house is empty.”
“Was she taken?”
“There was no sign of forced entry.”
His phone received a video.
They gathered around the screen.
Lily sat in the back seat of a moving car.
She had dark hair and Gabriel’s eyes.
She did not appear frightened.
A voice behind the camera spoke.
“Tell your father you are safe.”
Lily looked uncertainly toward the person filming.
“I’m safe.”
“Tell him who came to get you.”
The child smiled.
“Grandfather.”
Gabriel gripped the phone.
“My father is Charles.”
Sophia watched the video again.
The speaker’s right hand rested on the seat.
A scar crossed it.
The black stone ring shone beneath the passing lights.
Marcus.
A message appeared beneath the video.
Bring Noah to Blackwood Station at midnight.
One child for another.
No police.
Gabriel turned toward Sophia.
“You are not bringing Noah.”
“He has Lily.”
“I’ll go alone.”
“He asked for Noah.”
“And if we give him Noah, he’ll have both children.”
Vanessa looked at the timestamp.
“The video was recorded twenty minutes ago.”
Blackwood Station was less than an hour away.
Sophia held Noah closer.
Her son slept peacefully, unaware that a man he had never met considered him property.
Maya arrived after Gabriel called her.
She contacted federal investigators despite Marcus’s warning.
A plan formed.
Sophia would go to the station with a realistic medical doll wrapped in Noah’s blanket.
Noah would remain under protection with Thomas and Eleanor.
At eleven thirty, Sophia entered Gabriel’s car.
Vanessa insisted on joining them.
“He raised me,” she said. “He may listen to me.”
Gabriel looked at his sister.
“He shot you.”
“And you still came back for me.”
Blackwood Station had been abandoned for fifteen years.
Fog covered the tracks.
Sophia carried the wrapped doll toward the platform.
Gabriel and Vanessa remained hidden nearby.
A train whistle sounded in the distance, though no passenger trains used the route.
Marcus stepped from the station building with Lily beside him.
He looked thinner after the lake explosion.
Burn scars covered the side of his face.
But he was alive.
“Put Noah on the bench,” he ordered.
Sophia looked at Lily.
The child’s wrists were not tied.
She appeared confused rather than terrified.
“Let her walk toward me first.”
Marcus smiled.
“You negotiate like a Bennett.”
“I’m a Hale.”
“No. That name was always temporary.”
Vanessa stepped from the shadows.
“Marcus.”
He turned.
For one brief moment, his expression softened.
Then it hardened again.
“You betrayed everything I gave you.”
“You gave me lies.”
“I gave you a life.”
“You made me sleep with my brother.”
Marcus showed no shame.
“You were supposed to strengthen him.”
Vanessa’s face twisted with disgust.
Gabriel appeared behind her, holding a weapon.
“Release Lily.”
Marcus placed a pistol against the child’s shoulder.
“She is the first successful child of the program. Noah is the second. Together, they will rebuild what all of you destroyed.”
Sophia slowly placed the bundle on the bench.
“Take him.”
Marcus pushed Lily forward and moved toward the blanket.
Lily ran to Gabriel.
He caught her.
Marcus pulled back the fabric.
The doll stared up at him.
His face changed.
Federal agents emerged from both sides of the station.
“Drop the weapon!”
Marcus fired toward Sophia.
Vanessa pushed her down.
Gabriel covered Lily.
Agents returned fire.
Marcus fell onto the tracks.
A freight train thundered toward the station.
Sophia looked up.
Marcus was still moving.
He rolled beneath the platform seconds before the train passed.
When it disappeared, he was gone.
Blood marked the stones.
May you like
But there was no body.
Again.
