Chapter 2 — The Bracelet With the Letter A
Alexander Reed was one of the wealthiest businessmen in the city.
But that night, he did not enter the store to buy anything special. His car had broken down on the way home, his driver had stopped to check it, and Alexander walked into the nearest store to escape the rain and make a phone call.
He had planned to stand near the entrance for only a few minutes.
Until he heard the little girl’s voice:
“I’ll pay when I grow up… I promise.”
Those words made him stop.
Alexander had heard something similar many years ago.
When his younger sister, Amelia, was seven years old, she once broke their father’s precious vase. She stood in front of him with red eyes and said:
“I’ll pay when I grow up… I promise.”
That memory pierced his heart like a needle.
Amelia.
That name was a wound that had never healed in the Reed family.
Ten months earlier, Amelia had disappeared.
She was Alexander’s only younger sister, the one who had left the Reed mansion after a terrible argument. Amelia had fallen in love with a man her family did not accept. At that time, Alexander had been too arrogant, too convinced that he was protecting her, so he did everything he could to stop her.
He had the man investigated.
He warned Amelia.
He even said something he would regret forever:
“If you walk out of this door, don’t come back.”
Amelia walked out.
One month later, Alexander learned she was pregnant.
Then she vanished.
Her phone could not be reached. Her bank account became inactive. None of her friends knew where she had gone. Alexander hired people to search everywhere, but all he received were scattered clues.
Three weeks earlier, his private investigators reported that Amelia might have given birth in a small clinic under a false name.
But where the baby was, and where Amelia was, no one knew.
Alexander had lived for months in regret. Every night, he remembered his sister’s eyes when she left home. Those eyes were not full of hatred. They were just so sad that no one could bear to look at them for long.
And now, in this tiny grocery store, in the middle of the cold rain, he saw the silver bracelet on a baby’s wrist.
That bracelet was a gift from his mother.
His mother had once ordered two matching silver bracelets for Alexander and Amelia when they were children. Later, Amelia kept hers as a keepsake. She once said that if she ever had a child, she would put it on her baby.
The bracelet was engraved with the letter A.
A for Amelia.
A for Alexander.
A for the family she both loved and wanted to escape.
Alexander could not be mistaken.
He looked at the little girl in front of him.
“Do you know Amelia Reed?” he asked.
Lily frowned.
The name was unfamiliar to her. But when she heard the surname Reed, she suddenly remembered the paper in her pocket.
“I… I don’t know,” she said.
“Then who gave you this baby?”
Lily remained silent.
Alexander saw the fear in her eyes. He realized he had asked too quickly, too much like someone interrogating her. He took a deep breath and lowered his voice.
“My name is Alexander Reed.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
She immediately reached into the pocket of her hoodie and took out the wet, crumpled paper. It was almost torn in two. She opened it and held it toward him, still keeping her distance.
Alexander took it.
The words were blurred, but his name was still there.
The handwriting on the paper made him go still.
It was Amelia’s handwriting.
He had seen that handwriting for over thirty years — from messy birthday cards when she was little to apology notes placed outside his room after their arguments.
Alexander’s hand trembled.
“This is my sister’s handwriting.”
Lily looked at him, her eyes still full of doubt.
“My mom said if something happened, I had to find this person.”
“What is your mother’s name?”
“Nora.”
“Where is she now?”
Lily lowered her head.
“I don’t know. Some people came to our room. Mom told me to take the baby and run first.”
Caleb quickly reached for his phone.
“Should I call the police?”
Lily immediately panicked.
“No! Don’t call them! They’ll take my baby brother away!”
Alexander turned to Caleb.
“Wait.”
He looked at Lily, then at the baby crying weakly in her arms.
“First, the baby needs to eat and be checked by a doctor.”
He took a stack of money from his wallet and placed it on the counter.
“I’ll buy every kind of baby milk suitable for him in this store. And please get clean towels and warm water if you have any.”
Caleb was stunned.
“Yes… yes, I’ll get them.”
Lily looked at the money on the counter, then at Alexander.
“Why are you buying so much?”
“So your baby brother won’t have to be hungry anymore.”
“Are you going to take him away?”
Alexander knelt in front of her.
A man who could make employees tremble in a boardroom was now kneeling on the cold floor of a small grocery store.
“I won’t pull the baby out of your arms,” he said. “But I think this baby might be my nephew. And if that is true, I need to protect both of you.”
Lily looked into his eyes for a long time.
Children have a strange ability. They may not understand all the complicated words adults say, but they can feel very clearly when someone is telling the truth or lying.
In Alexander’s eyes, Lily did not see greed.
She saw tears.
One tear silently rolled down the man’s cheek.
“Are you crying?” she asked softly.
Alexander lowered his head and let out a broken laugh.
“I’ve been looking for this baby for a very long time.”
“Then where is the baby’s mother?”
That question left him unable to answer.
A few minutes later, Alexander’s driver rushed into the store holding a large umbrella. When he saw his boss kneeling on the floor in front of a ragged little girl, he was so shocked he forgot to greet him.
Alexander stood up.
“Call my private doctor. Tell them to prepare the clinic room at my house. Call Martin, the lawyer, and the search team. Tell them to trace the rented room based on what this girl remembers immediately.”
He turned to Lily.
“Do you remember the way back to the room?”
Lily nodded, then shook her head.
“It was raining too hard. I ran through many alleys. But I remember a red sign and a bus station nearby.”
“That’s enough.”
Caleb brought milk, towels, and warm water. He no longer looked stern. He placed everything down and said awkwardly:
“I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t know it was this serious.”
Lily looked at him.
“Were you going to arrest me?”
Caleb lowered his head.
“No. I was just… afraid of losing my job.”
Lily was silent for a moment, then held out the crushed milk carton.
“I’ll still pay when I grow up.”
Caleb’s eyes turned red. He pushed the carton back toward her.
“You don’t have to. This one is from me.”
Alexander looked at Caleb.
“What’s your name?”
“Caleb, sir.”
“Caleb, tonight you did the right thing by not letting a child disappear into the rain. If you hadn’t stopped her, I might never have found them.”
Caleb looked up in shock.
He thought he would be blamed for being too strict.
But because he had stopped Lily at the door, she had stayed long enough for Alexander to see the bracelet.
Lily and the baby were taken into Alexander’s car. At first, she refused to let go of the baby, so the doctor had to examine him inside the car. Alexander ordered that no one was allowed to force her.
The luxury car drove through the rain, leaving the small street behind.
Lily sat curled up on the soft leather seat, still holding the baby in her arms. She had never sat in a car so clean and warm before.
Everything felt strange to her.
Alexander sat across from her, his eyes never leaving the baby.
“What is his real name?” Lily asked.
“If this is Amelia’s son…” Alexander said slowly, “his name might be Adrian. My sister once said that if she ever had a son, she wanted to name him that.”
“Adrian,” Lily repeated, as if testing whether the name fit the baby.
The baby had stopped crying after drinking a little milk. He slept in Lily’s arms, his tiny face more peaceful now.
“Can I still call him Ben?” Lily asked.
Alexander looked at her.
“Why Ben?”
“Because my mom said his real name could put him in danger. She said to call him Ben because it was easy to remember.”
Alexander clenched his hand.
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Nora knew exactly who she was protecting.
So who was Nora in this story?
