Chapter 3 — The Mother Who Refused to Tell
The answer came close to midnight.
Alexander’s search team found the rented room based on Lily’s description. The door had been forced open. Everything inside was messy, but no one was there.
The landlord said a woman named Nora had rented the room and had lived there for almost two months with a little girl and a newborn baby.
A neighbor said two men had come to look for Nora that afternoon. They argued for a long time. After that, Nora ran outside, drawing them in another direction, while the little girl disappeared through the back door.
A camera near the bus station recorded Nora being forced into a black car by two strangers.
Alexander listened to the report over the phone, his expression turning cold.
Lily was asleep on a sofa in the Reed mansion’s living room, with the baby lying in a temporary crib beside her. She had tried to stay awake for a long time, afraid that if she opened her eyes, the baby would be gone.
But in the end, exhaustion pulled her into sleep.
Alexander walked into the hallway and spoke in a low voice:
“Find Nora at all costs. And investigate who those two men are working for.”
The next morning, the truth began to surface.
Nora had once been a nurse at a small private clinic outside the city. It was also the place where Amelia had given birth under a false name.
After Amelia gave birth, someone came to the clinic asking about her. Amelia knew she was being followed, so she gave the baby to Nora, the only person she trusted at that time.
Amelia had left behind a letter.
In the letter, she wrote that she was not sure who was behind the search for her. She was afraid that if she returned to the Reed family, her child would be dragged into battles over money and power.
She was also afraid that Alexander was still angry with her.
But in the final line, she wrote:
If I cannot come back, please take my child to my brother. Even though he once hurt me, I know he would never abandon a child with Reed blood.
Alexander read that letter in his study.
He read it again and again until the words on the paper blurred.
He had been wrong.
He had thought money and power could protect his loved ones. But it was his control that pushed Amelia away, forcing her to give birth in silence and hand her baby to a stranger in order to escape.
Lily stood outside the door, afraid to come in.
She had been bathed and changed into clean clothes. After the mud was washed from her face, she looked even thinner. She held a teddy bear the housekeeper had given her, but her eyes were still cautious.
Alexander saw her through the gap in the door.
“Come in.”
Lily walked in slowly.
“Have you found my mom yet?”
Alexander placed the letter down.
“I’m looking for her. I promise I won’t stop.”
Lily looked at him.
“Adults promise a lot.”
That sentence made Alexander’s throat tighten.
“You’re right. Then I won’t just promise. I’ll do it.”
“What about Ben?”
“Adrian is being cared for by the doctor. He is a little weak from hunger and exhaustion, but the doctor says he will be fine.”
Lily breathed out in relief.
“Can I see him?”
“Of course.”
She turned to leave, but Alexander called her back.
“Lily.”
She stopped.
“Thank you.”
Lily turned, confused.
“For what?”
“For protecting my nephew.”
Lily looked down at the teddy bear in her hands.
“My mom told me to protect him. I only did what she said.”
“Not every adult can do the right thing when they are scared,” Alexander said. “But you did.”
Lily did not answer, but her eyes softened a little.
Three days later, Nora was found.
She was in an abandoned warehouse outside the city, held there so she could be forced to reveal where the baby was hidden. The person behind everything was not a stranger, but Victor Lang — a man who had once pursued Amelia and had been rejected by her.
Victor knew Amelia had given birth. He also knew the baby could be connected to the Reed family fortune. He wanted to find the child and use him to pressure Alexander.
But Nora never told them.
Even when she was threatened, she only said one sentence:
“The baby is already somewhere safe.”
When Alexander arrived with the police, Nora was almost exhausted but still conscious. The moment she saw him, she immediately asked:
“Where is the baby? Where is Lily?”
“They are both safe,” Alexander said.
Nora burst into tears.
Not because she was afraid anymore.
But because she could finally let go of the burden she had carried for so many days.
That night, Lily reunited with her mother at the hospital.
The little girl ran into Nora’s arms and sobbed like a child her age should.
“You told me to run… I ran so far…”
Nora held her daughter tightly.
“You did so well, Lily. You saved the baby.”
“I was scared you wouldn’t come back.”
“I’m sorry.”
Alexander stood outside the hospital room, silently watching the mother and daughter embrace. Beside him, the housekeeper held Adrian in a soft white blanket.
The baby opened his eyes and looked toward Nora, as if he recognized her familiar voice.
Nora gently touched his cheek.
“Hello, Adrian,” she whispered. “You’re home now.”
But there was still one question that left everyone uneasy.
Where was Amelia?
The answer came on a sunny morning one week after that rainy night.
Alexander received a call from a small hospital in a seaside town. A woman had been admitted there in a state of severe exhaustion several days earlier. She had no identification with her, only an old photo of the Reed siblings.
When Alexander arrived, he saw Amelia lying on a hospital bed. She had lost a lot of weight, her hair had been cut short, and her face was pale.
But she was alive.
The moment Amelia opened her eyes and saw her brother, tears immediately filled them.
Alexander stood frozen at the door.
For months, he had prepared himself for the worst news. He had imagined countless apologies, but when he truly saw his sister again, he could not say a word.
Amelia looked at him, her voice weak:
“Did you find my baby?”
Alexander walked to the bed and knelt down, just like he had knelt before Lily in the grocery store that night.
“Yes,” he said. “Adrian is safe.”
Amelia closed her eyes, tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Thank God…”
“No,” Alexander said, his voice breaking. “The person you need to thank is an eight-year-old girl named Lily. She carried Adrian through the rain and begged for milk for him.”
Amelia cried silently.
Alexander held his sister’s hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Amelia opened her eyes and looked at him.
“You were so angry with me,” she said.
“I wasn’t angry. I was afraid of losing you. But I turned my fear into control. I thought I was protecting you, but I made you feel like you could never come home.”
Amelia looked at him for a long time.
“I was wrong too. I shouldn’t have disappeared like that.”
May you like
Alexander shook his head.
“From now on, no one in this family will have to disappear just to live the way they choose.”
