Chapter 6 - Daniel’s First Confession
Daniel placed the flowers on the counter.
Elena stood quickly.
Daniel’s eyes remained on Sarah.
“Leave us,” he told the nurse.
Elena did not move.
“This is my patient’s room.”
Daniel smiled.
“Your supervisor would disagree.”
Elena looked at Sarah.
Sarah nodded reluctantly.
The nurse left.
Daniel closed the door.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Ethan slept between them, unaware that his entire identity had become a battlefield.
Daniel looked at the photograph on Sarah’s phone.
“How much did she tell you?”
“Enough to know you lied.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
“The truth about that night.”
“Then tell me now.”
Daniel sat near the window.
He appeared older beneath the hospital lights.
“When you went into labor, the ambulance couldn’t reach the main hospital. Victor arranged for Halcyon to take you.”
“Why would your employer arrange anything? You told me you didn’t work for him then.”
“I did occasional consulting.”
“You were standing in photographs with him.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“I was more involved than I admitted.”
“Involved in what?”
“Halcyon was developing a treatment for inherited diseases before birth.”
“On pregnant women?”
“On embryos.”
Sarah stared at him.
“Was Ethan part of an experiment?”
“No.”
“Was Rebecca Sloan?”
Daniel looked toward the sleeping boy.
“Rebecca volunteered for a trial.”
“Margaret told me she died.”
“She suffered complications.”
“During delivery?”
“Yes.”
“And the two babies?”
Daniel took a long breath.
“You gave birth to a son that night.”
Sarah gripped the bed rail.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
The words seemed to come from far away.
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“There was a power failure. Halcyon’s backup system malfunctioned. Records were lost. Staff panicked.”
“That doesn’t explain how I went home with Ethan.”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“Your baby stopped breathing.”
Sarah felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“No.”
“The doctors tried to save him.”
“No.”
“He died before you woke up.”
Sarah backed away.
Daniel stood.
“I couldn’t tell you. You had already lost so much blood. The doctors said the shock could kill you.”
“So you gave me another woman’s child?”
“Rebecca had died. Her baby had no one.”
“He had a father.”
Daniel did not answer.
Sarah understood.
“Who was his father?”
Daniel looked down.
Sarah’s horror deepened.
“You?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe you stole a baby without knowing whose baby he was?”
“I didn’t steal him. Victor arranged the records. He said it was the only way to protect both of you.”
“Protect us from whom?”
Daniel turned toward the window.
Sarah moved closer.
“What happened to my baby’s body?”
“I never saw it.”
“Where was he buried?”
“There was no funeral.”
Her palm struck Daniel’s face before she realized she had moved.
The sound woke Ethan.
He opened his eyes weakly.
“Mom?”
Sarah stepped back, shaking.
Daniel touched his cheek.
Ethan looked between them.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” Daniel said.
Sarah stared at her husband.
For fourteen years, she had raised Ethan, loved him, and known him as her child. Nothing Daniel said could change that.
But somewhere beneath the grief and rage, another question had been born.
What if Daniel was lying about the first baby’s death?
Daniel walked toward the door.
Sarah stopped him.
“What was my son’s name?”
Daniel looked back.
“We never named him.”
“That’s another lie.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
He left without replying.
Ethan watched the closed door.
“Mom, what did he do?”
Sarah sat beside him.
She could not tell him.
Not yet.
Ethan reached beneath his pillow.
“I found this in Dad’s coat yesterday.”
He gave her a silver key attached to a metal tag.
May you like
On the tag was a number.
Room 6.
