Chapter 10 - the child who did not exist
Isabella was brought into a conference room near the private suite.
Her burgundy gown had been replaced with hospital clothing, but she still carried herself as though she were attending a board meeting rather than facing an investigation.
Officer Reyes sat behind a one-way glass panel.
Marcus and Elaine watched from the adjoining room.
Khloe entered alone.
Isabella’s gaze moved immediately to her stomach.
“You should be resting.”
“You said that before you tried to frame me.”
“I did not frame you.”
“The recording captured your voice.”
“The recording captured an argument.”
“It captured you discussing the trust with two men.”
Isabella leaned back.
“You cannot prove who they were.”
“I don’t need to.”
Khloe placed the photograph on the table.
Isabella’s face remained calm, but her eyes shifted toward the door.
“You put this in my bag.”
“No.”
“You knew what it said.”
“I saw you holding it.”
“You said I was not supposed to have it.”
Isabella smiled faintly.
“Perhaps I was confused.”
Khloe sat across from her.
“Why does the message mention two birth certificates?”
The smile disappeared.
“I don’t know.”
“The trust amendment identifies my unborn child as a beneficiary using a registration number.”
“That is normal.”
“No. My baby does not have a legal registration number yet.”
Isabella remained silent.
Khloe continued.
“The number belongs to a child registered twenty-nine years ago.”
Behind the glass, Elaine looked at Officer Reyes.
The officer checked the document and began searching the public database.
Khloe had not known the number’s history.
She was guessing.
Isabella did not know that.
“Who was born twenty-nine years ago?” Khloe asked.
Isabella’s fingers tightened together.
“No one.”
“Then why did you attach that identity to my child?”
“I did not prepare the amendment.”
“But you were supposed to become guardian.”
“That was not my decision.”
“Whose decision was it?”
Isabella looked toward the mirrored glass.
Khloe lowered her voice.
“The people helping you will abandon you. Owen has already been detained. The man in the tuxedo hid his face. The person wearing Elaine’s coat walked away while you were trapped inside the suite.”
“I was not trapped.”
“You were. You pushed me because the man entered before you expected him. You were afraid of him.”
Isabella’s breathing changed.
Khloe leaned forward.
“What did he threaten to do?”
“He did not threaten me.”
“What did he promise?”
Isabella looked down.
“A place in the family.”
“You already worked for the family.”
“That is not the same.”
“You wanted Marcus.”
“No.”
“You wanted the Vale name.”
“I earned it.”
“By giving control of my child’s trust to a man pretending to be Marcus?”
Isabella’s head snapped up.
For a fraction of a second, fear appeared.
Khloe knew she had found the truth.
“The man in the photograph is not Marcus,” she said. “You knew that.”
Isabella said nothing.
Officer Reyes entered the room.
He placed a printed record on the table.
“The registration number belongs to a male child born twenty-nine years ago at St. Catherine’s Hospital.”
Marcus followed him in.
The name on the record stopped him at the doorway.
The child had been registered as Marcus Vale.
The date of birth was correct.
The parents were Malcolm and Elaine Vale.
But the certificate number was not the same as the one on Marcus’s official birth certificate.
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Marcus had two birth records.
And only one of them identified Elaine as his mother.
