Chapter 27 - The First SonCeleste recognized Noah’s photograph.
Her hands began to shake.
Victor waited while she wrote.
HE WAS NOT MY SON.
She crossed out the sentence.
Then she tried again.
I WAS TOLD HE WAS NOT MY SON.
Mara stood across the hospital room.
“You gave birth at Northbridge.”
Celeste nodded.
“They told you the child died?” Victor asked.
Another nod.
Mara opened an old file retrieved from the registry.
The infant had been transferred twelve minutes after birth.
Destination unknown.
The father’s field was sealed.
Victor looked at Celeste.
“You knew before we married?”
Tears filled her eyes.
She wrote carefully.
I KNEW I HAD LOST A CHILD.
I DID NOT KNOW HE LIVED.
Ethan climbed onto the bed beside her.
“Is Noah my brother?”
Celeste held him.
Mara checked the registry again.
A current identity had been attached to the infant code.
But the name was encrypted.
Only one detail remained visible.
CURRENT AGE: SEVEN.
Victor contacted Elena.
“Find every seven-year-old connected to the foundation.”
“There could be hundreds.”
“Start with Northbridge.”
That evening, Marcus brought security footage recovered from Daniel Wren’s vehicle.
It showed a boy sitting in the rear seat.
He had dark hair.
A narrow face.
And Victor’s eyes.
The footage was dated the morning of the hearing.
A man opened the door and spoke to him.
The boy looked toward the camera.
Victor froze the image.
Around Noah’s neck hung a silver fox key.
Mara whispered, “August has been raising him.”
A message appeared on Victor’s phone.
Unknown number.
One photograph.
Noah stood before the burned Hale mansion.
He held a piece of paper.
May you like
On it were six words.
FATHER, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ETHAN?
Related Stories
