Chapter 6 - The Child Who Had Not Been Born)
Silas ended the call.
Marcus immediately ordered the number traced.
Burner phone.
Signal bounced through three towers.
No usable location.
Elena remained motionless.
"A second birth certificate?"
Daniel was already working.
"It's probably psychological pressure."
"No."
Elena looked at him.
"Silas isn't that creative."
Within two hours, they found it.
Not a birth certificate exactly.
A pre-registration record filed with a private neonatal custody service in Delaware.
Child name listed as Baby Vance.
Mother: Elena Osei Vance.
Father: Silas Nathaniel Vance.
Secondary guardian upon maternal incapacity: Odalys Marie Crane.
Elena stared.
"How is that even possible?"
"It's not legally enforceable by itself," Daniel said. "But combined with other documents"
"The separation agreement."
"Yes."
Marcus looked furious.
"They were building a paper trail."
Elena understood.
A medical emergency.
A premature birth.
A sedated mother.
A husband with legal authority.
A secondary guardian.
And billions waiting behind the child.
"How long have they been planning this?"
Daniel looked at the filing date.
"Four months."
Elena's stomach turned.
That was when Silas first suggested she transfer to St. Catherine.
He said it had better obstetric care.
He said his company's insurance arrangement made everything easier.
She suddenly remembered him insisting she sign dozens of hospital forms electronically.
"I gave him access."
Marcus shook his head.
"He abused access. That's different."
Elena looked toward him.
"I spent months thinking pregnancy made me stupid."
"It didn't."
"Silas made me doubt things I saw with my own eyes."
Marcus sat beside her.
"Then start believing them again."
That sentence changed something.
For the first time since Odalys entered her hospital room, Elena stopped feeling like the person events were happening to.
She became someone capable of acting.
"Bring Silas back."
Daniel blinked.
"We don't know where he is."
"I do."
Marcus studied her.
Elena explained.
Silas always ran to places he believed he owned emotionally.
When frightened, he went somewhere that reminded him of control.
His office.
His parents' country house.
Or the unfinished development in Annapolis where he had proposed to Elena eight years earlier.
"The development failed," Elena said. "But Silas secretly bought one house back after his company recovered."
Daniel immediately searched property records.
The house was held through an LLC.
Registered agent: Rebecca Sloan.
Marcus looked at Elena.
"How did you know?"
"Because he took me there last anniversary."
"He showed you?"
"He told me he was considering buying it."
She smiled without humor.
"Silas always wants credit for secrets before they're safe enough to reveal."
Daniel sent a team.
They found the house empty.
But not unused.
Food in the refrigerator.
Recent tire tracks.
A laptop smashed in the fireplace.
And in the basement, a nursery.
Elena watched footage from her hospital bed.
White crib.
Blue-gray walls.
Boxes of newborn clothes.
A changing table.
Everything prepared.
Her skin crawled.
Then Daniel opened a closet.
Inside were women's clothes.
Not baby clothes.
Dresses.
Shoes.
A hospital recovery gown.
All Elena's size.
Marcus looked sick.
"What was he planning?"
Daniel examined the labels.
"Some items were purchased six months ago."
Elena stared at the nursery.
Then noticed something.
"Camera."
Daniel looked around.
"Where?"
"Above the closet."
He found it.
Hidden in a smoke detector.
The camera was not recording the room.
It was connected to a remote feed.
Daniel traced the signal.
It led to a private server.
On that server were hundreds of video files.
Elena sleeping.
Elena showering.
Elena arguing with Silas.
Elena taking medication.
Elena crying.
Elena calling her father.
Silas had surveilled her inside their home.
One video showed him replacing a bottle in the bathroom cabinet.
Elena leaned closer.
"My prenatal vitamins."
Marcus stood.
"Get toxicology."
Doctors tested everything Elena had brought from home.
The prenatal vitamins were genuine.
But another medication was not.
Magnesium supplements prescribed for muscle cramps had been replaced with pills containing a mild sedative.
Not enough to harm her directly.
Enough to make her tired.
Confused.
Forgetful.
Easy to portray as unstable.
Elena started shaking.
Marcus reached for her.
She pushed his hand away, then immediately regretted it.
"I need a minute."
He nodded.
A video file near the bottom of the server caught Daniel's attention.
Its title contained a date.
Tomorrow.
Scheduled.
He opened it.
The video had already been recorded.
Silas sat in front of a blank wall.
He looked solemn.
"My wife Elena has struggled with severe emotional instability during pregnancy. I have tried to protect her privacy, but tonight she assaulted a close family friend and endangered our unborn child. Doctors recommended emergency psychiatric intervention"
Elena stopped the video.
"He recorded my breakdown before I had one."
Marcus's voice was low.
"He intended to manufacture one."
Daniel opened the attached metadata.
The video was scheduled for automatic distribution to three news outlets, two law firms, and an emergency family court filing.
At 7:00 a.m.
They disabled it.
Then another notification appeared.
One scheduled package had already been transmitted earlier that evening.
To whom?
A private genetic laboratory.
Daniel opened the attachment.
It contained a prenatal DNA report.
Elena's name.
Silas's name.
And a conclusion.
Silas Vance was not the biological father of Elena's baby.
Elena stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
Marcus looked at her.
She turned on him.
"Don't."
"I'm not asking anything."
"Silas is the father."
"I believe you."
Daniel examined the document.
"The lab is real."
"Then the result is fake."
"Maybe."
He looked at the accession number.
"We need the underlying sample data."
Elena's mind raced.
Silas had not only planned to steal control of her child.
He had created evidence to claim the baby was not his.
"Why?"
Marcus understood first.
"Because if Silas isn't the father, someone else can be."
Elena's blood ran cold.
Then Nurse Priya rushed into the room.
"Elena, don't panic."
The monitor began beeping.
Elena gripped the bed.
May you like
"What?"
"You're contracting."
