Chapter 4 - The Secret Inside the Nursery
I turned.
My mother stood in the doorway.
She looked twenty years older than she had the last time I saw her.
"Mom?"
Her eyes were fixed on the DNA report.
"Where did you get that?"
I forgot every other question.
"You knew."
She closed her eyes.
That was enough.
"You knew Rachel was alive."
"Emma—"
"Six years?"
Adrien quietly left the room.
For that, I was grateful.
My mother approached me.
"Rachel contacted me twice."
I couldn't speak.
"The first time was three months after the accident."
"You let me mourn her."
"She begged me."
"You let me bury an empty coffin."
"There wasn't a coffin."
"That makes it worse!"
Luca cried upstairs.
Every nerve in my body responded.
My mother heard it too.
Her expression changed.
"That's him?"
"Who?"
"The Valente baby."
"How do you know?"
She sat.
"Because Rachel told me."
I stared.
"When?"
"Before Grace was born."
My hands went cold.
"What does Luca have to do with Grace?"
She looked at the laboratory report.
"Read it."
I didn't want to.
But I did.
Half-sibling relationship strongly supported.
I read it again.
And again.
"Impossible."
My mother began crying.
"Tyler wasn't Grace's biological father."
The room tilted.
"No."
"Emma—"
"No."
"Years ago, after your fertility treatments failed—"
"Stop."
"You and Tyler used a donor."
Memory crashed into me.
Two failed rounds.
Then another procedure.
Tyler handling paperwork because I couldn't bear another disappointment.
A clinic telling us the donor was anonymous.
My mother continued.
"Rachel discovered the donor records had been altered."
I looked toward the stairs.
"Luca?"
"Elena used the same donor."
The truth was stranger than anything I had imagined.
Grace and Luca were half siblings.
That was why Elena had tested them.
That was why she knew my name.
Rachel had found me while tracing the falsified clinic records.
"Why hide it?"
"Because the clinic wasn't supposed to exist the way it did."
My mother explained.
A private fertility network.
Stolen identities.
Altered donor records.
Wealthy clients charged enormous sums.
Ordinary patients lied to.
Elena had discovered the scheme when Luca's records didn't match the information she'd been given.
Rachel had been investigating the same network through financial records.
"And Tyler?"
My mother hesitated.
"He worked for one of their accounting firms."
The betrayal landed quietly.
That was almost worse.
Tyler had known.
Maybe not at first.
But eventually.
He had known Grace's records were false.
He had known Rachel was investigating.
And after Grace died, he had taken our money and disappeared.
"Did he cause Grace's death?"
"No."
My mother's answer came immediately.
"Grace was born with complications. Nothing Rachel found suggested otherwise."
Relief and grief arrived together.
I couldn't have survived believing someone had deliberately hurt my daughter.
"What about Elena?"
"We don't know."
That became the new question.
Had Elena's death been a medical tragedy?
Or had someone been afraid of what she discovered?
Adrien entered.
"My wife's autopsy found no evidence of foul play."
My mother looked at him.
"Elena didn't believe she was in danger from a killer."
"Then why all this secrecy?"
"Because she was afraid someone would destroy the evidence."
Adrien stared at the box.
"What's inside?"
The third lock opened using a sequence from Luca's bracelet and Elena's hospital room.
Inside were documents.
Account ledgers.
Clinic records.
Photographs.
And a small digital recorder.
Adrien pressed play.
Elena's voice filled the room.
"Adrien, if you're hearing this, something happened before I could explain."
He stopped breathing.
I watched his face.
Elena continued.
"Luca is yours in every way that matters. Never question that. The donor records concern genetic material used during treatment after we learned about your condition. I should have told you sooner."
Adrien closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
"The clinic lied to us. It lied to Emma Brooks. Rachel Brooks discovered the connection. She tried to expose them and nearly lost her life."
My mother covered her mouth.
"Rachel is protecting evidence that can shut the network down. But someone close to Emma has been feeding information to the people behind it."
Tyler.
I knew before Elena said the next words.
"His name is Tyler Hayes."
My stomach turned.
Adrien stopped the recording.
"Enough."
"No."
I pressed play again.
Elena's voice returned.
"Tyler may not understand the full operation, but he knows enough to be dangerous to Rachel. Emma must be protected from him."
Then Elena said something none of us expected.
"Adrien, do not use your usual methods."
One of the guards coughed.
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
Even dead, Elena apparently knew her husband.
"Take this to federal investigators. Let the evidence speak."
Adrien looked annoyed.
"She anticipated that?"
"Apparently."
The recording continued.
"And if Emma is helping Luca, treat her with respect. She has already lost more than anyone should."
My throat tightened.
A woman I had never met had known about Grace.
Known my grief.
Known Luca might need me.
Then Elena's voice softened.
"One more thing. Rachel left something in Luca's nursery."
The recording ended.
Adrien stood immediately.
The nursery was inside his Long Island estate.
The house Teresa had warned us about.
By afternoon, federal investigators had been contacted through my cousin Leah.
Adrien hated every minute of it.
"You look physically ill," I told him.
"I dislike government buildings."
"We're in your kitchen."
"I dislike the concept."
For the first time, I laughed.
A real laugh.
It surprised both of us.
Then his phone rang.
Security had searched the estate.
Nobody suspicious remained inside.
We went.
I insisted.
Luca came with medical staff and enough security to protect a president.
The nursery was beautiful.
And heartbreaking.
Elena had chosen pale blue walls and stars painted across the ceiling.
A rocking chair sat near the window.
Adrien stopped in the doorway.
"She built this."
"You never saw it?"
"Once."
"Why?"
"I was working."
Regret filled those two words.
I didn't tell him regret couldn't change anything.
I already knew he understood.
We searched for almost an hour.
Nothing.
Then Luca began fussing.
I lifted him.
As I rocked him near the wall, he reached toward a wooden star.
His tiny fingers brushed it.
The star shifted.
Adrien noticed.
He pulled it away.
Behind it was a recessed compartment.
Inside lay a phone.
Still charged.
One contact.
RACHEL.
Adrien called.
It rang once.
Twice.
Then someone answered.
Nobody spoke.
I stepped forward.
"Rachel?"
Breathing.
My eyes filled.
"Rachel, it's Emma."
A sob came through the phone.
My knees almost gave out.
"Em?"
Six years disappeared.
I knew that voice.
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Rachel—"
"Tyler found me."
Adrien took the phone.
"Where?"
"No!"
Rachel's voice sharpened.
"He can't come."
"Why?"
"Because Tyler isn't working alone."
Adrien's face hardened.
"Who?"
Rachel started crying.
"The person helping him lives in your house."
A sound came from behind us.
The nursery door slowly closed.
Adrien turned.
May you like
Someone was standing on the other side.
And then the lock clicked.
