CHAPTER 15 — THE WOMAN WHO CALLED FROM THE GRAVE
Claire woke hours later.
The delivery room had been cleaned.
The incubator was gone.
The space beside her bed was empty.
Nathan sat in a chair near the window.
His shirt was stained with smoke and blood. A cut crossed one side of his face.
Claire knew the truth before he spoke.
“Where is she?”
Nathan stood.
“Veronica took her.”
Claire closed her eyes.
A tear slid into her hair.
“You promised.”
“I know.”
“You said no one would take her.”
“I know.”
She turned her face away.
Nathan wanted to touch her, but he stopped himself.
There were wounds apology could not close.
“Was she alive?” Claire asked.
“Yes.”
“Was she breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Did she cry?”
Nathan’s voice broke.
“She cried.”
Claire pressed one hand over her mouth.
“What did she look like?”
“She had your mouth.”
Nathan sat beside her.
“And dark hair.”
“Did you hold her?”
“No.”
Neither of them spoke for several moments.
Then Claire looked at him.
“Find her.”
“I will.”
“Not as a Whitmore. Not with money or threats.”
Nathan nodded.
“As her father.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“And do not trust your mother.”
“I don’t.”
“Do not trust Vanessa.”
“I don’t know where Vanessa is.”
“Do not trust Gabriel either.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Why?”
Claire struggled to sit up.
“Gabriel never told you everything.”
“What did he hide?”
“The night he came to the estate, he didn’t only collect a DNA sample.”
“What else did he do?”
“He entered your father’s study.”
Nathan remembered the trust file.
“He already admitted he had it.”
“He also took your mother’s private adoption records.”
“What adoption records?”
Claire looked toward the door.
“Records connected to newborn girls taken from private clinics.”
Nathan’s face went pale.
“You think Gabriel knew Veronica wanted our child?”
“I think he knew someone had been preparing a new identity.”
The door opened.
Gabriel entered with Evelyn in a wheelchair.
Nathan stood between him and Claire.
“Where is the adoption file?”
Gabriel stopped.
“What?”
“The file you took from the study.”
Gabriel looked at Claire.
“You told him.”
“Our daughter is missing.”
“I did not take her.”
“But you knew about the false birth identities.”
“I was searching for children Cole erased.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“Did you know Veronica planned to take Claire’s baby?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was working against Margaret?”
“Yes.”
Nathan seized his jacket.
“You lied again.”
Gabriel pushed him away.
“I knew she hated Margaret. I didn’t know she would target Claire.”
“You used my wife to uncover your past.”
“And your family used my mother for thirty-eight years!”
Evelyn struck the wheelchair arm with her palm.
“Stop.”
Both men turned.
Her voice was weak but firm.
“The baby is what matters.”
Claire looked at Evelyn.
“Do you know where Veronica would go?”
Evelyn stared at the floor.
“There was a house.”
“What house?”
“Near the coast. Margaret sent Veronica there when she became difficult.”
Nathan crouched in front of her.
“Where?”
“I don’t remember the town.”
“Try.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“White cliffs. A red lighthouse. Bells from the water.”
Gabriel pulled out his phone.
“There are dozens of places like that.”
Nathan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone in the room went silent.
He answered and activated the speaker.
At first, there was only the sound of waves.
Then a baby cried in the background.
Claire’s body went rigid.
“My daughter!”
A woman spoke.
It was Vanessa’s voice.
“Nathan, listen carefully.”
“Veronica, if you hurt her—”
“I’m not Veronica.”
Nathan looked at Gabriel.
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Where have you been?”
“Cole locked me inside Blackwood three days ago.”
“That’s impossible. You were at dinner.”
“No. She was.”
Nathan remembered the woman sitting beside Margaret.
No scar had been visible.
But he had not looked closely.
“Where is the baby?” Claire asked.
Vanessa heard her.
“Claire, I’m sorry.”
“Where is my child?”
“The woman who took her is heading toward the coast.”
“Which coast?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how are you calling us?”
Vanessa’s breathing became uneven.
“I escaped from the transport vehicle.”
Nathan gripped the phone.
“Who was transporting you?”
“Gabriel.”
Everyone looked at him.
Gabriel’s face went blank.
“That’s a lie.”
Vanessa continued:
“He has been working with Veronica from the beginning.”
Gabriel stepped toward the phone.
“Where are you?”
Vanessa gasped.
A car door slammed near her.
Then a man’s voice spoke in the background.
It sounded exactly like Gabriel.
“You should have stayed inside the car.”
Nathan slowly turned toward the Gabriel standing beside him.
The call disconnected.
No one moved.
Gabriel looked at the silent phone.
“That wasn’t me.”
Nathan stared at him.
“You expect me to believe there are two of you too?”
Gabriel opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, Evelyn began trembling.
She pointed toward the doorway.
A man stood in the hall.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Closely trimmed beard.
He looked exactly like Gabriel.
The man smiled.
Then he placed a small pink hospital bracelet on the floor.
BABY GIRL WHITMORE.
Nathan rushed toward him.
The man stepped back and disappeared around the corner.
When Nathan reached the hallway, it was empty.
Only the bracelet remained.
On the inside, someone had written a new name in black ink.
EVELYN SHAW.
Nathan picked it up.
Behind him, Claire whispered:
“They’re not hiding our daughter.”
Nathan turned toward her.
Claire’s face had gone completely pale.
“They’re replacing someone with her.”
Outside the facility, a black car moved through the darkness toward the coast.
In the back seat, a newborn slept beneath a white blanket.
A woman with Vanessa’s face sat beside her.
Across from them was a man with Gabriel’s face.
Neither of them spoke until the distant beam of a red lighthouse swept across the windshield.
Then the woman looked down at the baby.
May you like
“Your family buried the truth for thirty-eight years,” she whispered.
“This time, we’re going to make them dig it up themselves.”
