NOTE: This part reveals the hidden first marriage, the disappearance of David’s unknown sister, and the connection between the old mystery and the present-day threat surrounding Mia.
Nobody spoke for several seconds after Eleanor's confession.
The only sound in the room was Mia crying.
I held her tighter.
David stared at his mother.
"You watched them take a baby?"
Eleanor's lips trembled.
"Yes."
"Whose baby?"
She looked at him.
"Your father's."
David shook his head.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does."
"No."
He stepped backward.
"You told me I was an only child."
"I know."
"You told me Dad never had another family."
"I know."
"Then who was that baby?"
Eleanor couldn't answer.
The lawyer did.
"Her name was Anna."
David looked at him.
"Anna what?"
"Anna Mercer."
The surname belonged to David's father.
My husband's face had gone completely white.
"How old was she?"
"Three months."
I looked at Mia.
Three months.
My daughter was nearly the same age.
A terrible thought entered my mind.
I rejected it immediately.
"Why are you looking at my daughter like that?"
Eleanor turned toward me.
"I'm not."
"You are."
She lowered her eyes.
"Because she reminds me of Anna."
David looked at her.
"You've seen Anna?"
"No."
"But you just said—"
"Not since she was a baby."
The lawyer interrupted.
"Your mother saw her the night she disappeared."
David turned.
"Where?"
"Here."
I looked at the fireplace.
The old brickwork seemed suddenly different.
"What happened?"
The lawyer sat down.
"Your father and Rachel were fighting."
"About what?"
"The child."
"Why?"
"Rachel wanted to leave."
Eleanor spoke quietly.
"She was afraid of your father."
David stared at her.
"My father?"
"Yes."
"What did he do?"
"He controlled everything."
The lawyer explained that Rachel had planned to leave the house with Anna.
She had packed clothes.
She had documents.
She had money.
But she never made it out.
The official story was that Rachel disappeared voluntarily.
The baby was reported missing afterward.
But there was no body.
No confirmed kidnapping.
No clear suspect.
The case eventually went cold.
David listened without speaking.
Then he asked the question that seemed to hurt most.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Eleanor looked at him.
"Because your father told us you were too young."
"How old was I?"
"Four."
"You knew I had a sister."
"Yes."
"You let me believe she never existed."
"Yes."
He turned away.
I had never seen him look so betrayed.
The lawyer opened the folder.
"Your father left evidence."
"What evidence?"
"Letters."
"Where?"
"Some were destroyed."
"By whom?"
The lawyer looked at Eleanor.
She didn't answer.
David stared at her.
"Mom."
She whispered, "Me."
I couldn't breathe.
"You destroyed evidence?"
"I thought I was protecting you."
Again.
That phrase.
Always protection.
Always secrecy.
Always a reason that supposedly made lying acceptable.
I walked toward the fireplace.
"What is behind this?"
Eleanor immediately said, "Nothing."
The lawyer shook his head.
"There's a compartment."
David turned.
"What?"
The lawyer pointed to a section of brick near the bottom.
"Your father built it himself."
David knelt.
He examined the wall.
One brick looked slightly different.
He pushed it.
Nothing happened.
He pushed harder.
A narrow panel shifted.
Inside was a small metal box.
My skin prickled.
David pulled it out.
There was dust on the lid.
The lock was broken.
He opened it.
Inside were photographs.
A hospital bracelet.
A tiny silver pendant.
And several folded documents.
I picked up the pendant.
It had a small letter engraved on it.
"A."
Mia made a soft sound.
I looked at her.
Then at the pendant.
"That's impossible."
Eleanor stared at it.
"I've never seen that."
The lawyer took the hospital bracelet.
He read the name.
"Anna Mercer."
David sat down.
His hands were shaking.
"She was here."
"Yes."
"When?"
"Twenty-nine years ago."
He looked at the photographs.
One showed Rachel holding a baby.
Another showed David's father beside them.
Another showed Eleanor.
She looked younger.
She was standing in this same room.
I noticed something.
In the photograph, the fireplace had a small crack near the lower corner.
The same crack was still there.
Then I saw another detail.
A man stood in the background.
He was partly hidden by the doorway.
I looked closer.
"Who is that?"
Eleanor took the photograph.
Her face changed.
"Thomas."
"Who is Thomas?"
"My husband's brother."
David looked confused.
"My uncle?"
"Yes."
"He's dead."
"He died years ago."
"When?"
"Two years after Anna disappeared."
The lawyer stared at the photograph.
"That explains something."
"What?"
"Thomas was questioned about Anna's disappearance."
David looked at him.
"And?"
"He claimed he never entered the house that night."
The photograph proved he had.
The lawyer pulled another document from the box.
It was a police statement.
Thomas had written that he arrived after Rachel disappeared.
But the photograph showed him inside the house before the disappearance.
Someone had lied.
Then I noticed something else.
There were two hospital bracelets.
One said Anna.
The other had no name.
The date was the same.
My stomach tightened.
"Why are there two?"
Nobody answered.
The lawyer took it.
"That isn't possible."
"Why?"
He looked at the bracelet.
"Because this one was issued to a second infant."
David stared at him.
"A second infant?"
"Yes."
"Whose?"
The bracelet had a number.
The lawyer checked the hospital records.
Then he went pale.
"It belonged to a baby born that same night."
I felt a cold sensation spread through my arms.
"What baby?"
He searched the records.
Then he looked at me.
"Mia."
I couldn't speak.
David stood.
"What?"
The lawyer shook his head.
"Not your Mia."
I released a breath.
"But the records have the same date."
"Yes."
"Where was the other baby?"
"We don't know."
Eleanor suddenly walked toward the door.
David grabbed her arm.
"You're not leaving."
She pulled away.
"I have to."
"No."
"You don't understand."
"Then make me understand."
She looked at Mia.
"The second baby was part of the reason Anna disappeared."
My mouth went dry.
"What second baby?"
Eleanor looked at me.
"Rachel had twins."
The room seemed to tilt.
David whispered, "Twins?"
Eleanor nodded.
"Anna was one."
"And the other?"
"Your father said the second child died."
The lawyer interrupted.
"There was never a death certificate."
I stared at him.
"What?"
He opened the folder.
"No death certificate exists."
David looked at his mother.
"Where is the other baby?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"I don't know."
The lawyer looked at me.
"That's what your father spent the last years of his life trying to discover."
I held Mia against my chest.
"Why would this have anything to do with my daughter?"
Nobody answered.
Then the lawyer pointed toward the old photograph.
"Because someone has been looking for that child."
He showed us another photograph.
It had been taken only six months earlier.
Outside our house.
David.
Me.
And Mia.
Taken from across the street.
My blood ran cold.
"Who took that?"
The lawyer didn't know.
But written on the back were three words.
"She looks identical."
David stepped closer.
"Identical to who?"
The lawyer looked at the old photograph of Rachel's twins.
Then at Mia.
I saw his face change.
"To Anna."
Eleanor covered her mouth.
"No."
I looked at Mia.
Her tiny face was peaceful now.
She had no idea what was happening.
No idea that adults were staring at her as if she were a piece of a puzzle that had been missing for decades.
I looked at the lawyer.
"Are you saying my daughter could be connected to this?"
"I'm saying someone believes she is."
David's voice hardened.
"Who?"
The lawyer opened the last document.
It contained a name.
A name none of us recognized.
"Marcus Vale."
Eleanor gasped.
David turned toward her.
"You know him."
She shook her head.
"No."
The lawyer stared at her.
"You do."
Eleanor's face crumpled.
"He was there the night Anna disappeared."
The room went silent.
David stepped toward his mother.
"Who is Marcus?"
She whispered:
"The man your father hired to make sure nobody ever found the babies."
Click Here to continue read next: PART3: The Name Marcus Vale Changed Everything, and When We Found His Photograph Hidden Behind the Fireplace, My Daughter Was Suddenly in Danger
My Baby Began Crying Beside the Fireplace, but the Blood on the Letter in My Mother-In-Law’s Hand Made Me Forget Everything Else
Part 2 of 8
