For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then the monitor came back on.
The baby's heart rate appeared again.
The nurse rushed to check the equipment.
“Power interruption,” she said.
Daniel was already leaning over the crib.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
Mara barely heard the answer.
She was looking at the piece of paper.
THE MOTHER WAS.
Her name had been on the old record.
Her mother's photograph had been hidden in the storage room.
Her father's face had appeared in the recording.
And now someone had connected her twenty-three-year-old medical record to her son's hospital file.
“This isn't about the baby,” she whispered.
Daniel looked at her.
“You heard what the note said.”
“Someone is using him to reach me.”
The nurse stepped away from the crib.
“You need to contact security.”
Daniel nodded.
“I already contacted the police.”
Mara looked through the glass wall of the room.
A man in a gray jacket stood at the far end of the corridor.
He was watching them.
She blinked.
He was gone.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Someone was there.”
He turned.
The corridor was empty.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel stepped into the hallway.
Mara followed.
They reached the elevator.
Nothing.
Then the elevator doors opened.
A hospital orderly stepped out carrying a stack of linens.
“Excuse me,” Mara said. “Did you see someone in a gray jacket?”
The orderly shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel looked toward the stairwell.
A door slowly swung shut.
He ran toward it.
Mara followed.
They descended one flight.
The stairwell smelled of concrete and disinfectant.
At the bottom, another door stood open.
Beyond it was a service corridor.
Daniel stopped.
On the floor was a small black object.
A phone.
He picked it up.
The screen was already open.
One message waited.
YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED YOUR MOTHER ABOUT THE SECOND CHILD.
Daniel stared at it.
Mara's face went blank.
“Second child?”
Neither spoke.
They returned to the room.
Evelyn had arrived.
Daniel stared at her.
“What second child?”
Evelyn stopped walking.
Mara stepped toward her.
“You knew.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I didn't know you would find out this way.”
“Find out what?”
“That your mother had another baby.”
Mara felt as if someone had struck her.
“When?”
“The same year you were born.”
Daniel stared.
“Was it alive?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Mara's voice dropped.
“Where is that child?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie.”
“I am not lying.”
“Then who took the baby?”
Evelyn whispered, “Your father.”
Mara backed away.
“No.”
“He said the child was in danger.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother had discovered the transfers.”
Mara shook her head.
“You're saying my father took a baby?”
“Your mother's baby.”
“My sibling.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep the child from being registered.”
Mara stared at her.
“What happened to me?”
“You stayed with your mother.”
“And the other baby?”
“He was moved.”
“Where?”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“I don't know.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Who knew?”
“Your father. Thomas. Your mother. Me.”
“Anyone else?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“A doctor.”
“What doctor?”
“Dr. Samuel Reed.”
Mara recognized the name.
Her mother had once mentioned him.
She had called him the only person who tried to help.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“He lives outside the city.”
Daniel immediately reached for his phone.
Mara stopped him.
“Wait.”
She looked at Evelyn.
“You said my father took the baby to protect him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did my mother spend years believing the child was dead?”
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“Because she had to.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does when you understand what your father was hiding.”
“What?”
Evelyn whispered, “The second child was the evidence.”
Mara went still.
“The evidence of what?”
“Your father had discovered that babies were being transferred because someone was selling identities.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Selling identities?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To erase children from one system and place them somewhere else.”
Mara looked at her son.
“Then my sibling was one of them.”
“Yes.”
“And I wasn't?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Mara's eyes narrowed.
“Why not?”
“Because your mother found out too early.”
The pieces began to fit.
The clinic.
The altered records.
The missing file.
The old photograph.
The bracelet.
The warning.
Someone had been protecting a secret.
But Mara still couldn't understand why she had become the target now.
“What changed?” she asked.
Evelyn looked toward the baby.
“You had a child.”
Mara stared.
“That's all?”
“No.”
Evelyn reached into her purse.
She pulled out a small envelope.
“I found this in your father's things after he disappeared.”
She handed it to Mara.
Inside was a photograph.
Two infants lay side by side in hospital bassinets.
One wore a white bracelet.
The other wore a blue bracelet.
On the back was a date.
Mara's birth date.
Her hands shook.
“They're twins.”
Evelyn nodded.
Mara stared at the photograph.
“Which one am I?”
“I don't know.”
The words shattered whatever certainty remained.
Daniel took the photograph.
“There must be records.”
“They were destroyed.”
“Then DNA.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“That's why they are after you.”
Mara looked up.
“Who?”
“Anyone who was involved in the original transfers.”
“Because a DNA test could prove what?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“That you aren't the child everyone believes you are.”
Mara stared at the photograph.
Two babies.
One identity.
One missing child.
And now her own son had been given a bracelet connected to a record from twenty-three years ago.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then an older man's voice whispered, “Mara, if you want to know which baby came home with your mother, go to the old clinic.”
Mara's eyes widened.
“Who is this?”
“Your father.”
The line went dead.
Daniel stared at her.
“What did he say?”
Mara looked toward the sleeping baby.
“He wants me to go back to the clinic.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART7: The Abandoned Clinic Held the Missing File, but What Mara Found There Made Her Question Which Family Had Truly Been Hers
The Water Was Turning Cold When Mara Realized Someone Had Been Hiding the Truth From Her Family
Part 6 of 8
