Part 3 — “Your Father”
“Your father.”
For several seconds, Daniel thought he had misunderstood her.
He actually waited for Rebecca to correct herself.
She didn’t.
Claire stared at Rebecca from the hospital bed.
“What did you just say?”
Rebecca’s eyes remained on Daniel.
“Your father is Lily’s biological father.”
“No.”
Daniel’s answer came instantly.
Rebecca didn’t argue.
She simply stood there while he shook his head.
“No. That’s impossible.”
“I wish it were.”
“My father has been married to my mother for thirty-eight years.”
Rebecca looked down.
“That didn’t stop him.”
Daniel’s phone was still in his hand.
The message from his father remained on the screen.
Take Claire and leave before she tells you who Emma’s real father is.
Suddenly those words meant something completely different.
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“How do you know?”
Her voice trembled.
“Because I was nineteen when I met him.”
Daniel felt sick.
Rebecca continued.
“I worked at a restaurant near his office. He came in almost every Thursday.”
Claire stared at her.
“You had an affair with Daniel’s father?”
“I didn’t know he was married at first.”
Daniel laughed once.
It was a broken, disbelieving sound.
“My father was fifty-two.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And you were nineteen?”
“Yes.”
Daniel turned away.
He couldn’t look at her.
Couldn’t look at Claire.
Couldn’t even look at the photograph anymore.
Rebecca continued quietly.
“When I became pregnant, he changed.”
Daniel turned back.
“What does that mean?”
“He wanted me to terminate the pregnancy.”
Claire’s expression tightened.
“And when you refused?”
“He offered me money.”
“How much?”
“Enough to disappear.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
Rebecca picked up the stuffed rabbit from the floor.
“I wanted my baby.”
Daniel stared at the toy.
For nine years, he’d thought Emma’s first stuffed animal had been a yellow bear Claire bought before bringing her home.
Now he wondered whether everything he knew about his daughter’s beginning had been manufactured.
Rebecca’s voice brought him back.
“Your father told me that if his wife or his family found out, I’d regret it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“He threatened you?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I did.”
Daniel frowned.
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“They told me threatening to take a child wasn’t enough. I started documenting everything after that.”
She opened the folder and removed several pages.
Emails.
Printed text messages.
Photographs.
One photograph showed Rebecca visibly pregnant beside Daniel’s father.
Daniel recognized the coat his father wore every winter.
Another showed them entering a restaurant.
Then Daniel saw a handwritten note.
You will not destroy my family over one mistake.
He knew the handwriting.
He’d received birthday cards written by that same hand his entire life.
Daniel sat down.
Claire whispered his name.
He didn’t respond.
Rebecca placed another page in front of him.
A DNA laboratory report.
Daniel looked at the numbers without understanding them.
Then he saw the conclusion.
Probability of paternity: 99.99%.
His father’s name was printed underneath.
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“How did you get his DNA?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Dr. Warren.”
Daniel looked up.
“He kept a sample from the original hospital investigation.”
Claire frowned.
“What investigation?”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“The one nobody told you about.”
Claire sat straighter.
“What investigation?”
Rebecca looked at her.
“The night I disappeared wasn’t the first time someone tried to take Lily.”
Silence.
“Three days earlier,” Rebecca continued, “a woman came into my hospital room pretending to be a social worker.”
Daniel felt another chill.
“What did she want?”
“She asked whether I’d made arrangements for the baby.”
Claire frowned.
“What kind of arrangements?”
“Adoption.”
“I told her Lily wasn’t being adopted.”
Rebecca’s hands tightened around the rabbit.
“She smiled and said, ‘Sometimes mothers don’t get to decide.’”
Daniel stared at her.
“Who was she?”
“I didn’t know then.”
“Do you know now?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Yes.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated again.
DAD CALLING
Nobody spoke.
Daniel watched the screen.
The call stopped.
Immediately, it started again.
Claire whispered, “Answer it.”
Daniel did.
He put the phone on speaker.
“Where are you?” his father demanded.
Daniel stared at Rebecca.
“Upstairs.”
“Is she with you?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
His father’s breathing changed.
“Daniel, listen carefully. Rebecca is unstable.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“You need to get Claire away from her.”
Daniel’s voice was frighteningly calm.
“Is Emma your daughter?”
Silence.
Claire covered her mouth.
Rebecca stared at the phone.
“Dad.”
Nothing.
“Is Emma your biological daughter?”
His father finally spoke.
“You don’t understand what happened.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
That was his answer.
“Oh my God.”
“Daniel—”
“You slept with a nineteen-year-old girl.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“You got her pregnant.”
“Son, please.”
“And then what?”
His father went silent.
Daniel stood.
“Did you pay Dr. Warren?”
No answer.
“DID YOU PAY HIM?”
“Yes.”
Claire gasped.
Daniel shut his eyes.
Rebecca began crying.
“How much?”
“Daniel, this isn’t a conversation for the phone.”
“It became a phone conversation when you spent nine years lying to me.”
“I was trying to protect this family.”
“By stealing a baby?”
“I DIDN’T STEAL HER.”
The shout came through the speaker.
Then silence.
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“What did you do?”
His father’s voice became quieter.
“I arranged an adoption.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“I never agreed to an adoption.”
“You weren’t capable of raising her.”
“You don’t get to decide that!”
“You were nineteen!”
“She was MY CHILD!”
The monitor beside Claire began beeping faster.
Claire pressed a hand against her chest.
Daniel immediately went to her.
“Claire?”
“I’m okay.”
But she wasn’t.
Her breathing had changed.
Daniel reached toward the nurse-call button.
Claire grabbed his wrist.
“No. Finish this.”
“Claire—”
“Finish it.”
Daniel looked at his phone.
“Who was the woman pretending to be a social worker?”
His father went silent again.
Rebecca answered instead.
“Your mother.”
Daniel stopped.
“My mother?”
Rebecca nodded.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“She came to my hospital room.”
“No.”
“I recognized her years later.”
“How?”
“Because I saw your parents in a newspaper photograph.”
Daniel felt as if something inside him had cracked.
“My mother knew?”
Rebecca nodded.
“She knew everything.”
Daniel’s father spoke immediately.
“That’s not true.”
“Then tell him,” Rebecca snapped. “Tell him who arranged the death certificate.”
Silence.
Claire whispered, “Death certificate?”
Rebecca looked at her.
“His mother.”
Daniel stared at the phone.
“Dad?”
His father’s voice became weak.
“Your mother was trying to save our marriage.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“By telling a nineteen-year-old mother her baby was dead?”
“She believed it was the only way.”
“The only way to WHAT?”
“To make Rebecca stop looking.”
Daniel couldn’t speak.
His father continued.
“The plan was supposed to be temporary.”
Rebecca stared at the phone in disbelief.
“Temporary?”
“We were going to place the baby privately.”
“You told me she was DEAD!”
“I didn’t.”
“You paid the people who did!”
Claire’s voice suddenly cut through them.
“Then how did I get Emma?”
Everyone went quiet.
That was the question none of them had answered.
Daniel looked at Claire.
Claire looked at Rebecca.
Then at the phone.
“If you were arranging some secret adoption,” Claire said, “why was Emma left with me?”
Daniel’s father didn’t answer.
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“You didn’t choose me, did you?”
Silence.
“Answer her,” Daniel said.
His father whispered:
“No.”
Claire froze.
“Then who did?”
Daniel heard his father exhale.
“Nobody.”
“What does that mean?”
“The arrangement collapsed.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Because I escaped.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Escaped from where?”
Rebecca’s face went pale.
“A house outside the city.”
Claire stared at her.
“You said you woke up somewhere after being drugged.”
Rebecca nodded.
“There was another woman there.”
“Who?”
“I never knew her name.”
Rebecca swallowed.
“She told me she’d been hired to keep me there for three days.”
Daniel felt cold.
“By my father?”
Rebecca looked toward the phone.
His father didn’t answer.
Then Rebecca continued.
“I escaped on the second night.”
She had run barefoot to a gas station.
By the time she returned to the hospital, Lily had vanished.
Dr. Warren told her the baby had died.
Meanwhile, according to Claire, hospital administrators told her that Rebecca had abandoned Lily and relinquished custody.
“But that still doesn’t explain how you took her home,” Daniel said.
Claire looked ashamed.
“I didn’t just take her home.”
Daniel waited.
“I had been trying to adopt for years.”
His expression softened despite everything.
He knew that part.
Before they’d married, Claire had undergone surgery that left her unable to carry a pregnancy.
But she’d always told Daniel that Emma had been conceived through a surrogate shortly before their wedding.
That was another lie.
Claire continued.
“Dr. Warren knew I desperately wanted a child.”
Rebecca stared at her.
“He chose you.”
Claire nodded slowly.
“He told me a mother had abandoned her newborn and wanted a closed adoption.”
Daniel understood.
“You thought you were adopting Emma legally.”
“At first.”
“At first?”
Claire started crying.
“Six months later, I discovered the paperwork wasn’t legitimate.”
Rebecca’s expression hardened.
“And you kept her.”
Claire looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I was terrified they’d take her.”
“She was mine!”
“I KNOW!”
Claire’s scream ended in a coughing fit.
Daniel immediately helped her sit upright.
Rebecca’s anger disappeared for a moment.
Claire caught her breath.
Then she looked directly at Rebecca.
“I know what I did was wrong.”
Tears streamed down her face.
“But by then I loved her.”
Rebecca whispered, “So did I.”
Claire closed her eyes.
That sentence hurt more than any accusation could have.
For nine years, one woman had raised Emma.
Another had mourned her.
And the people who created the lie had continued living their lives.
Daniel looked at his phone.
“I’m coming downstairs.”
“Daniel, don’t.”
“Why?”
His father’s voice changed.
“Because your mother is here.”
Daniel stared at the phone.
Rebecca went rigid.
“She’s at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His father didn’t answer.
Then Daniel heard something through the speaker.
His mother’s voice.
Distant.
Angry.
“Give me the phone.”
Daniel’s father said something muffled.
Then his mother came onto the line.
“Daniel?”
He hadn’t realized how badly he needed her to deny everything until he heard her voice.
“Mom.”
“Don’t listen to Rebecca.”
His heart sank.
Not I don’t know Rebecca.
Not Your father is lying.
Just:
Don’t listen to Rebecca.
Daniel whispered, “Did you tell her Emma was dead?”
His mother said nothing.
“Mom?”
“I did what was necessary to keep this family together.”
Daniel’s face crumpled.
“You let a mother bury an empty coffin.”
“She was going to ruin everything.”
Rebecca made a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh.
Daniel’s mother heard it.
Her voice changed immediately.
“She’s there.”
Daniel said nothing.
“She found Claire, didn’t she?”
Still nothing.
Then his mother said something strange.
“Daniel, get away from her.”
Rebecca frowned.
“Why?”
His mother’s voice became urgent.
“Because Rebecca isn’t telling you the whole truth.”
Rebecca’s face changed.
Daniel noticed.
“What truth?”
His mother lowered her voice.
“Ask Rebecca why she really came to the hospital today.”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
Rebecca stepped backward.
“Don’t.”
His mother continued.
“Ask her what happened three weeks ago when she found Dr. Warren.”
Rebecca’s eyes widened.
“Stop.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What happened?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“He was alive when I left.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“When you left?”
Claire whispered, “Rebecca?”
Daniel’s mother spoke through the phone.
“Dr. Warren is dead.”
Nobody moved.
“He was found in his home the morning after Rebecca confronted him.”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“You said he told you somebody paid him.”
“He did.”
“You didn’t tell us he died.”
“I knew how it would look.”
“How did he die?”
Rebecca didn’t answer.
Daniel’s mother did.
“He fell down his basement stairs.”
Rebecca immediately said, “I didn’t kill him.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I didn’t.”
Then Daniel’s father shouted something in the background.
His mother suddenly stopped speaking.
“What?” Daniel asked.
He heard muffled voices.
Then his father’s voice came through.
“Daniel, lock the door.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“LOCK THE DOOR.”
Someone screamed downstairs.
Then the call disconnected.
Daniel stared at his phone.
Claire’s monitor continued beeping.
Rebecca looked toward the hallway.
Daniel walked to the door and locked it.
“What is happening?”
Rebecca whispered:
“They found me.”
Daniel turned.
“Who found you?”
Rebecca didn’t answer.
She was staring through the small window in the hospital-room door.
Daniel followed her gaze.
A man was standing at the far end of the corridor.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Completely still.
Claire looked at him.
Then her face went white.
“No…”
Daniel turned toward her.
“You know him?”
Claire’s voice barely came out.
“That’s Dr. Warren.”
Rebecca shook her head violently.
“No.”
Daniel stared through the glass.
“You said he was dead.”
“He is.”
The man began walking toward their room.
Slowly.
Rebecca backed away from the door.
Then she whispered something that made Daniel’s blood run cold.
“That’s not Dr. Warren.”
Daniel looked at her.
Rebecca’s entire body was trembling.
“That’s the man who was waiting inside the house when I woke up nine years ago.”
The man stopped outside their door.
He looked directly through the glass at Rebecca.
Then he smiled.
And raised a hospital identification card.
Printed beneath his photograph was a name none of them recognized.
But Rebecca wasn’t looking at the name.
She was looking at the photograph.
Because suddenly she understood why Dr. Warren had died three weeks after agreeing to expose the truth.
The doctor had never been the person running the scheme.
He had only been one of the people being paid.
And the man standing outside Claire’s hospital room was the one person who could tell them who had really ordered Lily to disappear.
Then the lights in the hallway went out.
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