CHAPTER 2 THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Nathaniel did not speak.
He looked at Elena as if she had suddenly become a stranger wearing the face of someone he should have known.
Lucas tightened his arms around her.
Vivienne recovered first.
She laughed loudly, but there was no humor in it.
“This is absurd.”
Elena kept her eyes on Nathaniel.
“Six years ago, I was registered at Saint Catherine’s Hospital under the name Elena Reyes.”
Nathaniel’s brow furrowed.
“I was told the surrogate’s name was Marina Cruz.”
“That was the name on the contract Vivienne gave you.”
Nathaniel turned toward his wife.
Vivienne lifted her chin.
“She is a maid with access to our private documents.”
“I never saw the documents until three months ago,” Elena said.
“Then how do you know about Marina Cruz?”
“Because Marina Cruz never existed.”
The words settled over the foyer.
Nathaniel remembered the fertility process.
Vivienne had handled every detail.
She had told him the gestational carrier required complete anonymity.
Nathaniel had been building Hart Global’s European division at the time.
He had signed papers sent through lawyers.
He had received medical reports.
He had listened to recordings of a fetal heartbeat.
But he had never met the woman carrying the baby.
On the night Lucas was born, Nathaniel had been trapped in London after his private plane developed a mechanical problem.
Vivienne had called him from the hospital.
She had told him there had been complications.
She said the surrogate had suffered a massive hemorrhage and died before he could return.
Nathaniel had carried guilt for six years.
He had paid what he believed was a settlement to the woman’s family.
He had funded a maternity wing in her memory.
Elena reached beneath the collar of her uniform.
She pulled out a thin silver chain.
A small hospital identification band hung from it.
The faded letters were difficult to read.
Nathaniel stepped closer.
ELENA REYES.
INFANT MALE.
DATE OF BIRTH: OCTOBER 14.
Lucas’s birthday.
Vivienne’s lips became a hard line.
“That proves you were in a hospital.”
Elena turned the band over.
A number had been written on the back.
Nathaniel recognized it immediately.
It was the private patient identification number he had been given during the surrogacy.
He had memorized it because he called the hospital every night.
His gaze lifted slowly.
“How did you get this?”
“The nurse placed it around my wrist after Lucas was born.”
Nathaniel stared at the maid.
“You expect me to believe you carried my child and then came to work in my house without saying anything?”
“I came here to protect him.”
“From what?”
Elena looked toward the staircase.
Lucas began crying again.
“From her.”
Vivienne moved so quickly that even Nathaniel was caught off guard.
She lunged toward Elena’s necklace.
Elena pulled away.
The chain snapped.
The hospital band fell onto the marble floor.
Vivienne raised her heel to crush it.
Nathaniel caught her by the shoulder.
“Don’t.”
His voice was quiet.
That made it more dangerous.
Vivienne froze.
For the first time in their eight-year marriage, she looked afraid of him.
Nathaniel bent down and picked up the band.
His fingers trembled.
He studied the date again.
Then Lucas reached into his jacket pocket.
The boy removed a folded sheet of paper covered in crayon.
It showed three people holding hands beneath a yellow sun.
One was Lucas.
One was Nathaniel.
The third had long brown hair and wore a gray dress.
Nathaniel pointed at the third figure.
“Who is that?”
Lucas wiped his eyes.
“My real mommy.”
Vivienne’s face drained of color.
Nathaniel turned to Elena.
“How long has he known?”
Elena swallowed.
“I never told him.”
Lucas looked up at his father.
“But I remember her song.”
Nathaniel crouched in front of his son.
“What song?”
Lucas began humming.
It was a soft melody Nathaniel had heard every night when Lucas was a baby.
May you like
Vivienne had always claimed she wrote it.
But now Elena was silently moving her lips along with every note.
