Chapter 14 - THE THIRD NAME
Grant turned slowly toward Claire.
Sophie and Luke were taken to another room with Marian.
Claire sat down.
For the first time since their reunion, she could not look at Grant.
“Is it true?”
Claire began crying.
Grant’s chest tightened.
“Claire.”
“Please tell me.”
She whispered.
“There was another baby.”
Grant stared at her.
“What?”
“When I was pregnant, the first ultrasound showed twins.”
“But later they found another heartbeat.”
“Triplets?”
Claire nodded.
Grant could barely process it.
“What happened?”
“A girl.”
“She was smaller than Sophie and Luke.”
“She had complications.”
“Victor told me she died two days after birth.”
Grant knew immediately.
“And you believed him?”
“For years.”
Claire wiped her face.
“Then I found a record inside Haven House.”
“A transfer document.”
“She didn’t die.”
Grant’s knees weakened.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“What was her name?”
Claire’s voice broke.
“Emma.”
Grant turned away.
Three children.
They had stolen three children.
Claire continued.
“I was searching for Emma when Rourke found me.”
“That’s why the crash happened.”
Grant looked at her.
“So everything over the last three years was because you kept searching.”
“Yes.”
Grant felt no anger toward Claire.
Only horror at how much she had carried alone.
Rachel called the hospital where Victor was being treated.
Under federal supervision, Victor agreed to talk.
Grant watched through secure video.
Victor looked pale.
His shoulder was bandaged.
“You want Emma?”
Grant’s face hardened.
“Where is my daughter?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“I don’t know anymore.”
Grant almost disconnected.
Then Victor continued.
“Eleanor sold the placement.”
Claire stared at the screen.
“Sold?”
Victor explained that wealthy couples had paid enormous donations to Haven House for private infant placements.
Emma Bennett had been given a false birth certificate.
Her adoptive parents had no idea she had been stolen.
Grant’s anger collided with another reality.
Somewhere there was a child who believed another family was hers.
They could not simply storm into her life.
Victor provided the alias used on the placement.
Emily Grace Carter.
Rachel searched.
Thousands of results.
Then Victor added one detail.
“The couple lived in Illinois.”
“The father was a pediatric surgeon.”
Owen narrowed the search.
One family matched.
Dr. Samuel Carter.
Wife Rachel Carter.
Daughter Emily.
Age seven.
A photograph appeared.
Grant stopped breathing.
The girl had Claire’s eyes.
Sophie’s chin.
And Grant’s mother’s dark hair.
Claire covered her mouth.
“That’s her.”
Grant looked at the address.
The Carters lived less than twenty miles away.
He stood.
Rachel stopped him.
“You cannot go there tonight.”
Grant looked at her.
“She’s my daughter.”
“And they may be innocent.”
“She thinks Samuel Carter is her father.”
Grant hated every word because every word was true.
The next morning, federal agents quietly contacted the Carters.
Samuel agreed to meet.
But when investigators arrived at the house, the front door was open.
The family was gone.
On Emily’s bed was a single envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Victor Hale.
And a note.
May you like
YOU FOUND TWO.
YOU WILL NEVER HAVE THE THIRD.
