Chapter 10 - THE CHILD ETHAN NEVER KNEW EXISTED
Ethan refused to believe Thomas.
He demanded proof.
Thomas gave him a name.
Dr. Samuel Price.
A private obstetrician who had worked at a clinic outside Philadelphia.
Ethan remembered him.
Sophia had supposedly seen Dr. Price during the pregnancy.
Then she told Ethan the pregnancy had ended while he was traveling for business.
Ethan had returned home early.
Sophia refused to let him see medical records.
She said the experience was too painful.
Ethan had respected her request.
Now every act of trust felt like evidence against him.
Richard stood beside his son.
“Thomas could be wrong.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I wish I was.”
Ethan stared.
“How do you know?”
“Mason told me.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“Why would he tell you?”
“To hurt me.”
Thomas looked exhausted.
“He wanted me to know how completely he controlled everyone connected to our families.”
Richard frowned.
“What happened to the baby?”
Thomas looked at Ethan.
“Mason said the child was placed with someone.”
“Who?”
“He never told me.”
Ethan looked toward the police vehicles.
“We find Sophia.”
Richard nodded.
The police chase ended thirty miles away.
Mason abandoned the SUV near a freight yard.
Lily was found locked inside.
Alive.
Terrified.
But physically unharmed.
Pierce had disappeared.
Mason had disappeared.
Sophia had disappeared too.
The police could not determine whether she had gone willingly.
When Lily called Natalie, her mother began sobbing so hard she could barely speak.
Richard listened only long enough to know his granddaughter was safe.
Then he turned toward Ethan.
“Philadelphia.”
Thomas nodded.
“Dr. Price retired four years ago.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Richard did.
Benjamin Cole could find him.
Within forty minutes the family attorney called back.
Samuel Price lived outside Wilmington.
Richard and Ethan drove there before dawn.
Thomas came with them.
The house was small.
A porch light was burning.
Richard knocked.
No answer.
Again.
A man’s voice came from inside.
“Who is it?”
“Richard Whitmore.”
Silence.
Then locks turned.
Dr. Samuel Price opened the door.
He was eighty-one.
His face changed when he saw Ethan.
“No.”
Ethan stared.
“You know me?”
Price tried to close the door.
Richard stopped it.
“Please.”
Price looked frightened.
“I don’t want trouble.”
Ethan’s voice shook.
“Did my wife give birth?”
Price closed his eyes.
That was answer enough.
Ethan stepped inside.
“Did Sophia give birth?”
Price backed away.
“You need to leave.”
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
Richard caught his arm.
Price looked devastated.
“I’m sorry.”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“Boy or girl?”
Price said nothing.
Ethan shouted.
“BOY OR GIRL?”
“A girl.”
Ethan stumbled backward.
Richard supported him.
Price continued.
“Healthy.”
“When?”
“March nineteenth.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
He remembered that date.
Sophia had called him crying.
She said she had lost the baby during an emergency procedure.
Ethan had flown home from London.
He spent two days sitting beside her.
He mourned a child who was alive.
“Where is she?”
Price shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“You delivered her.”
“Yes.”
“What happened afterward?”
Price looked toward Thomas.
Recognition entered his face.
“You.”
Thomas nodded.
Price looked terrified.
“I was told you were dead.”
“Join the club.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“What happened to my daughter?”
Price sat down.
His hands trembled.
“Mason Vale arranged a private adoption.”
Richard frowned.
“Sophia agreed?”
Price hesitated.
“Yes.”
Ethan looked as though he had been struck.
Price immediately continued.
“But she changed her mind.”
Ethan stared.
“What?”
“After the delivery.”
Price looked down.
“She begged to keep the baby.”
Ethan’s breathing became uneven.
“Mason refused.”
Richard’s eyes hardened.
“He refused?”
Price nodded.
“He told her she had agreed to the arrangement.”
“No one can force a mother to surrender a child like that.”
Price laughed bitterly.
“This was not a legal adoption.”
Silence.
Richard stared.
“What did you do?”
Price’s eyes filled with shame.
“I accepted money.”
Ethan moved toward him.
Richard caught his son.
Price looked terrified.
“I was in debt.”
Ethan fought against Richard’s grip.
“You sold my child?”
“No.”
“That is exactly what you did!”
Price began crying.
“I regretted it.”
“WHERE IS SHE?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan looked ready to break.
Price raised both hands.
“But I kept something.”
Everyone froze.
Price stood.
He went to a cabinet.
He removed an old envelope.
Inside was a hospital identification bracelet.
BABY GIRL WHITMORE.
Ethan stared.
His hands shook as he touched it.
Price also removed a photograph.
A newborn wrapped in a white blanket.
Ethan stared at his daughter for the first time.
Richard turned away and wiped his eyes.
Thomas lowered his head.
Ethan whispered.
“What did Sophia name her?”
Price looked surprised.
“She didn’t.”
“What?”
“Mason wouldn’t allow it.”
Ethan’s face twisted.
Price continued.
“But Sophia called her something when Mason wasn’t in the room.”
Ethan looked up.
“What?”
“Hope.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Hope.
A daughter he had never held.
A daughter who would now be seven years old.
Price searched inside the envelope again.
“There’s something else.”
He removed a handwritten address.
“I followed the car.”
Ethan stared.
“You followed them?”
“For thirty miles.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Price wiped his face.
“Guilt.”
“Where did they go?”
“A house outside Baltimore.”
“Who lived there?”
“A couple named Carter.”
Ethan grabbed the paper.
“Did you ever check again?”
Price nodded.
“Once.”
“When?”
“Three years later.”
“And?”
“The family had moved.”
Ethan’s face fell.
Price continued.
“But the neighbor said they moved to Virginia.”
Richard immediately called Benjamin.
He sent the names.
Five minutes later Benjamin called back.
“There are twelve Carter families that fit.”
Ethan gripped the phone.
“Find all of them.”
Benjamin paused.
“I already started.”
Back at the mansion, Natalie confronted Martin from the hospital by phone.
He refused to cooperate.
Then the police discovered something in his jacket.
A storage-unit key.
Inside the unit were fifteen years of financial records.
Photographs of Sophia.
Photographs of Ethan.
Photographs of Richard.
And photographs of a little girl.
Ethan stared at the images when the police sent them.
A child aged approximately seven.
Brown hair.
Green eyes.
The same eyes Margaret had.
Ethan whispered.
“That’s her.”
Richard looked at the photograph.
On the back was a handwritten note.
SUBJECT H — CURRENT PLACEMENT STABLE.
A second line followed.
DO NOT APPROACH UNTIL SUCCESSION EVENT.
Ethan looked at Richard.
“The trust.”
Richard nodded.
Mason had not hidden Ethan’s child out of cruelty alone.
He had kept her as leverage.
If Ethan refused to authorize the account, Mason had always intended to use Hope.
Sophia had known at least part of it.
The rage inside Ethan became almost unbearable.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered immediately.
“Sophia?”
For several seconds there was only breathing.
Then her voice.
“Ethan.”
He closed his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Are you with Mason?”
“No.”
“Where is our daughter?”
Silence.
Ethan’s face crumpled.
“You lied to me.”
Sophia began crying.
“You lied to me for seven years.”
“I tried to get her back.”
“WHERE IS SHE?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Mason moved her every time I got close.”
“You told me she died.”
“I was scared.”
“You let me mourn her.”
“I know.”
“You watched me put her ultrasound photograph in a box.”
Sophia sobbed.
“I know.”
“You let me stand beside you on the anniversary.”
“I know.”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“I hate you.”
Sophia became silent.
Ethan closed his eyes.
He had never said those words to her.
Sophia whispered.
“I know.”
Richard looked away.
Ethan forced himself to continue.
“Why did Mason want the baby?”
“Insurance.”
“Against me?”
“Yes.”
“And against me loving you.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
Sophia swallowed.
“Mason knew I was changing.”
“Changing how?”
“I didn’t want the plan anymore.”
“After you became pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to tell you everything.”
“So he took her.”
“He said if I told you, I would never see her again.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“You didn’t see her anyway.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Every year.”
Ethan stared.
Sophia continued.
“I found her twice.”
“Where?”
“The first time in Maryland.”
“The second in Virginia.”
“Did you speak to her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Mason had someone watching.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Where in Virginia?”
Sophia hesitated.
“Richmond.”
Richard wrote it down.
Sophia whispered.
“There’s more.”
Ethan looked up.
“What?”
“Mason is going there now.”
Richard grabbed the phone.
“How do you know?”
Sophia heard him.
“Because he needs her.”
“For what?”
“To force Ethan to sign.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
“Where exactly?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sophia.”
“I don’t!”
She sounded genuinely desperate.
Then she lowered her voice.
“But I know who does.”
“Who?”
Sophia inhaled.
“Martin.”
Richard frowned.
“Martin is in police custody.”
“Yes.”
“And Mason knows that.”
Richard’s stomach dropped.
Sophia continued.
“Which means Mason has to get Martin out.”
Richard turned toward the television.
A breaking local-news banner appeared.
Police activity at Saint Joseph Medical Center.
An officer injured.
Prisoner missing.
Richard stared.
Martin had been transported to Saint Joseph for his gunshot wound.
His hospital room was now empty.
Ethan whispered.
“Mason.”
Sophia’s voice came through the phone.
“No.”
Richard listened.
Sophia whispered.
May you like
“Pierce.”
Then the line went dead.
