Chapter 2 - The Teddy Bear
Corinne went to the hospital under police supervision after Ethan called emergency services.
Maisie stayed with Ethan.
He did not open the teddy bear immediately.
That surprised even him.
For most of his life, Ethan reacted to uncertainty by solving it.
Numbers.
Contracts.
Problems.
But Maisie had fallen asleep against his chest, one hand still gripping the bear.
Whatever was inside could wait until she woke.
At the hospital, doctors confirmed Corinne had been pregnant.
Approximately eleven weeks.
The pregnancy was no longer viable.
Ethan felt a strange mixture of grief and disbelief.
He had not known.
He did not know whether the child was his.
Biologically, that seemed impossible.
But impossible had already become a dangerous word.
Corinne told investigators Ethan attacked her without cause.
The living-room security system complicated that story.
The camera did not capture everything clearly, but it showed Corinne dragging Maisie.
It showed Ethan intervening.
It showed the confrontation.
Police documented the bruise on Maisie's arm.
Child protective specialists became involved.
Ethan cooperated.
He wanted every fact examined.
Then Corinne asked for one thing from the hospital.
“The teddy bear.”
Ethan refused.
Her reaction was immediate.
“Ethan, please.”
“Why?”
“It belongs to her.”
“Then she keeps it.”
“You don't understand.”
“No. I don't.”
That night, after Maisie finally woke, Ethan sat beside her on the bedroom floor.
“Can Daddy look at Teddy?”
Maisie hesitated.
Then handed it to him.
There was a seam along the back that looked newer than the rest.
Ethan photographed everything before touching it.
Inside the stuffing was a small plastic pouch.
A key.
A flash drive.
And a folded hospital bracelet.
Name:
BABY GIRL REEVES.
Ethan stared.
Maisie's surname was Carter.
Her biological mother, Claire Carter, had supposedly died shortly after childbirth.
Reeves meant nothing.
Then Ethan noticed the date.
Same day Maisie was born.
He called his attorney, Rachel Kim.
Within an hour, Rachel was at the house.
She looked at the bracelet.
“Don't assume it belongs to Maisie.”
“I know.”
But his voice said otherwise.
They opened the flash drive on an isolated computer.
One video.
Corinne.
Recorded six months earlier.
She looked terrified.
“If Ethan is seeing this, then either I failed or someone found the bear.”
Ethan leaned forward.
Corinne continued:
“Maisie was never supposed to come home with us.”
Rachel paused the video.
“What does that mean?”
Ethan shook his head.
They continued.
Corinne said:
“Claire didn't die giving birth to Maisie.”
Ethan froze.
Claire had been his first wife.
A year after their divorce, she called Ethan unexpectedly.
She was pregnant.
She claimed the baby was his from frozen embryos created during fertility treatment years earlier.
Ethan had demanded proof.
The clinic produced records.
Maisie was born.
Claire died from a pulmonary embolism three weeks later.
Ethan took custody.
Then Corinne entered his life.
At least that was the story.
Corinne looked into the camera.
“Claire died because she found out which embryo was actually transferred.”
Ethan's hands went cold.
Then the video ended.
Not naturally.
The file was corrupted.
Only one final frame remained.
A photograph.
Two newborn girls.
Side by side.
Same hospital.
Same date.
One bracelet read:
CARTER.
May you like
The other:
REEVES.
