Chapter 11 - The Baby Without a Name
Alexander was arrested.
My mother returned to the hospital.
The Ashford scandal became impossible to contain.
But the public still knew only fragments.
That bought us time.
Mom finally told me the story.
Rebecca gave birth first.
A boy.
Tyler.
Margaret helped her during a medical emergency because Ashford Biotech maintained a private clinic.
Three weeks later, another woman delivered there.
The infant was entered without a proper maternal name.
“Who?”
Mom looked toward Sofia.
Sofia began crying.
Giovanni stood.
“Mother?”
Sofia’s hands shook.
“I had a daughter.”
Giovanni stared at her.
“What?”
Two years after Giovanni was born, Sofia became pregnant again.
The child was premature.
Lorenzo told her the baby died.
There was a death certificate.
A burial.
Except Sofia never saw the body.
Alexander controlled the clinic.
“What does that have to do with Hannah?” Giovanni demanded.
My stomach turned.
“No.”
Mom reached for me.
“Hannah, you are my daughter.”
“Biologically?”
She hesitated.
That hesitation broke something.
“Answer me.”
“No.”
I stood.
Giovanni went completely still.
Sofia covered her mouth.
Mom began crying.
“I raised you from the day you were born.”
“Whose child am I?”
“Sofia’s.”
The room disappeared.
Giovanni stared at me.
My boss.
My mysterious protector.
The man toward whom feelings had begun growing despite every warning I gave myself.
My brother.
I nearly vomited.
Sofia whispered my name.
I backed away.
“Don’t.”
“Hannah—”
“Don’t call me that like you’ve earned it.”
She stopped.
Mom explained.
Alexander had secretly retained Sofia’s baby for the genetic-response research because Lorenzo and Sofia both carried markers useful to the program.
Margaret discovered the infant.
She threatened police.
Alexander told her the baby would disappear permanently if she spoke.
So Margaret took me.
She and Michael Evans raised me as their own.
“Why didn’t you tell Sofia?”
“I tried.”
“Not hard enough!”
Mom flinched.
I regretted it immediately.
But pain was moving faster than mercy.
Sofia cried silently.
Giovanni walked toward the window.
Everything between us had changed in one sentence.
Then Mom said:
“There’s more.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“Alexander lied about the infant records too.”
Sofia looked up.
“What?”
“The baby I rescued had your name attached to the bassinet.”
“But?”
Mom removed an old hospital band.
The identification number had been crossed out and rewritten.
“I never proved the child was actually Sofia’s.”
Giovanni turned.
“So Hannah might not be my sister.”
Mom nodded.
“And there’s only one person who has the original newborn ledger.”
“Alexander?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Mom looked toward the door.
“Rebecca.”
At that exact moment, Franco called.
May you like
Rebecca Ashford had disappeared.
And she had taken Tyler with her.
