Chapter 4 - The Secret Victoria Tried to BuryVictoria sat inside the interrogation room.
Her lawyer arrived.
A powerful attorney named Charles Reed.
He placed a folder on the table.
“Do not speak.”
Victoria glared at him.
“I need to get out.”
“We'll work on that.”
“You promised me.”
“I promised to represent you.”
Victoria leaned closer.
“Then fix this.”
Charles lowered his voice.
“Your problem isn't the DNA.”
“What is it?”
“The hospital records.”
Victoria went silent.
“The state has found evidence that the records were altered.”
Victoria looked away.
Charles continued.
“If those records were altered under your instructions, you're facing serious charges.”
Victoria's hands trembled.
“I didn't do it.”
“Then who did?”
Victoria remained silent.
Charles stared at her.
“Victoria.”
She whispered a name.
“Marcus.”
“Who is Marcus?”
“The hospital administrator.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“You hired him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He owed me money.”
Charles looked horrified.
“You paid him to remove the birth records?”
Victoria nodded.
“And the social worker?”
“Mine.”
“Who took the baby?”
Victoria's voice became barely audible.
“Marcus.”
Charles stood.
“This is much worse than I thought.”
Meanwhile, Sarah sat in Arthur's home.
Leo was sleeping upstairs.
She looked around.
This was the house where her son had spent four years.
She saw photographs.
Leo at two months.
Leo's first Christmas.
Leo playing in the garden.
Sarah touched one.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Arthur stood behind her.
“I didn't know.”
“I believe you.”
He looked surprised.
“You do?”
Sarah nodded.
“You loved him.”
“I did.”
“That doesn't make what happened okay.”
“I know.”
“But you didn't know.”
Arthur sat beside her.
“I should have noticed.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Victoria was good at hiding things.”
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“She was.”
He handed Sarah a box.
“What is this?”
“Things belonging to Leo.”
Sarah opened it.
Inside were drawings.
A stuffed rabbit.
A tiny blanket.
And a photograph.
Sarah recognized the blanket immediately.
She had knitted it herself.
Four years ago.
The same blanket she had wrapped around Leo before he was taken.
She began crying.
“He kept it.”
Arthur nodded.
“He never let anyone throw it away.”
Sarah held it against her chest.
Her son remembered her.
Even after four years.
That night, Leo woke up crying.
“Mummy!”
Sarah rushed upstairs.
He jumped into her arms.
“I had a bad dream.”
“What happened?”
“Someone took you away.”
Sarah held him.
“That won't happen again.”
Arthur stood in the doorway.
Leo reached for him.
“Daddy too.”
Arthur walked over.
The three of them sat together.
For the first time, Leo felt safe.
But downstairs, the phone rang.
May you like
Detective Morgan had discovered Marcus.
And Marcus had disappeared.
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