Chapter 3 - The Test Nobody Expected a Waitress to Pass
By morning, the estate was surrounded.
Not by police.
By Cain security.
Men stood in the trees.
Vehicles blocked every entrance.
Rosa sat in the breakfast room with Sophia.
Damon entered carrying two phones.
“We're leaving.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere secure.”
Rosa shook her head.
“No.”
Damon stopped.
“I don't think you understand the situation.”
“I understand enough.”
“You and Sophia are targets.”
“Then I'm not running without answers.”
His jaw tightened.
“What answer do you want?”
“Who is Sophia's father?”
Damon stared at her.
“I am.”
“I mean who thought she was dead?”
He didn't answer.
Rosa stood.
“Someone erased my memory of a hospital.”
Damon looked down.
“We need to find your medical records.”
“Then find them.”
He nodded.
“You're right.”
It was perhaps the first time in years anyone had told Damon Cain what to do and received agreement.
They went to the old hospital that afternoon.
Records had been moved twice.
The nurse from seven years earlier had retired.
The attending doctor had died.
But one file remained.
Under Rosa Alvarez.
Inside was a handwritten note.
PATIENT PRESENTED WITH MEMORY LOSS FOLLOWING TRAUMATIC ACCIDENT. CHILD TRANSFERRED TO PROTECTIVE CUSTODY AT REQUEST OF D.C.
Rosa pointed.
“D.C.”
Damon read it.
“Damon Cain.”
“Then why didn't you come?”
“Because someone intercepted the request.”
“Who?”
Another line.
AUTHORIZED BY SERENA CAIN.
Rosa looked up.
“Your sister.”
Damon's face hardened.
“No.”
“It's her signature.”
“I know her signature.”
He read the rest.
The baby was transferred to a woman listed as “Rosa Alvarez.”
Damon looked at Rosa.
“You never changed your name.”
“No.”
“But someone made the paperwork appear to say you surrendered custody.”
Rosa's blood ran cold.
“Someone stole my daughter.”
“No.”
Damon shook his head.
“Someone wanted you to believe you had.”
Rosa looked toward Sophia.
“Why?”
Before Damon answered, the lights went out.
A hospital corridor plunged into darkness.
Nolan drew his gun.
“Move.”
They pushed into a stairwell.
Footsteps thundered above.
Then below.
“They're inside,” Nolan said.
Damon took Rosa's hand.
“This way.”
He opened a maintenance door.
They slipped into an old records room.
Sophia whispered.
“Mommy.”
“I'm here.”
Damon looked at her.
“Where's Zeus?”
“She told him to stay.”
“Good.”
A door slammed.
Nolan returned.
“We have a clear route.”
They escaped.
Outside, three black vehicles waited.
Then Sophia stopped.
She pointed across the parking lot.
“That man.”
Everyone turned.
A tall man stood beside a white van.
He looked at Sophia.
Then smiled.
Damon's blood ran cold.
He knew him.
“Marco Bellini.”
Marco lifted one hand.
“Damon.”
“What do you want?”
“The girl.”
Sophia stepped behind Rosa.
Marco laughed.
“You have no idea what she's worth.”
Damon stepped forward.
“You're not touching her.”
Marco looked at Rosa.
“Your mother wasn't the first woman to lose a child.”
Rosa froze.
“My mother?”
Marco smiled.
“She knew.”
Damon fired at the van's tire.
The vehicle sped away.
Nolan's men chased it.
Damon turned to Rosa.
“Your mother knew about Sophia.”
Rosa stared at him.
“My mother died years ago.”
“She may have left something behind.”
That evening, they returned to Cane Estate.
Marisol had prepared soup.
Nobody ate.
The house felt tense.
Damon sat across from Rosa.
“We need to search your mother's belongings.”
Rosa nodded.
She had one box.
She opened it.
Inside were letters.
Photographs.
An old key.
And a photograph of Damon.
Rosa stared.
“I've never seen this.”
Damon took it.
On the back were three words.
KEEP HER SAFE.
He turned the photograph over.
A second note had been taped behind it.
Ask about the girl who never cried.
Damon's face changed.
“What?”
Rosa stared.
“My mother used to say that.”
“About Sophia?”
“No.”
“Then about who?”
Rosa looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Sophia wandered into the room.
She looked at the photograph.
“Mommy, that's you.”
Rosa smiled.
“Yes.”
Sophia touched the photograph.
“And that's Daddy.”
Damon froze.
“Who told you?”
Sophia looked confused.
“You did.”
“When?”
She shrugged.
“Before.”
Rosa exchanged a glance with Damon.
“What do you mean, before?”
Sophia looked at Zeus sleeping near the door.
“I don't remember.”
Damon knelt.
“Do you remember the hospital?”
Sophia shook her head.
“Do you remember a woman named Serena?”
A long pause.
Sophia nodded.
“She had a red scarf.”
Damon stood.
Serena never wore scarves.
But she had worn a red scarf seven years earlier.
At the funeral.
Rosa felt a chill.
Then Sophia said something worse.
“She told me Daddy was coming.”
Damon's face turned white.
Rosa stared at her daughter.
“What else?”
Sophia frowned.
“She said not to tell Daddy.”
“Why?”
“Because the bad people were listening.”
Everyone in the room went still.
Damon stood abruptly.
“Nolan.”
Nolan entered.
“Sir?”
“Bring Serena here.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
An hour later, Serena arrived.
Damon stood in the study.
Rosa sat behind him.
Sophia remained beside Zeus.
Damon held the photograph.
“Tell me the truth.”
Serena stared at it.
Then at Rosa.
“I knew.”
Rosa's heart dropped.
“Knew what?”
“That Sophia was alive.”
Damon stepped forward.
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Father ordered me not to.”
“Father was dead.”
“He wasn't.”
Silence.
Damon's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
May you like
Serena began crying.
“Your father was alive when he disappeared.”
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