Chapter 6: The Bride Who Took My Wife
I had planned to marry Vanessa at noon.
By three o'clock, I was sitting in a police vehicle, staring at the woman who had supposedly saved me from loneliness.
She had taken my wife out of a private medical facility six weeks earlier.
And she had never told me.
“Why?”” I asked.
Vanessa sat in the back seat beside an officer.
Her wedding makeup had begun running down her cheeks.
“I didn't know what else to do.””
“Where is Danielle?””
“I don't know.””
“You signed her out.””
“She asked me to.””
I turned sharply.
“What?””
Vanessa wiped her face.
“Danielle contacted me through someone at the clinic. She said Daniel was planning to move her again. She begged me to help.””
“And you did?””
“Yes.””
“Then where is she?””
Vanessa looked out the window.
“She disappeared before I could bring her to you.””
I laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe that?””
“No. But it's true.””
Robert sat in the front passenger seat, reviewing a file.
“Mrs. Cole, you need to understand that helping someone escape custody doesn't erase your involvement in the original confinement.””
Vanessa nodded.
“I know.””
“Then tell us everything.””
She took a shaky breath.
“Daniel had been paying the clinic for years. Danielle was admitted under another name. The doctors were told she was mentally unstable and had become a danger to herself.””
I stared at her.
“Was she?””
“No.””
“Then why?””
“Because Daniel had connections. He knew people who could make paperwork disappear.””
Robert looked back.
“Who authorized her confinement?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“Dr. Whitmore.””
The name hit me.
The same doctor who had signed Ethan's transfer documents.
I leaned forward.
“Where is he?””
“He lives outside Blackwood.””
“Address?””
“I don't know.””
Robert turned toward the driver.
“Take us to the station. We need a formal statement.””
I grabbed his arm.
“We're wasting time.””
“Marcus, we have to establish the chain of custody.””
“My wife has been missing for four years!””
“And rushing into an unknown location could get her killed.””
I fell silent.
Robert was right.
I hated that he was right.
At the station, Vanessa was taken into an interview room.
I sat alone in the corridor.
A vending machine hummed beside me. Somewhere down the hall, a printer kept producing sheets of paper.
I stared at my hands.
They were the same hands that had held Danielle's during our wedding.
The same hands that had carried Ava when she was a baby.
The same hands that had shaken Daniel's at my father's funeral.
I had trusted everyone.
And everyone had used that trust against me.
My phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
You are looking in the wrong place.
A second message arrived.
Find the blue hospital bracelet.
I immediately called Robert.
He came out of the interview room.
“What's wrong?””
I showed him the messages.
He read them twice.
“Did Danielle send these?””
“I don't know.””
He looked toward Vanessa.
“Ask her about the bracelet.””
We entered the interview room.
Vanessa sat at the table, her hands folded.
Robert placed his phone in front of her.
“Do you know what this means?””
She stared at the screen.
Then she closed her eyes.
“The bracelet.””
“What bracelet?”” I demanded.
Vanessa looked at me.
“When Ethan was born, the hospital gave Danielle a blue identification bracelet. She kept it even after he was transferred.””
“Where is it?””
“Daniel took it.””
“Why?””
“He said it contained information about the baby's identity.””
Robert leaned forward.
“What information?””
Vanessa swallowed.
“Ethan's original blood test results.””
I remembered the note beneath the greenhouse.
The condition.
The inheritance.
The reason Daniel wanted to control my son.
“What happened to the bracelet?”” I asked.
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know. But Danielle told me she had made a copy of the test results.””
“Where?””
“She said it was somewhere your father would have recognized.””
I frowned.
My father had owned several properties.
His old office.
His lake house.
The warehouse where he had started his first business.
Then I remembered something.
The grandfather clock.
My father had kept it in his private office. After he died, I had moved it into the family library.
He used to hide important documents behind its wooden back panel.
I stood up.
“We need to go home.””
Robert shook his head.
“Not without protection.””
“Then bring it.””
Before we could leave, the station door opened.
A young officer hurried toward Robert.
“Detective, we have a problem.””
“What?””
“Daniel Cole has been released.””
I stared at him.
“How?””
The officer looked uncomfortable.
“His attorney produced an emergency medical order. The judge approved temporary release pending review of the evidence.””
Robert cursed under his breath.
“That man has been planning this.””
My phone vibrated again.
This time, the message contained a photograph.
It showed the grandfather clock in my library.
The wooden panel behind it had been removed.
And lying on the floor was a blue hospital bracelet.
I zoomed in.
The bracelet had a name printed across it.
*ETHAN MARCUS COLE.*
Underneath was a handwritten note.
Your son is alive. But you have only twenty-four hours to find him.
I looked at Robert.
He was already calling for a patrol car.
Then another message appeared.
Come alone if you want to see Danielle.
My blood turned cold.
Robert read it over my shoulder.
“Absolutely not.””
I stared at the screen.
“Whoever sent this knows where we are.””
“That's exactly why you're not going anywhere alone.””
I looked toward Vanessa.
She was staring at the photograph.
Her lips moved silently.
“What?”” I asked.
She raised her eyes.
“That's not the bracelet Daniel took.””
I felt my stomach drop.
“What do you mean?””
She pointed at the photograph.
“The hospital bracelet Daniel took had a red security mark. That one doesn't.””
Robert took the phone.
“Then whose bracelet is it?””
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“It's the bracelet they put on the baby after he was moved.””
I stared at her.
“Moved where?””
She looked directly at me.
Then she whispered:
“Ethan wasn't adopted by another family.””
Robert leaned forward.
“Explain.””
Vanessa began shaking.
“He was placed with someone Daniel trusted. Someone who could keep him close without anyone asking questions.””
“Who?””
She looked at me.
“Your father.””
I couldn't speak.
“My father died before Ethan was born.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“Not your biological father, Marcus.””
The room went silent.
She continued.
“Your father knew about Ethan. He arranged everything before he died. Daniel was only carrying out his instructions.””
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
My father had been dead for almost five years.
And according to Vanessa, the man I had spent my life admiring had helped arrange the disappearance of my newborn son.
Robert stared at her.
“Who raised Ethan?””
Vanessa opened her mouth.
But before she could answer, every light in the interview room went out.
A gunshot echoed somewhere outside.
Then a man's voice shouted through the corridor.
“GET DOWN!””
Robert pulled me to the floor.
My phone slipped from my hand.
The screen lit up one final time.
A new message appeared.
Marcus, don't trust the police.
Your son is being raised by the man you call Uncle Richard.
I stared at the name.
Richard.
My father's younger brother.
The man who had held my hand at Danielle's memorial.
The man who had visited our house every Christmas.
May you like
And the man who had just sent Ava a birthday card signed:
*Love, Uncle Richard.*
