Chapter 4: The Brother Who Buried a Living Child
For several seconds, Adrian couldn't hear anything except the pounding of his own heart.
Victor.
His older brother had stood beside him at the funeral. Victor had held him when his knees gave way beside the tiny white coffin. Victor had arranged the private investigators, hired the lawyers, and convinced Adrian that the hospital had done everything possible to save his son.
And now Danielle was telling him that Victor had been the last person holding Eli before the child disappeared.
Adrian looked at her.
“Say that again.””
Danielle clutched her handbag against her chest.
“I shouldn't have said anything.””
“You just accused my brother of being involved in my son's disappearance.””
“I didn't accuse him of anything.””
“You said he was holding Eli.””
“He was.””
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Why?””
“Because he told me you had authorized it.””
“Authorized what?””
Danielle looked at Eli, then lowered her voice.
“He said the baby needed to be transferred to another hospital. He told me there had been complications and that you wanted everything handled privately.””
Adrian shook his head.
“I never authorized any transfer.””
“I know that now.””
“Then why didn't you come to me?””
Danielle's eyes filled with tears.
“Because the next morning, I was told your son had died. His room was empty. The records said he had been transferred, but nobody could tell me where. When I asked questions, the hospital administrator threatened to report me for stealing medication.””
Adrian stared at her.
“And you took him?””
“I found him in a storage room near the old surgical wing. He was wrapped in a blanket, barely breathing. There was no nurse with him.
No doctor. Just a note with instructions to move him before the morning shift.””
Eli's face had gone pale.
“You found me in a storage room?””
Danielle reached toward him.
“Baby, I didn't know what else to do.””
“You told me I was sick.””
“You were sick.””
“You told me you brought me home because the doctors said I could leave.””
Danielle swallowed hard.
“I was afraid that if I told you the truth, someone would come back for you.””
Eli backed away from her.
Adrian felt a surge of anger, but the boy's expression stopped him. Eli wasn't merely frightened. He was watching the two adults he had trusted most struggle to explain why his entire childhood might have been built on a lie.
Adrian crouched to meet his eyes.
“Eli, I can't change what happened to you. But I promise I won't let anyone take you away without finding out the truth.””
Eli studied him.
“You don't even know me.””
“No,” Adrian admitted.
“I don't.””
“Then how can you promise that?””
Adrian glanced at the photograph in his hand.
“Because I should have been there eleven years ago.””
For the first time, Eli didn't look away.
A sharp vibration interrupted them.
Adrian's phone lit up with another message from the unknown number.
*YOUR BROTHER IS NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED. ASK DANIELLE ABOUT THE SECOND BABY.*
Adrian read it twice.
Then he turned toward Danielle.
“What second baby?””
Her face became expressionless.
“It's a trick.””
“What second baby?””
“There was no second baby.””
“Then why would someone send me this?””
“I don't know.””
Adrian held up the phone.
“Someone is watching us. Someone knows what happened at that hospital. Someone knows my brother's name. And now they're telling me there was another child.””
Danielle shook her head.
“Please. Not here.””
“No more secrets.””
She looked at Eli, who was staring at her with wounded disbelief.
Finally, she whispered, “Vanessa was pregnant with twins.””
The words seemed to strike Adrian physically.
He staggered back against the table.
“No.””
Danielle's tears fell freely.
“I was there when she arrived. She was already in critical condition. The first baby was delivered during the emergency surgery. The second came minutes later.””
Adrian remembered the night of the crash.
He remembered Vanessa's hand slipping from his fingers in the ambulance. He remembered a doctor telling him that the pregnancy had been complicated, but he had never heard the word twins.
“You're lying,” he whispered.
“I wish I were.””
“How could I not know?””
“Because the second baby's records were sealed before you arrived.””
Adrian looked at Eli.
The boy's eyes widened.
“I have a brother?””
Danielle opened her mouth, but no words emerged.
Then a man's voice sounded behind them.
“That's enough.””
Adrian turned.
A tall Black man in a navy suit stood at the terrace entrance. His silver hair was neatly trimmed, and his expression carried the effortless authority of someone accustomed to having every room fall silent when he entered.
Victor Blackwood.
He held a leather briefcase in one hand and a folded newspaper in the other.
His gaze moved from Adrian to Danielle, then settled on Eli.
For a fraction of a second, something flickered across his face.
Recognition.
Then it disappeared.
“Adrian,” Victor said smoothly.
“I leave you alone for one afternoon, and you start frightening strangers in public?””
Adrian stepped away from the table.
“Tell me about the second baby.””
Victor's smile vanished.
He set the briefcase on an empty chair.
“Where did you hear that?””
“Answer me.””
Victor looked at Danielle.
“You've been talking.””
Danielle instinctively moved in front of Eli.
“Don't come near him.””
Victor sighed as though she had inconvenienced him.
“Danielle, you've had eleven years to make peace with what happened. Why ruin everything now?””
Adrian seized Victor's arm.
“What happened to my children?””
Victor glanced down at Adrian's hand.
“Let go.””
“Tell me!””
Several customers turned toward them. Marcus hurried across the terrace, but stopped when Adrian raised his free hand.
Victor straightened his jacket.
“Your son died. You saw the records yourself.””
“You signed them.””
“I signed hundreds of documents that week.””
“You told me you watched him die.””
Victor's face hardened.
“I told you what the hospital told me.””
“No. You told me what you wanted me to believe.””
For the first time, Victor looked genuinely angry.
“You were falling apart, Adrian. You couldn't make decisions. You were ready to destroy yourself. I did what was necessary to keep this family standing.””
Adrian released his arm.
“What does that mean?””
Victor leaned closer.
“It means some truths destroy more than they save.””
Eli stepped forward, his small hands clenched at his sides.
“Did you try to kill me?””
Victor looked down at him.
For a moment, the billionaire's brother appeared almost startled by the question.
Then he crouched, adjusted the boy's crooked collar, and said softly, “No, son. If I had wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't be standing here.””
Eli recoiled from his touch.
Adrian shoved Victor away.
“Don't touch him.””
Victor rose slowly.
His gaze shifted to the photograph on the table.
Then to the hospital document.
The color drained from his face.
“You shouldn't have that.””
Adrian held up the document.
“Why?””
Victor reached for it.
Adrian pulled it back.
“Why does your name appear on my son's hospital record?””
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Because I was trying to save him.””
“From what?””
Victor opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, Danielle whispered, “Tell him about the other child, Victor.””
Victor turned toward her.
His expression became terrifyingly calm.
“You have no idea what you're asking.””
“I know exactly what I'm asking.””
He looked back at Adrian.
Then he delivered the sentence that made every other explanation seem suddenly insignificant.
“Your son wasn't the child they wanted dead.””
Adrian stared at him.
Victor picked up his briefcase.
“They were looking for the other baby.””
And as he walked away, Eli noticed something Victor had dropped beside the chair.
A small hospital identification bracelet.
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The name printed across it wasn't Eli's.
It belonged to a child named *Noah Blackwood*.
