Chapter 12: Evelyn's Secret Daughter
For several seconds, Emma couldn't understand what Damien had said.
His mother had given birth to the third child?
Evelyn Carter had been in her late twenties when the twins were born. Emma had seen family photographs, newspaper articles, and official biographies describing Evelyn as a devoted mother to Damien.
There had never been a mention of another child.
Not one.
“Damien, look at me,” Emma said, pressing her hand against the wound in his shoulder.
“Stay awake.””
His breathing was shallow.
“Charlotte was right about the baby,” he whispered.
“My mother knew the third child existed because she was the mother.””
“Why didn't anyone know?””
“Because she gave the baby away before she married my father.””
Emma stared at him.
“Then how did she get involved in our adoption?””
Damien's eyes closed.
“Ask her.””
“Damien!””
Detective Morgan rushed into the room with two officers. One applied pressure to Damien's wound while another called for an ambulance.
Emma stood, trembling.
“Charlotte's gone.””
“We're searching the grounds,” Detective Morgan said.
“Did you see who shot him?””
“No. The lights went out.””
The detective glanced toward the broken window.
“Someone planned this. They knew exactly when we'd be here.””
Emma looked at Damien.
He was being lifted onto a stretcher.
As the paramedics carried him away, he reached for her hand.
“Don't let my mother get to Sophie.””
Emma froze.
“What does that mean?””
But Damien was already being wheeled through the corridor.
The ambulance doors closed.
Emma stood beneath the hospital's emergency lights, feeling as if every truth she had uncovered had only led her deeper into a nightmare.
Her sister was missing again.
Damien was wounded.
And Evelyn Carter had apparently concealed a child of her own for decades.
Detective Morgan approached with a phone in her hand.
“We've received a message from Charlotte.””
Emma grabbed it.
The message contained a photograph of a document.
A birth certificate.
The mother's name was Evelyn Carter.
The child's name was *Victoria Evelyn Carter*.
The date of birth was October 14, twenty-eight years earlier.
Emma stared at it.
The date matched hers and Charlotte's.
But the certificate listed the birthplace as a private clinic in Connecticut.
“Victoria,” Emma whispered.
“Who is she?””
Detective Morgan shook her head.
“We're checking the records now.””
Emma looked at the message again.
A second photograph appeared.
This one showed Evelyn holding a newborn baby in a hospital room.
Beside her stood a young man Emma recognized from the family photographs.
Richard Carter.
He looked terrified.
Beneath the image was a message from Charlotte.
Victoria is the third child. Evelyn gave birth to her the same night Isabelle gave birth to us.
Emma's hands went cold.
Where is she now? she typed.
The reply came almost immediately.
She's been living under another name. And she doesn't know who she really is.
Emma looked up.
“Detective, I need to find this woman.””
“We will. But first, I need you to understand something. If Evelyn concealed a child and falsified hospital records, this investigation is much larger than an inheritance dispute.””
“What do you mean?””
The detective hesitated.
“We've received preliminary information suggesting that the private clinic where Victoria was born may have been involved in several illegal adoptions.””
Emma felt sick.
“How many children?””
“We don't know yet.””
A terrible thought entered her mind.
“What if there were more than three?””
Detective Morgan's expression told her that she had considered the same possibility.
“We're investigating that.””
Emma looked toward the window.
The city stretched beyond the hospital grounds, filled with people who had no idea that a family fortune had been built on missing children and forged identities.
Somewhere in that city, a woman named Victoria was living her life without knowing that her birth had been concealed.
And Charlotte was running from someone determined to keep it that way.
Emma's phone rang.
Evelyn Carter.
Emma answered.
“Where is my sister?””
Evelyn's voice was calm.
“Your sister has a habit of running away from difficult conversations.””
“You had someone shoot Damien.””
“I had nothing to do with that.””
“Then why is Charlotte missing again?””
“Because she doesn't know when to stop digging.””
Emma gripped the phone.
“You gave birth to another child the night my mother gave birth to the twins.””
Silence.
Then Evelyn sighed.
“So you've seen the certificate.””
“Who is Victoria?””
“Someone who has no reason to be dragged into this.””
“She deserves to know who she is.””
“She deserves a peaceful life.””
“You don't get to decide that for her.””
Evelyn's voice sharpened.
“You have no idea what I sacrificed to keep this family intact.””
“You sacrificed children.””
“I protected them.””
“From what?””
Evelyn was silent for several seconds.
Then she said, “From their fathers.””
Emma went still.
“What?””
“Your mother was not the only woman Richard Carter loved. He had affairs. He made promises. He fathered children he couldn't acknowledge.””
“Are you saying Victoria was Richard's daughter?””
“No.””
The answer came too quickly.
Emma frowned.
“Then whose daughter was she?””
Evelyn's breathing changed.
“She was mine.””
“And her father?””
Evelyn hung up.
Emma stared at the phone.
She called back, but the number went straight to voicemail.
Detective Morgan watched her.
“She knows we're close.””
Emma nodded.
“Then we need to find Victoria before Evelyn does.””
They spent the next several hours searching hospital databases and public records. The private clinic had closed years earlier, but archived adoption files revealed a connection to a family in Vermont.
Victoria had been adopted by a couple named Daniel and Susan Moore.
She had grown up in a small town, studied nursing, and eventually moved to Boston.
Emma felt a strange sense of relief.
At least Victoria had been loved.
At least someone had given her a normal childhood.
But when Detective Morgan called the address listed in the records, the person who answered said Victoria had moved six months earlier.
No forwarding address.
No new phone number.
Nothing.
Emma stared at the file.
“Someone has been erasing her.””
Detective Morgan nodded.
“Or she's been trying to protect herself.””
A nurse approached them.
“Ms. Ellis? Mr.
Carter is awake. He asked for you.””
Emma hurried to Damien's room.
He lay in bed with his shoulder bandaged, his face pale beneath the hospital lights.
When he saw her, he tried to sit up.
“Don't,” Emma said.
“You need to rest.””
“Did you find Charlotte?””
“No.””
His eyes closed.
“I'm sorry.””
Emma pulled a chair beside his bed.
“Tell me about Victoria.””
Damien stared at the ceiling.
“My father told me there had been a woman before my mother. Someone Evelyn loved before she married him. He said she gave birth to a daughter and that the baby was taken away.””
“Why?””
“Because the father was a married man. Evelyn was afraid of the scandal.””
“Who was he?””
Damien turned toward her.
“My father.””
Emma felt her stomach twist.
“Richard was Victoria's father?””
“No. He told me the child wasn't his. He said Evelyn had been involved with another man, someone whose family could destroy the Carters if the relationship became public.””
“Who?””
Damien swallowed.
“Samuel Harris.””
Emma stared at him.
The doctor had fathered Evelyn's child.
And years later, he had helped Evelyn conceal the twins.
The same man had been involved in every stage of the family's deception.
“Why would Harris agree to falsify the records?””
“Because he was protecting his daughter.””
Emma shook her head.
“He protected her by destroying three other children's lives?””
“He may have believed he was protecting her future.””
Emma stood.
“I'm tired of people using that excuse.””
Damien looked at her.
“I know.””
“Then tell me something else. Why did Peter say I should ask you about the first body?””
Damien's face tightened.
He reached for the bedside drawer and pulled out a folded document.
“I found this in my father's study years ago. I never understood what it meant.””
Emma took it.
It was an old police report.
The body recovered from the river had been identified as an adult woman, not an infant.
The name on the report was *Charlotte Carter*.
Emma stared at it.
“But Charlotte is alive.””
“Yes.””
“Then who was the woman in the river?””
Damien looked at her.
“My father believed it was the woman who helped Evelyn steal the babies.””
“Who was she?””
He pointed to the final page.
The victim's identity had been listed as *Margaret Ellis*.
Emma's blood ran cold.
“No.””
Damien's voice broke.
“Emma, your foster mother was reported dead twenty-eight years ago.””
Emma stared at the document.
Margaret had raised her.
She had loved her.
She had died five years ago, according to the records Emma knew.
But the report suggested something impossible.
That another woman had been identified as Margaret Ellis on the night Emma was born.
That someone had died under her name.
And that the woman who raised Emma might have been living under a stolen identity for nearly three decades.
Emma looked up at Damien.
“Who was the woman who died in the river?””
He shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Emma's phone vibrated.
A message from Charlotte.
Victoria isn't the only secret Evelyn kept.
Another message followed.
Margaret wasn't your foster mother.
Emma felt the room spin.
May you like
Then the final message appeared.
She was your biological mother.
