CHAPTER 10: The Child Who Was Stolen Twice
The words from Richard Sterling hung in the air like a threat.
“Victoria was never her mother.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Because after everything they had discovered…
After twenty years of lies…
Another secret had appeared.
And this time, it threatened to destroy the only truth they thought they finally understood.
Arthur stared at Richard.
“You’re lying.”
Richard smiled calmly.
“Am I?”
Arthur stepped forward.
“You spent twenty years manipulating your own family. You erased records, destroyed lives, and buried the truth.”
His voice became colder.
“Why should anyone believe a word you say?”
Richard adjusted his jacket.
“Because unlike everyone else in this room…”
He looked toward Victoria.
“I have proof.”
Victoria’s face turned pale.
“No.”
Arthur noticed immediately.
“You know something.”
Victoria looked away.
“Victoria.”
She remained silent.
“Tell me.”
Her hands trembled.
“I don’t know.”
But Arthur knew her too well now.
She was hiding something.
Not because she was guilty.
Because she was afraid.
Richard placed a folder on the table.
“Twenty years ago, when Victoria gave birth…”
He opened it slowly.
“There were two babies.”
Everyone froze.
Arthur frowned.
“What?”
Richard continued.
“Victoria was unconscious after the birth.”
He pulled out an old hospital record.
“The hospital records were changed.”
Lily looked confused.
“What are you saying?”
Richard smiled.
“I’m saying…”
He looked at Maya.
“Maya was not the only child born that night.”
The room became silent.
Arthur took the document.
The hospital name.
The date.
The signatures.
Everything appeared real.
But something felt wrong.
“Where is the other child?”
Richard looked at Victoria.
“That’s the question.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
Richard smiled.
“You remember now, don’t you?”
Victoria stepped back.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You do.”
His voice became cruel.
“You just buried it because the truth was too painful.”
Twenty years earlier…
Victoria remembered the hospital.
The cold lights.
The fear.
The sound of her newborn baby crying.
She remembered holding her daughter.
A tiny hand wrapped around her finger.
Then…
Chaos.
Doctors rushing.
Her father arriving.
Voices arguing outside the room.
And then…
Nothing.
When she woke up…
Her baby was gone.
Richard told her the child had died.
He told her there was no reason to search.
He told her to forget.
But Victoria never forgot.
Not completely.
Arthur looked at her.
“Victoria.”
She whispered:
“I remember two nurses.”
Everyone listened.
“One of them looked terrified.”
“Why?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“She tried to tell me something.”
“What?”
A tear fell.
“She said…”
Victoria struggled to speak.
“She said my baby was alive.”
Richard’s expression changed slightly.
Only for a second.
But Arthur noticed.
“You know what happened.”
Richard remained silent.
Arthur stepped closer.
“You know.”
Suddenly, Lily spoke.
“Why?”
Everyone looked at her.
She was staring at Richard.
“Why would you do this?”
Richard looked at her.
“You should be grateful.”
Lily laughed bitterly.
“Grateful?”
Her voice shook.
“You stole my life.”
A pause.
“You stole my mother.”
Another pause.
“And now you’re telling me you stole another child?”
Richard’s face remained cold.
“Family requires sacrifice.”
Lily’s eyes filled with anger.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“People like you call cruelty sacrifice because it makes you feel powerful.”
Maya stood quietly.
She didn’t understand everything.
But she understood one thing.
Everyone was fighting over her life.
Again.
She looked at Arthur.
“Mr. Blackwell…”
He immediately turned.
“Yes?”
“Am I a problem?”
The question destroyed him.
Arthur walked toward her.
“No.”
“But everyone is angry because of me.”
Arthur knelt down.
“Maya.”
She looked at him.
“You are not a problem.”
His voice softened.
“You are the truth.”
At that moment…
Arthur’s phone rang.
Daniel.
He answered.
“What happened?”
Daniel’s voice was urgent.
“Sir, you need to see this.”
“What?”
“The media reports are spreading.”
Arthur frowned.
“About Maya?”
“Yes.”
Daniel hesitated.
“And there’s something else.”
“What?”
“They released a photograph.”
Arthur’s expression changed.
“What photograph?”
“A picture of Victoria holding a baby.”
Arthur looked at Victoria.
“That’s not unusual.”
“No, sir.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“The baby in the picture…”
A pause.
“Is not Maya.”
Everyone froze.
Arthur looked at Victoria.
She looked terrified.
“Send it to me.”
Seconds later, the image arrived.
Arthur opened it.
An old photograph.
Victoria.
A baby.
And another person standing beside her.
A person Arthur recognized.
Someone who should not have been there.
Someone connected to the Blackwell family.
Arthur slowly looked up.
“No…”
Victoria saw his expression.
“What?”
Arthur turned the phone around.
Victoria looked at the picture.
And all color disappeared from her face.
Because the person standing beside her twenty years ago…
Was not Richard.
Was not Sebastian.
Was not Daniel.
It was…
Arthur’s own father.
The room exploded with shock.
Lily stared.
“Your father?”
Arthur couldn’t speak.
His father had died fifteen years ago.
A respected businessman.
A man everyone believed was honorable.
But now…
A photograph connected him to Victoria’s hidden past.
And suddenly, the mystery became much larger.
It wasn’t just the Sterling family.
It wasn’t just Victoria.
It involved the Blackwell family too.
That night, Arthur opened his father’s old private records for the first time.
Inside was a locked envelope.
A name written on it.
Victoria Sterling.
Arthur’s hands trembled as he opened it.
Inside was only one letter.
One sentence.
And it changed everything.
“Arthur, if you are reading this, it means they failed to keep the child hidden.”
Arthur stopped breathing.
The letter continued.
“The child you are searching for is not Victoria’s lost daughter.”
A pause.
“She is yours.”
Arthur dropped the letter.
Impossible.
Maya…
His father…
Victoria…
Twenty years ago…
How were they connected?
And the biggest question of all:
May you like
Was Maya actually the heir of the Blackwell family?
TO BE CONTINUED…
