CHAPTER 14 — THE BABY WHO CAME HOME
Sofia stared at the photograph.
Her hands trembled.
The newborn baby in Elena's arms looked nothing like the child she remembered seeing in old family photographs.
And beneath it, the handwritten message remained:
THE BABY YOU WERE TOLD ABOUT NEVER LEFT THE HOSPITAL.
Then—
THE CHILD WHO CAME HOME WITH ELENA WAS SOMEONE ELSE.
Sofia's breathing became shallow.
“No…”
The man sitting across from her watched silently.
“Who are you?”
He didn't answer.
“Where is my father?”
Still nothing.
Sofia looked toward the window.
The black SUV was racing through the night.
She remembered Alexander's words.
You are my daughter.
She believed him.
She had to.
“Daddy will find me.”
The man smiled.
“Your father has been searching for the wrong child for twelve years.”
Sofia stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
He placed another photograph in front of her.
This one showed Elena leaving the burning hospital.
She was carrying a newborn.
Beside her stood Daniel Mercer.
But there was another woman.
Veronica.
Sofia's heart stopped.
“Why was Veronica there?”
The man finally spoke.
“Because she was the one who changed the babies.”
Sofia's eyes widened.
“She what?”
“She took you from your mother.”
“No.”
“She wanted the other child.”
“What other child?”
The man placed a second birth record on the table.
Sofia looked at it.
The name was:
Isabella Mercer.
She stared.
“That isn't me.”
“No.”
“Then who is Isabella?”
The man leaned closer.
“That is the question your mother spent twelve years trying to answer.”
Meanwhile, Alexander's car screamed down the highway.
Elena sat beside him.
Daniel followed closely behind.
“The hospital was here,” Elena said.
Alexander looked at the GPS.
“There hasn't been a hospital here in twenty years.”
“There was.”
“What happened?”
Elena stared out the window.
“Fire.”
“How did you survive?”
“I was carried out.”
“By whom?”
She closed her eyes.
“Your father.”
Alexander's grip tightened around the steering wheel.
“My father saved you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he pretend you were dead?”
“Because he wanted everyone to believe Sofia had died too.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because he couldn't control her.”
Alexander frowned.
“She was a baby.”
“Exactly.”
Elena looked at him.
“He knew what she would inherit.”
Alexander suddenly understood.
“The trust.”
Elena nodded.
“But there was something else.”
“What?”
Elena hesitated.
“The original Voss bloodline.”
Alexander frowned.
“My family?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Something older.”
The ruined hospital appeared in the distance.
The building had been abandoned for years.
Broken windows.
Collapsed walls.
Overgrown weeds.
Alexander stopped the car.
Daniel arrived seconds later.
They stepped out.
Elena stared at the ruins.
“This is where I lost everything.”
Alexander took her hand.
“We're going to find the truth.”
They entered through a broken side door.
Inside, the walls were blackened by fire.
Alexander noticed something on the floor.
A small metal bracelet.
He picked it up.
Engraved on it was a name.
SOFIA.
Elena began crying.
“That was hers.”
Alexander stared at the bracelet.
“Then what was on the baby they took?”
Elena shook her head.
“I never saw it.”
Daniel suddenly called out.
“Alexander!”
They followed him into an old medical records room.
Most of the files were destroyed.
But one cabinet remained intact.
Daniel opened it.
Inside were records from the night of the fire.
He pulled out a folder.
DELIVERY ROOM — APRIL 14.
Alexander opened it.
Three babies had been born that night.
Two died in the fire.
One survived.
But the record had been altered.
Alexander stared.
“Only one?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed toward the original carbon copy beneath it.
“Three.”
Alexander's heart pounded.
Three babies.
One of them was Sofia.
But who were the other two?
Elena suddenly noticed a handwritten note.
She picked it up.
Her hands began shaking.
“I know this handwriting.”
“Whose?”
She looked at Alexander.
“Your father's.”
Alexander read the note.
Baby A — Sofia Elena Voss.
Baby B — Isabella Mercer.
Baby C — unknown.
Alexander looked up.
“Unknown?”
Daniel took the page.
There was another line beneath it.
Baby C was removed from the hospital before the fire.
Alexander's eyes widened.
“By whom?”
The answer had been written below.
Evelyn Voss.
Elena covered her mouth.
“No.”
Alexander stared at the name.
His grandmother.
“She took the third baby.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Why?”
A woman's voice answered from the darkness.
“Because that baby was mine.”
Everyone turned.
Evelyn stepped into the ruined room.
Alexander's face hardened.
“You.”
Evelyn looked at Elena.
“You were never supposed to survive.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You stole a child.”
“I saved her.”
“From what?”
Evelyn looked at Alexander.
“From this family.”
Alexander's voice became cold.
“Whose child was she?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Then she said:
“Mine.”
Alexander froze.
“What?”
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“The third baby was my daughter.”
Daniel stared.
“That would make her…”
Evelyn nodded.
“Alexander's sister.”
Alexander couldn't speak.
He had believed he was an only child.
His entire life.
And now he was learning that another child had been born that night.
A child who had disappeared.
A child Evelyn had hidden.
A child whose identity could change everything.
Suddenly, Alexander's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
His father's voice came through.
“Did you find the third birth record?”
Alexander's blood ran cold.
“How do you know?”
His father laughed.
“Because I was there.”
Alexander looked toward Evelyn.
His father continued:
“And now you finally know why I kept everyone away from that hospital.”
Alexander's voice shook.
“Where is Sofia?”
A pause.
Then:
“She's with me.”
Alexander froze.
His father continued:
“But she isn't the only child you're going to lose tonight.”
The call ended.
Elena grabbed Alexander's arm.
“What did he say?”
Alexander looked at her.
“He has Sofia.”
Then he stared at Evelyn.
“And he knows where the third baby is.”
Evelyn's face went white.
“No.”
Alexander frowned.
“What?”
Evelyn whispered:
“He found her.”
And somewhere far away—
a young woman opened a photograph of a newborn baby.
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On the back were four words:
YOUR BROTHER IS LOOKING.
