CHAPTER 8 — THE NURSE'S SECRET
The name on Victoria's lips never left her mouth.
She stood in the red archive, staring at Nathan as if she were looking at a ghost.
“Richard Cole.”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“My father?”
Victoria nodded.
“The nurse said he knows where Lily is.”
Grace stepped toward her.
“Which nurse?”
Victoria hesitated.
“The nurse from the photograph.”
“What is her name?”
Victoria looked at Nathan.
“Marianne Bell.”
Grace's face suddenly changed.
Nathan noticed.
“You know her.”
Grace swallowed.
“She delivered Lily.”
“You never told me her name.”
“I didn't know it.”
“You knew her face.”
Grace nodded.
“She was there when Lily was born. But she disappeared before I could ask anything.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Then we find her.”
Victoria spoke quietly.
“You can't.”
Nathan turned.
“Why?”
“Because Marianne has been missing for five years.”
Daniel looked up sharply.
“Missing?”
Victoria nodded.
“Officially.”
Nathan stared.
“Like everyone else.”
“Yes.”
The room fell silent.
Nathan walked to the table and gathered the documents.
“Then someone has been erasing witnesses.”
Daniel looked at the photographs.
“Not witnesses.”
Nathan turned.
“What?”
“People who knew the succession.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
Daniel pointed toward the old photograph.
“Your mother. Thomas Miller. Evelyn. Marianne.”
Then he pointed at Nathan.
“And now you.”
Grace whispered,
“Lily.”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“And Samuel.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
Nathan looked at Victoria.
“You said Marianne gave you a name.”
“Yes.”
“Richard.”
Victoria nodded.
“What else?”
“She said your father didn't steal you.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“She said he bought you.”
Grace stared.
“Bought him?”
Victoria nodded.
“From someone at the hospital.”
Nathan's hands tightened around the documents.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why did she give you Richard's name?”
“Because she said he was there.”
“When?”
“The night you were born.”
Nathan went still.
“My father was at my birth?”
Victoria shook her head.
“Not your father.”
She looked directly at him.
“Richard was at the hospital.”
Nathan spent the next hour searching the Cole archives.
Every hospital record.
Every insurance claim.
Every legal document connected to his birth.
Most records had been destroyed.
Some had been altered.
But Daniel found one thing.
A payment.
Made twenty-four years ago.
From Richard Cole's private account.
To St. Catherine's Hospital.
Amount:
$2,000,000.
Nathan stared at the screen.
“What was the payment for?”
Daniel opened the transaction record.
“Emergency medical expenses.”
Nathan frowned.
“That's all?”
“Yes.”
“Who received it?”
Daniel looked closer.
“The payment was made through an intermediary.”
“Name?”
Daniel zoomed in.
“Marianne Bell.”
Grace's face went pale.
“The nurse.”
Nathan nodded.
“Find her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I've been trying.”
“Try harder.”
“She doesn't exist in the current system.”
Nathan stared.
“What do you mean?”
“Her nursing license was terminated five years ago.”
“Why?”
“Professional misconduct.”
Grace stepped closer.
“What misconduct?”
Daniel opened the file.
“Unauthorized removal of a newborn.”
Silence.
Nathan's heart stopped.
“Which newborn?”
Daniel looked at him.
“There is no name.”
Grace whispered,
“Lily.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He turned the screen.
“Twenty-four years ago.”
Nathan stared.
The same hospital.
The same nurse.
His birth.
Nathan drove to St. Catherine's alone.
Grace wanted to come.
He refused.
“You need to stay with Lily's room.”
Grace stared at him.
“Lily isn't there.”
Nathan froze.
They both knew.
The empty room.
The missing child.
The photograph.
The threat.
Nathan sighed.
“Stay with Daniel.”
Grace nodded reluctantly.
Victoria remained in the mansion.
Nathan didn't trust her.
But he didn't trust anyone.
Not anymore.
St. Catherine's had been renovated twice.
The old maternity wing had been demolished.
But the basement records room remained.
Nathan entered with Daniel.
An elderly archivist looked up.
“Can I help you?”
Nathan placed the old payment record on the desk.
“I need the birth records from twenty-four years ago.”
The archivist frowned.
“Those are sealed.”
“I'm Nathan Cole.”
The man looked at him.
“I know.”
Nathan paused.
“You know me?”
“Everyone knows the Cole family.”
Nathan smiled coldly.
“That's the problem.”
The archivist stared at him.
Then quietly unlocked a cabinet.
Inside were dozens of old files.
He pulled one.
“Nathan Cole.”
Nathan's heart tightened.
The file was thin.
Too thin.
He opened it.
Birth certificate.
Hospital admission.
Discharge summary.
No mother.
No father.
No physician signature.
Nathan stared.
“This is fake.”
The archivist looked uncomfortable.
“I didn't create it.”
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan flipped the pages.
Then something fell out.
A small photograph.
A newborn baby.
A woman standing beside him.
The nurse.
Marianne Bell.
On the back:
BABY M — DO NOT RELEASE.
Nathan's face changed.
“What is Baby M?”
The archivist shook his head.
“I've never seen that.”
Daniel took the photograph.
“Look at the bracelet.”
Nathan leaned closer.
The baby wore a tiny hospital bracelet.
The name was visible.
MILLER, N.
Nathan's breathing stopped.
Nathan Miller.
His real name.
He looked at the date.
The exact day he was born.
Grace had been right.
He had been stolen.
But the question remained:
Who had given him away?
They found Marianne's last known address two hours later.
A small house near the coast.
Empty.
The neighbors remembered her.
“She left five years ago.”
“Where?”
“No one knows.”
“Did she have family?”
“One daughter.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Where is her daughter?”
The neighbor shook her head.
“Dead.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Nathan exchanged a look with Daniel.
Another death.
Another convenient accident.
“What was her name?”
“Claire.”
Daniel wrote it down.
Then the neighbor added:
“She wasn't actually Marianne's daughter.”
Nathan stopped.
“What?”
“She was adopted.”
“By Marianne?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Twenty-four years ago.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
“Twenty-four years ago?”
The neighbor nodded.
“Same week Marianne started working at St. Catherine's.”
Nathan looked at Daniel.
“Find Claire.”
Three hours later, Daniel found her.
Claire Bell.
Twenty-four years old.
Alive.
Living under a different name.
And working at a small bookstore two states away.
Nathan stared at the photograph.
She looked remarkably familiar.
Not to him.
To Grace.
Grace stared at the image.
“I've seen her.”
“Where?”
“At the hospital.”
Nathan froze.
“Five years ago?”
Grace nodded.
“She was there the night Lily was born.”
Nathan looked at Daniel.
“Find out why.”
Claire agreed to meet them.
But only under one condition.
Nathan had to come alone.
He arrived at the bookstore at midnight.
The place was empty.
Books lined every wall.
A bell chimed as the door closed behind him.
A young woman stepped from the back room.
She looked at Nathan.
Her face went pale.
“You shouldn't have come.”
Nathan stared.
“Are you Claire Bell?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother is Marianne Bell.”
Claire nodded.
“Was.”
“Where is she?”
Claire looked away.
“Dead.”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“How?”
“Suicide.”
Nathan didn't believe her.
“Did you see her body?”
Claire's eyes filled.
“No.”
“Then she may be alive.”
Claire shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Claire stared at him.
“She knew you would come.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“She told me one day you would find her.”
“Why?”
“Because you were her biggest mistake.”
Nathan's face tightened.
“My biggest mistake?”
Claire nodded.
“She stole you.”
Silence.
Nathan's heart pounded.
“She took me from the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard Cole paid her.”
Nathan stared.
“For how much?”
“Two million dollars.”
The same payment.
Nathan swallowed.
“Why would my father buy me?”
Claire shook her head.
“He didn't buy you for himself.”
“Then who?”
Claire looked toward the door.
“Your mother.”
Nathan froze.
“Eleanor?”
Claire nodded.
“Your mother wanted to save you.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“Save me from what?”
Claire whispered:
“Your father.”
Nathan couldn't speak.
Claire continued.
“Eleanor discovered Richard planned to use you.”
“For what?”
“The company.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“She knew about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“She knew I was the first heir.”
“Yes.”
“And Richard wanted to control it through me.”
“Yes.”
Nathan's hands curled into fists.
“Then why did Eleanor give me away?”
“Because she knew Richard would kill you.”
Nathan stared.
Claire reached into a drawer.
She removed an old cassette tape.
“My mother left this for you.”
Nathan looked at it.
“What is it?”
“A recording.”
“Of what?”
“Your mother.”
Nathan took the tape.
“Why didn't you contact me?”
Claire's eyes filled.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Claire whispered:
“Victoria.”
Nathan froze.
“Victoria?”
“She came to see my mother.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
Nathan's expression darkened.
“What did she want?”
“She wanted the hospital records.”
“Why?”
“To prove you were Nathan Miller.”
Nathan stared.
Claire continued.
“She told my mother that if the truth came out, your entire family would collapse.”
“Did Marianne give her the records?”
“No.”
“Where are they?”
Claire looked at him.
“My mother hid them.”
“Where?”
“In the red door.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
“The Cole mansion?”
Claire nodded.
“You already found it.”
Nathan stared.
“What else is hidden there?”
Claire's expression changed.
“Everything.”
She leaned closer.
“Your mother's murder.”
“Thomas Miller's disappearance.”
“Evelyn's betrayal.”
“Samuel's identity.”
“And the truth about Lily.”
Nathan's heart stopped.
“What truth?”
Claire's voice dropped.
“Lily wasn't the first child Grace gave birth to.”
Nathan stared.
“What?”
Claire shook her head.
“Five years ago, Grace delivered twins.”
Nathan couldn't breathe.
“Twins?”
“A boy and a girl.”
Nathan stepped backward.
“Where is the boy?”
Claire looked at him.
“That is the question your father spent five years trying to answer.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
“Lily has a twin brother?”
Claire nodded.
“He was taken from the hospital.”
Nathan stared.
“By whom?”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“Marianne.”
Nathan's mind shattered.
“Why?”
“She was ordered to take him.”
“By Richard?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Claire whispered:
“Grace's own mother.”
Nathan froze.
Grace's mother was supposed to have died decades ago.
Yet another impossible truth.
Another person who had never been what the family claimed.
Nathan grabbed the edge of the table.
“Where is the boy?”
Claire opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the bookstore window exploded.
Nathan tackled her to the floor.
A bullet tore through the wall.
“Stay down!”
Another shot.
Nathan crawled toward the back room.
Claire was shaking.
“They found me.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan looked through the broken window.
A black SUV waited across the street.
The headlights turned on.
Then the vehicle sped away.
Nathan ran outside.
Too late.
He found only one thing in the snow.
A small envelope.
His name written across it.
Inside was a photograph.
Grace.
Five years younger.
Holding a newborn baby boy.
Beside her stood another woman.
Grace's mother.
And in the woman's arms was Lily.
Nathan stared at the photograph.
Then he noticed the date.
Five years ago.
The day Lily was born.
But the timestamp showed something impossible.
The photograph had been taken six hours before Grace entered the hospital.
Nathan's blood ran cold.
Someone had known about the birth before it happened.
Someone had planned everything.
His phone rang.
Grace.
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
Her voice was shaking.
“Nathan…”
“What happened?”
“Lily…”
Nathan's heart stopped.
“What about her?”
“She came back.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“She walked into the mansion ten minutes ago.”
Nathan couldn't breathe.
“Is she safe?”
Silence.
Then Grace whispered:
“She isn't alone.”
Nathan's stomach dropped.
“Who is with her?”
Grace began crying.
Then came a child's voice.
A little boy.
Soft.
Calm.
“Daddy?”
Nathan's blood turned to ice.
A second voice spoke.
Older.
Male.
“Hello, Nathan.”
Nathan knew that voice.
Samuel.
But the boy spoke again.
“Daddy, Mommy said you would come.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Two children.
Two voices.
One impossible truth.
His daughter had returned.
And she had brought her twin brother home.
Nathan looked at Claire.
She was staring at him in horror.
“That's impossible,” she whispered.
Nathan slowly lowered the phone.
“Why?”
Claire's face went white.
“Because that boy…”
She swallowed.
“…was declared dead five years ago.”
Nathan looked toward the dark street.
The snow continued falling.
And for the first time, he realized the conspiracy wasn't trying to hide one heir.
May you like
It was trying to hide two.
And someone had just brought both children into the same house.
