Chapter 7 - THE FIANCÉE WHO WANTED TWO DAUGHTERS
“Vanessa is trying to adopt my daughter?” Rachel whispered.
Gabriel stared at the application.
The document wasn't final.
It had been prepared for a private guardianship review.
But Vanessa's signature appeared on every page.
Rachel grabbed the folder.
“She called Emma filthy. She said my daughter didn't belong around decent people. And now she wants to take Lily?”
Gabriel felt anger rise.
Yet something about the documents didn't make sense.
Vanessa had never expressed a desire to become a mother.
In fact, she'd repeatedly told him they should wait several years before discussing children.
“Let me see the final page,” he said.
Rachel handed it over.
The application contained an unusual provision.
If Vanessa became Lily's guardian, she would receive access to the child's complete original medical and placement records.
Gabriel read the provision twice.
Then he understood.
“She doesn't want to adopt Lily to raise her.”
Rachel looked at him.
“What?”
“She wants access to the records Margaret controls.”
The supervisor frowned.
“That's not how adoption should work.”
“No,” Gabriel agreed. “And I don't believe this application would survive proper review.”
Rachel didn't care about the paperwork's weaknesses.
“All I know is Vanessa knows where my daughter is, and she never told me.”
Gabriel closed the folder.
“We're going to make her explain.”
He arranged for a child welfare representative to review Lily's placement urgently.
Rachel provided her original maternity records.
Eleanor agreed to submit a sworn statement.
Then Gabriel and Rachel returned to Manhattan.
They reached the estate just after dawn.
Vanessa was waiting in the library.
Her beautiful cream dress from the previous evening had been replaced by plain gray trousers and a sweater.
For the first time, she looked exhausted.
Gabriel placed the adoption application on the desk.
“Explain this.”
Vanessa looked at it.
Her shoulders dropped.
“You found Lily.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“You knew where she was?”
Vanessa glanced at her.
“Yes.”
Rachel's hands trembled.
“For how long?”
“Six months.”
“And you said nothing?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I didn't know how to tell you.”
Rachel let out a bitter laugh.
“You could have started with, 'Rachel, your daughter is alive.'”
Vanessa lowered her head.
“You're right.”
Gabriel studied her.
“Why apply to adopt Lily?”
Vanessa sat slowly.
“Because Margaret promised to release Heather if I agreed.”
The room went quiet.
Gabriel stared.
“Heather is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know the exact location.”
Gabriel's patience snapped.
“You've been lying to me for years.”
“I know.”
“You humiliated a four-year-old child in my home.”
“I know.”
“And now you're telling me my sister has been held somewhere while you negotiated with Margaret?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“She threatened my mother.”
Gabriel leaned over the desk.
“Catherine helped steal two babies.”
“Yes,” Vanessa whispered. “And Margaret has proof of everything.”
Rachel folded her arms.
“So you thought adopting Lily would fix it?”
“No. I thought it would get the records out of Margaret's hands.”
“Why not go to the police?”
Vanessa looked at her with shame.
“Because my mother could go to prison.”
Rachel stared.
“My daughter spent four years growing up without me so your mother could avoid prison.”
Vanessa looked away.
Rachel's voice remained steady.
“Then maybe your mother needs to answer for what she did.”
Gabriel watched Vanessa closely.
He'd known her for three years.
She'd been ambitious, polished, and sometimes unkind to staff.
He'd excused those things because she was gracious to him.
Now he saw the cost of that blindness.
“Did you know Emma was Heather's daughter when we got engaged?” he asked.
Vanessa nodded.
“I suspected.”
Gabriel felt betrayed.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Margaret said if you learned the truth, Heather would disappear permanently.”
“Where is she?”
Vanessa looked toward the fireplace.
“Margaret has a private residence in Connecticut. Heather was kept there for months after the delivery.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Months?”
“She became ill after losing her baby. Margaret convinced doctors she needed supervised psychiatric care.”
Rachel stared.
“Because she was grieving?”
“Because she wouldn't stop asking where her daughter had gone.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“That's not treatment. That's punishment.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Eventually Heather left the residence. Margaret claimed she ran away.”
“Did she?”
“I don't know.”
Vanessa reached into her handbag.
She removed a small velvet pouch.
Gabriel recognized it immediately.
The pouch she'd carried into dinner.
Inside was a silver bracelet.
It was delicate, with a tiny bird charm.
“My mother gave me this last month,” Vanessa said.
“Why?”
“She told me Heather left it behind.”
Rachel studied the bracelet.
On the inside was engraved a date.
The same day Emma was born.
Vanessa turned it over.
There were words scratched into the silver.
Find my daughter.
Rachel looked up.
“Heather knew.”
Vanessa nodded.
“She knew Emma was alive. She just didn't know where.”
Gabriel held the bracelet beside his mother's locket.
Two generations of women.
Both separated from their babies.
Both leaving objects behind in the hope that someone would eventually understand.
Vanessa wiped her cheeks.
“I wanted to find Heather before telling you. I thought if I could bring her home, you might forgive me.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You wanted forgiveness before accountability.”
She said nothing.
“And you used Rachel's daughter to get it.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I did.”
Gabriel removed his engagement ring from the chain he wore beneath his shirt.
Vanessa stared.
He'd kept it there after a resizing appointment, planning to put it back on her finger during their next private dinner.
He placed it on the desk.
“Our engagement is over.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
For a moment, Gabriel saw genuine heartbreak.
But he didn't take back the words.
Rachel stepped forward.
“If you're really sorry, tell us everything.”
Vanessa looked at Gabriel.
“Margaret keeps a handwritten appointment book. She never trusts electronic records.”
“Where is it?”
“In the family foundation's private office.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I've been in that office hundreds of times.”
“She hides it inside your mother's old music cabinet.”
Gabriel remembered the cabinet.
An antique rosewood piece moved from his childhood home.
Margaret always kept it locked.
Vanessa continued.
“Every payment, every meeting, every transfer involving Heather and the girls is recorded there.”
Rachel stared.
“Then we can prove what happened.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel called Marco.
“Meet me at the foundation office. We need an inventory with legal witnesses.”
Before he could leave, Vanessa spoke again.
“Gabriel, there's something you should know about your father.”
He stopped.
“What?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“Anthony discovered Margaret had taken Elena's daughter. He tried to bring her home.”
Gabriel stared.
“Then why didn't he?”
“Because Margaret threatened to tell the police where he'd hidden a man during one of his old criminal investigations.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Vanessa continued.
“Your father made a bargain. He stayed silent while Margaret promised Heather would be safe.”
Rachel shook her head.
“That isn't an excuse.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “It isn't.”
Vanessa looked down at the bracelet.
“But Anthony never stopped searching. He wrote letters to Heather for years.”
“Where are they?”
Vanessa's voice cracked.
“Margaret intercepted most of them.”
Gabriel turned toward the door.
Then Vanessa said something that made him stop cold.
“Gabriel, when you find the appointment book, look for the entry dated the night Daniel Brooks died.”
Rachel froze.
“Why?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Because Daniel didn't die on that highway while coming home from work.”
Rachel stared.
May you like
Vanessa whispered the truth she'd been hiding.
“He was driving to meet Heather—with evidence that could have brought both missing girls home.”
