Chapter 2 - THE NAME ON THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE
“Birth certificate?”
Damian Vescari barely recognized his own voice.
Across the desk, Enzo stood holding a thin manila envelope.
“We found it,” his security chief said. “But there's something you need to understand before you see it.”
Damian extended his hand.
“Give it to me.”
Enzo hesitated.
That hesitation frightened Damian more than anything written on the paper could have.
He had spent four years believing Isabelle was dead.
Now he was looking at a photograph of his wife, four months pregnant, standing beside the woman who had been cleaning his house for nearly a year.
Enzo placed the certificate on the desk.
Damian read the first line.
Child's name: Lily Rose Parker.
Date of birth: November 18.
Mother: Elena Parker.
Father: Not listed.
Damian stared.
“Elena is her mother?”
“Legally, yes.”
“Biologically?”
“We haven't established that.”
Damian looked at the security photograph again.
Isabelle's hand rested protectively against her stomach.
“When was this photograph taken?”
“March 14, four years ago.”
Damian calculated the months.
His marriage had ended in February.
Isabelle had been pregnant when he ordered her out.
And she had never told him.
Or perhaps she had tried.
A memory surfaced.
Isabelle standing outside his study, holding a small cream envelope.
“Please, Damian. There's something else.”
He had closed the door.
Damian pressed his palms against the desk.
“Find Elena.”
Enzo didn't move.
“Boss, there's another problem.”
Damian looked up.
“The certificate wasn't filed at the clinic where Elena worked. It was registered in Wisconsin, almost six months after Lily's actual birth.”
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
Enzo removed a second paper.
“Someone requested a certified copy last week.”
Damian frowned.
“Who?”
“The request was made through an attorney representing Victor Hale.”
The room became terribly quiet.
Victor.
The man who had brought him the evidence against Isabelle.
The man who had comforted him after her disappearance.
The man Damian had trusted with everything.
“Where is Victor now?”
“At his office downtown.”
“Keep him there.”
Damian stood.
“And don't let him know I'm asking questions.”
Upstairs, Lily was sitting cross-legged on her bedroom carpet when Elena heard footsteps approaching.
She knew those footsteps.
Everyone in Greystone knew them.
But she had never heard Damian climb the servants' staircase before.
“Elena.”
His voice came from the hallway.
Lily jumped up.
“Mister Damian!”
Elena caught her daughter's hand.
“Stay here, sweetheart.”
Damian appeared in the doorway.
He looked at Lily first.
Her white streak was visible beneath her loose hair.
Then he looked at Elena.
“We need to talk.”
Elena's face tightened.
“She's only three.”
“I know how old she is.”
“No,” Elena whispered. “You don't know anything.”
Damian stopped.
Lily looked between them.
“Mommy, is Mister mad?”
Elena knelt.
“No, baby. Go find Mr. Bun.”
When Lily wandered toward her toy basket, Damian lowered his voice.
“Is Isabelle her mother?”
Elena closed her eyes.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “Not here.”
They moved into the small sitting room beside the nursery.
Damian shut the door but left it unlocked.
“I saw the clinic photograph,” he said.
Elena gripped the back of a chair.
“She begged me not to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed someone inside this house wanted her child.”
Damian felt his stomach turn.
“Who?”
“I never knew for certain.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Elena looked toward the hallway.
“Isabelle came to the clinic because she was afraid. She said someone had been following her. Someone had access to her medical appointments.”
“Victor?”
Elena hesitated.
“She never said his name.”
“Did she give birth to Lily?”
Elena's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
The answer struck Damian harder than any physical blow he had ever taken.
His daughter.
The little girl who drew crooked tattoos on her arms.
The little girl who had offered him half a lollipop.
His daughter.
He sat down because his knees would no longer hold him.
“Where is Isabelle?”
Elena began crying.
“I don't know anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“She was alive after the river.”
Damian looked up sharply.
Elena covered her mouth, realizing what she had said.
“You saw her?”
“Three weeks after they found the car.”
“Where?”
“At the clinic. She came for Lily.”
“Why didn't she take her?”
Elena's expression changed.
“Because someone had gotten there first.”
Damian stood.
“What does that mean?”
Elena reached beneath her blouse and pulled out a thin silver chain.
A small gold locket hung from it.
Damian recognized it immediately.
He had given it to Isabelle on their first wedding anniversary.
Elena opened the locket.
Inside was a tiny photograph of Isabelle holding a newborn baby.
Behind the photograph lay a folded scrap of paper.
Elena handed it to him.
Damian unfolded it carefully.
The message was written in Isabelle's familiar handwriting.
If Damian ever finds Lily, tell him to look at the man who gave him the photographs.
May you like
Below that was one more sentence.
And tell him I didn't fall into the river. I was pushed.
