Chapter 4 - The Ten-Million-Dollar Child
“Ten million dollars?”
Alexander's voice was barely above a whisper.
Eleanor nodded.
Olivia stared at her.
“You paid someone ten million dollars for a baby?”
“We tried.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Eleanor looked toward the piano.
“Thomas raised the money. Martin arranged the transfer.”
“And?” Alexander demanded.
“The money disappeared.”
Alexander felt the familiar coldness that came before one of his business confrontations.
Except this wasn't business.
It was a child.
His cousin.
A girl who should have grown up with Olivia.
“Who took it?”
“We never proved it.”
“Martin?”
“I suspected him.”
“Then why did you keep him?”
Eleanor's hands curled together.
“Because he had the hospital files. He knew where Margaret was. He knew Rebecca's address. He knew your father's involvement.”
Alexander shook his head.
“You let a blackmailer sit at our family table for twenty-seven years.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Yes.”
There was no defense in her voice.
That frightened him more than another lie would have.
Olivia stood beside the piano, holding the bracelet.
“Did my mother know about the money?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know my twin might be alive?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Rebecca believed the second child had been taken out of New York.”
Olivia swallowed.
“So she knew.”
“She searched for years.”
Olivia remembered the nights Rebecca had sat at the kitchen table with a phone book and a cup of cold tea.
She remembered envelopes arriving from government offices.
Her mother always said she was helping a friend.
Perhaps she had been searching for a child who should have been part of their family.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
Eleanor answered softly.
“Because Martin knew where you lived.”
Olivia looked up.
Eleanor continued.
“Rebecca believed silence was the only thing keeping you safe.”
Alexander put the bracelet into its small velvet pouch.
“Not anymore.”
He called Daniel again.
“Bring me everything we have on the Fletcher Children's Trust. Board records. Payments. Properties. Anyone receiving money from its accounts.”
Daniel promised to have his team begin immediately.
Then Alexander faced Eleanor.
“Until we know who Martin is working with, you're not leaving the house.”
His mother looked wounded.
“Am I your prisoner?”
“No. You're a woman whose judgment I no longer trust.”
She accepted that quietly.
Olivia stepped toward the door.
“I need to see Madison.”
Alexander reached for his coat.
“I'll drive you.”
“I don't need an escort.”
“No,” he said. “You need someone to make sure you get home safely. It doesn't have to be me.”
Olivia considered him.
He had power.
Money.
Men who obeyed his orders without question.
Yet he had been sitting in the same mansion while his mother made Olivia's life miserable.
“I'll go with you,” she finally said. “But don't expect me to be grateful.”
Alexander nodded.
“Fair enough.”
They drove through Manhattan in silence.
Rain streaked the windows.
Alexander sat in the back of the car beside Olivia, leaving enough distance between them that she didn't feel cornered.
After several minutes, he spoke.
“I owe you an apology.”
Olivia watched the city lights.
“You didn't break my hand.”
“No.”
“You didn't threaten Madison.”
“No.”
“Then what are you apologizing for?”
“For not noticing what was happening in my own home.”
Olivia looked at him.
“You noticed tonight.”
“I should have noticed before tonight.”
She didn't answer.
At her apartment, Madison was studying at the kitchen table.
Her hair was tied back with a blue ribbon.
She looked up when Olivia entered.
“Liv, why is Alexander Blackwood in our kitchen?”
Olivia almost laughed.
There were moments when her sister could make the strangest circumstances sound ordinary.
“It's complicated.”
Madison glanced at the bandage.
“Did Mrs. Blackwood do that?”
Olivia froze.
“How did you know?”
Madison looked embarrassed.
“She called me yesterday.”
Alexander's expression sharpened.
“What did she say?”
Madison hesitated.
“She asked whether Mom ever gave us a silver bracelet.”
Olivia and Alexander exchanged a look.
Madison continued.
“I told her Mom kept baby things in the cedar chest.”
Olivia's stomach dropped.
“The chest in your closet?”
Madison nodded.
“And then?”
“She said I shouldn't tell you she'd called. She said it would upset you.”
Olivia sat beside her sister.
“Madison, did anyone come here today?”
“A delivery man.”
“What delivery?”
“He said there was a package for you. But when I said you weren't home, he left.”
Alexander immediately stepped outside to speak with the driver.
Olivia opened Madison's closet.
The cedar chest sat beneath folded blankets.
Its brass latch was bent.
Inside, the baby photographs had been disturbed.
Rebecca's wedding veil lay crumpled.
An old winter coat had been pushed aside.
And the small wooden box that once held Olivia's first tooth was gone.
Madison appeared behind her.
“Liv?”
Olivia closed her eyes.
Someone had been inside their apartment.
Someone had searched their mother's belongings.
Alexander returned minutes later.
“Daniel's checking the building cameras. Nobody leaves this apartment alone until we understand what's happening.”
Madison looked frightened.
“Are we in trouble?”
Olivia wrapped an arm around her.
“No, sweetheart.”
Alexander crouched beside Madison's chair.
“Someone is trying to find something that belongs to your family. We're going to make sure they can't frighten you again.”
Madison studied him.
“Are you really a Mafia boss?”
Olivia closed her eyes.
“Madison.”
Alexander gave a small smile.
“That's what people call me.”
“Are you going to hurt somebody?”
He looked at her seriously.
“Not because I'm angry. And not to solve this.”
Madison considered that.
“Good. Mom always said angry people make stupid decisions.”
Alexander nodded.
“Your mother sounds like she was a smart woman.”
“She was.”
Madison looked down at her notebook.
“Can I still go to nursing school?”
Olivia's heart broke a little.
Of everything happening, that was what frightened her sister most.
Alexander glanced at Olivia.
“Your future isn't something anyone gets to threaten.”
Madison nodded, but she didn't look convinced.
Olivia pulled her close.
“We'll figure out tuition. I promise.”
Then Madison said something neither adult expected.
“I think Mom left you a letter.”
Olivia looked up.
“What?”
“Before she died. She told me there was something in her coat pocket. She said to give it to you when you were ready to ask questions about where you came from.”
Olivia stared at the old winter coat.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Madison's eyes filled.
“Because you never asked. And after Mom died, you were so sad. I didn't want to make you cry again.”
Olivia hugged her.
“You didn't do anything wrong.”
She took the coat from the chest.
Rebecca had worn it every winter.
Dark brown wool.
One missing button.
A small tear beneath the left pocket.
Olivia reached inside.
Nothing.
Then she remembered Rebecca sewing coins into coat linings before traveling.
She turned the coat inside out.
Near the hem was a tiny row of uneven stitches.
Olivia carefully opened them.
Inside was a folded envelope.
On the front, in Rebecca's familiar handwriting:
For Olivia, when the truth finally finds you.
Her hands shook.
Alexander looked toward the door.
“I can give you privacy.”
“No,” Olivia whispered. “You should hear this.”
She opened the envelope.
The letter contained only a few paragraphs.
Rebecca wrote about the day she carried Olivia out of St. Catherine's Hospital.
About promising Margaret that the child would never grow up unloved.
About the small twin sister she had searched for.
Then came the final paragraph.
Olivia, if the Blackwoods ever tell you that the other baby died, don't believe them until you've spoken to the woman who took her.
Olivia stopped reading.
Alexander leaned forward.
“The woman?”
Rebecca had written a name beneath the paragraph.
VIVIAN FLETCHER.
Martin Fletcher's wife.
But beside the name was one more sentence.
She called that little girl her miracle.
Olivia looked at Alexander.
“Martin didn't sell my sister.”
Alexander's face darkened.
“No.”
May you like
He stared at the letter.
“He took her home.”
