Chapter 15 — The Other Child
1521 Words
Elena couldn't take her eyes off the photograph.
Her mother's face was younger in the picture, but there was no mistaking her. She was standing in what looked like a hospital room, holding a tiny baby wrapped in a white blanket. Her expression was different from the photographs Elena had grown up seeing. There was happiness in her eyes, but there was also fear, as though she knew she wasn't going to be allowed to keep the child for long.
Elena turned the photograph over again.
YOUR MOTHER HAD ANOTHER CHILD.
Her hands began to tremble.
“That can't be true.”
Damian didn't answer.
She looked at him.
“You said you recognized the baby.”
He remained silent.
“Damian.”
His eyes met hers.
“I've seen the person in this photograph.”
Elena's heart jumped.
“Where?”
“Not in the past.”
Her face went pale.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the child is alive.”
Elena stared at him, trying to understand what he was saying.
“My mother had another child before me?”
“I believe so.”
“Who?”
“I don't know yet.”
“You just said you've seen them.”
“I've seen the person, but I didn't know their connection to your mother.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Who did you see?”
Damian looked at the photograph again.
“Someone connected to my family.”
Elena's stomach tightened.
“Victoria?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Before Damian could answer, they heard a loud bang from outside the hidden room.
Someone was trying to break the door open.
Damian immediately moved in front of Elena.
“Stay behind me.”
“What was that?”
“Someone is coming.”
He looked around the room for something they could use as a weapon.
Another bang shook the hidden door.
Elena clutched the photograph against her chest.
“Could it be Victoria?”
“I don't know.”
The door finally burst open.
Cole stood outside with two security officers.
“Sir!”
Damian lowered his weapon.
“What took you so long?”
“We couldn't find the entrance. This entire section wasn't on the building plans.”
Damian stepped out.
“Secure the house.”
Cole nodded.
Then he noticed Elena's expression.
“What happened?”
Elena handed him the photograph.
Cole studied it.
“Do you recognize the baby?”
“No,” Damian answered before he could say anything.
Cole looked confused.
Damian took the photograph back.
“We need to find out who this person is.”
---
They returned to the study, where Elena spread the documents from the hidden room across the desk.
Her mind was still struggling with the discovery.
All her life, she had believed she was an only child.
Her mother had never mentioned another baby.
Her father had never mentioned another baby.
And now she had proof that someone had been deliberately hiding the truth.
“Maybe she died,” Elena said quietly.
Damian looked at her.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because if she were alive, why would my mother hide her?”
“Perhaps she was protecting her.”
“From whom?”
Damian didn't answer.
Elena looked down at the photograph.
“Could she have been taken?”
“Possibly.”
“By Victoria?”
“Possibly.”
“My father?”
“Also possible.”
Elena closed her eyes.
There were too many possibilities.
Too many secrets.
Too many people who had lied to her.
Then she noticed something written on the corner of the photograph.
A date.
She looked closer.
“Damian.”
He leaned toward her.
“What?”
“This was taken twenty-three years ago.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“I was born twenty years ago.”
“Yes.”
Elena looked at him.
“That means my mother had this baby three years before me.”
“That's what the date suggests.”
She swallowed.
“Then who was the father?”
Damian's expression became serious.
“That may be the most important question.”
Elena looked at the photograph again.
Her mother was wearing a necklace.
Elena recognized it immediately.
It was the same necklace that had been buried with her mother.
Except the pendant in the photograph had a small engraving on the back.
Elena quickly searched through the documents.
She found an old inventory list from her mother's belongings.
There it was.
One silver pendant engraved with the initials E.C.
Elena's eyes widened.
“E.C.”
Damian stared at the paper.
“Cross.”
Elena's breathing stopped.
“You think my mother's other child is related to your family?”
“I'm saying the evidence points in that direction.”
“But how?”
Damian looked troubled.
“I don't know.”
Before Elena could respond, the study door opened.
Richard walked in.
His face was still bruised from the kidnapping, but the moment his eyes landed on the photograph, all the color disappeared from his face.
Elena immediately noticed.
“You know.”
Richard froze.
“Know what?”
She held up the photograph.
“This.”
He looked away.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your hidden room.”
Richard's eyes widened.
“You found it?”
“Yes.”
Elena walked toward him.
“Who is the baby?”
Richard said nothing.
“Dad, who is the baby?”
His silence was answer enough.
Elena's voice broke.
“You knew.”
Richard slowly sat down.
“I didn't want you to find out like this.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
He rubbed his face.
“Your mother had another child.”
“When?”
“Three years before you were born.”
“Who is the father?”
Richard looked at Damian.
Elena followed his gaze.
Her heart began pounding.
“Dad.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“I don't know who the father was.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at Damian?”
Richard's face tightened.
“Because your mother was involved with the Cross family before she met me.”
Damian's expression hardened.
“My father?”
Richard didn't answer.
Damian stepped closer.
“Was that child my father's?”
Richard finally looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Damian's jaw clenched.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I wasn't there.”
“But you knew the child existed.”
“Yes.”
“Where is the child now?”
Richard's eyes filled with fear.
“I don't know.”
Elena stared at him.
“You've known about my sibling all these years, and you never told me?”
“I was protecting you.”
“Stop saying that!”
Her voice echoed through the study.
“You keep using protection as an excuse for every lie!”
Richard flinched.
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Did Mom give the baby away?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Richard hesitated.
“She disappeared.”
“What do you mean?”
“The baby was taken from the hospital.”
Elena's heart broke.
“Who took her?”
Richard shook his head.
“We never found out.”
“Her?”
Richard nodded.
“It was a girl.”
Elena looked at the photograph again.
A little girl.
Her sister.
Alive somewhere in the world.
Or at least, that was what she wanted to believe.
Then Damian suddenly picked up another document from the desk.
“Richard.”
Her father looked at him.
“This says the child was transferred.”
Richard's face went pale.
“That document shouldn't exist.”
Damian read the name written beneath the transfer details.
Evelyn Cross.
Elena's eyes widened.
“Cross?”
Richard stood abruptly.
“Give me that.”
Damian pulled the document away.
“You said you didn't know where she went.”
“I didn't.”
“Then why does this document say she was transferred into the care of the Cross family?”
Richard stared at him.
“I told you. I don't know.”
Damian's expression became dangerously calm.
“My family took her.”
Elena looked between them.
“If my sister was taken by the Cross family, then someone in your family knows where she is.”
Damian nodded slowly.
“We'll find her.”
Suddenly, Elena's phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
She opened the message.
There was only a photograph.
Elena stared at the screen.
It showed a young woman standing outside a café.
The woman had Elena's eyes.
Her mother's face.
And around her neck was the same silver pendant.
Underneath the photograph was one sentence:
YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THE WRONG SISTER.
Elena's blood ran cold.
A second message appeared.
ASK DAMIAN WHO EVELYN CROSS REALLY IS.
She slowly raised her eyes toward Damian.
He was staring at her phone.
And from the look on his face, he already knew the answer.
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