Chapter 6: The Brother Who Knew Too Much
I couldn't hear anything.
The room seemed to shrink around me.
Michael.
My brother.
The man who had opened his home to my daughters that morning.
The man who had promised to help me protect them.
The man whose name was now printed on a DNA report identifying him as Chloe's biological father.
I looked at Vanessa.
"You're lying.""
She shrugged.
"Read it yourself.""
I picked up the report.
The laboratory name appeared at the top, followed by a case number and a date from three weeks earlier.
The conclusion was unmistakable.
Daniel was excluded as Chloe's biological father.
Michael was identified as a possible biological parent.
I looked toward Dr. Reed.
"Is this real?""
He examined the document.
"I can't authenticate it from a photograph.""
Vanessa laughed softly.
"Of course he can't. Nobody wants to believe the truth.""
Daniel remained silent.
That was what frightened me most.
He wasn't surprised.
"Daniel," I whispered.
"Did you know?""
He rubbed his jaw.
"I found out recently.""
"Recently?""
"Laura, I didn't want to hurt you.""
I felt sick.
"You knew this could destroy my family, and you used it to take my children?""
Daniel looked toward the officer.
"I think everyone needs to calm down.""
I stepped closer.
"Answer me.""
Vanessa interrupted.
"Michael told us everything.""
I turned toward her.
"What?""
"Your father knew about the affair. He knew Michael was involved with your mother before you married Daniel. And he knew Chloe might not be Daniel's.""
My knees weakened.
"That's impossible.""
Vanessa opened her handbag and removed another photograph.
It showed Michael standing outside a hotel with my mother.
The date was twenty years earlier.
My mother had been wearing the blue coat she wore in our family photographs.
Michael was standing close to her.
Much too close.
I stared at the picture.
"Michael was eighteen," I whispered.
Vanessa nodded.
"Your mother was thirty-six.""
I felt physically ill.
"Stop.""
But Vanessa continued.
"Your father discovered the relationship. He was furious. He wanted to send Michael away, but your mother begged him not to.""
"Stop talking.""
"Years later, your father discovered the same pattern of lies surrounding Daniel and the girls.""
I looked at Daniel.
"What does Chloe have to do with this?""
He finally spoke.
"Chloe isn't biologically mine.""
My heart broke in a way I couldn't explain.
"Then whose daughter is she?""
Daniel looked at Michael's name on the report.
"Ask your brother.""
The officer stepped between us.
"Nobody is leaving until we establish what's going on.""
Vanessa crossed her arms.
"You can't hold us here because of a family argument.""
The officer replied firmly.
"I'm not holding anyone. I'm documenting statements and reviewing the information provided.""
I called Michael.
He answered immediately.
"Laura?""
"Did you have a relationship with our mother?""
Silence.
"Michael?""
"Where are you?""
"At the hospital. Answer me.""
He exhaled.
"Yes.""
I closed my eyes.
"Is Chloe your daughter?""
Another silence.
Then he said, "I don't know.""
"There's a DNA report.""
"I've never taken a DNA test.""
"Vanessa has one.""
"Then it's fabricated.""
His voice became urgent.
"Laura, listen to me. I need you to come home. There's something else I found.""
I looked at the report.
"You're going to explain everything.""
"Yes. But not over the phone.""
I ended the call.
The officer requested copies of the documents and advised everyone to preserve the original records. He also explained that the custody dispute would need to be addressed through the court, not decided in a hospital office.
Daniel looked furious.
As he walked toward the door, he leaned close to me.
"You should have stayed home this morning.""
I stared at him.
"Why?""
His mouth tightened.
"Because you wouldn't have found the folder.""
Vanessa followed him.
Before leaving, she turned around.
"Oh, Laura?""
I didn't answer.
She smiled.
"Ask Michael why your father changed his will three days before he died.""
Then she walked out.
I stood there holding the DNA report.
Dr. Reed gently placed a hand on the desk.
"Laura, there's something else.""
I looked up.
"What now?""
He opened a secure hospital record on his computer.
It contained an old admission record from the day Chloe was born.
My name.
The delivery date.
The attending physician.
And a note marked confidential.
Dr. Reed read it carefully.
"Your father requested that this information remain sealed.""
"What information?""
He turned the screen toward me.
There was a second newborn record attached to Chloe's delivery.
A second baby.
A girl.
I stared at the screen.
"Why are there two babies?""
Dr. Reed swallowed.
"Because Chloe wasn't the only child born that night.""
My hands began trembling.
"I don't understand.""
He opened the attached record.
The second baby's name had been entered as Baby Girl Mitchell.
The mother was listed as Laura Mitchell.
But the discharge section contained a handwritten instruction.
*Infant transferred to private guardian arrangement at request of maternal grandfather.*
I stepped backward.
"My father took my baby?""
Dr. Reed shook his head.
"I don't know what happened. The record is incomplete.""
I stared at the screen.
A second daughter.
A child I'd never been told about.
I called Michael again.
This time, he answered immediately.
"Laura, don't go anywhere.""
"Where is my other daughter?""
He stopped breathing.
I heard a car door slam on his end.
Then he whispered:
"She's alive.""
My eyes filled with tears.
"Where?""
Michael's voice broke.
"She's been living with Vanessa.""
I dropped the phone.
Because suddenly, the affair, the stolen money, and the custody papers seemed like smaller pieces of a much darker plan.
Vanessa hadn't simply wanted to become my children's new mother.
She had already been raising one of my children without my knowledge.
And when I looked back at the DNA report, I noticed something I'd missed.
The laboratory test hadn't compared Chloe with Michael.
It had compared Chloe with another child.
The second child born on the night I delivered Chloe.
*The report was actually a sibling DNA test.*
And the result confirmed that the two girls were full biological sisters.
My phone rang again.
This time, it was Vanessa.
I answered.
Her voice was almost cheerful.
"Hello, big sister.""
"Where is my daughter?""
She laughed quietly.
"You're asking the wrong question.""
"Where is she?""
"Come to the house tonight, Laura. Come alone.""
"Why?""
Then she whispered:
"Because your father didn't give me your daughter. He gave me something much more valuable.""
The call ended.
And beneath the hospital's fluorescent lights, I finally understood the real nightmare.
My father had hidden a child from me.
My sister had raised that child.
My husband had helped her.
And tomorrow morning, they were going to court to take the three daughters I knew existed.
May you like
But there were four girls in this story.
And I was beginning to suspect that the fourth was the reason everyone had been lying.
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