Chapter 8: St. Mary's
St. Mary's had been abandoned for nearly fifteen years.
The hospital stood behind a rusted iron fence on the edge of town, its windows black and broken, weeds pushing through cracks in the pavement.
We arrived eleven minutes before midnight.
I insisted Milo come with me.
My mother wanted to call the police.
Daniel wanted to come.
Richard disappeared.
Nobody trusted anyone.
That was the only thing we all agreed on.
“Stay behind me,” Daniel said as we entered the building.
I stared at him.
“You don't get to act like my father now.””
He stopped.
“You're right.””
The words surprised me.
“I don't deserve that title yet.””
Milo looked at him.
“Maybe never.””
Daniel nodded.
“Maybe.””
We walked down a dark hallway.
The smell of mildew filled the air.
Old signs hung from the ceiling.
PEDIATRICS.
MATERNITY.
NEONATAL.
My mother stopped beneath the last one.
“This is where they took you.””
I looked at her.
“How do you know?””
She pointed to a faded door.
“I remember.””
Inside was an old nurses' station.
Broken monitors.
Empty cabinets.
A rusted wheelchair.
Milo switched on his flashlight.
“There's something here.””
He pointed beneath the desk.
A metal box.
My mother knelt.
She stared at it.
“I've seen this.””
Daniel crouched beside her.
“Where?””
“In my father's study.””
He looked at me.
“Open it.””
I lifted the lid.
Inside were envelopes.
Dozens of them.
Most were addressed to my mother.
She opened the first.
Her hands began shaking.
It was a letter dated nineteen years earlier.
*Eleanor,*
*Your daughter is alive. If you want her back, leave the Mercer family.*
My mother covered her mouth.
I grabbed the letter.
“Why didn't you get this?””
“I never saw it.””
“Someone hid it.””
Milo opened another envelope.
A photograph fell out.
It showed a woman holding a newborn baby.
The woman wasn't my mother.
She was the nurse I'd seen in the earlier photograph.
I looked at Daniel.
“Who is she?””
He answered.
“Laura Bennett.””
“Where is she now?””
“She disappeared.””
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
We froze.
Daniel raised his hand.
“Stay here.””
He moved toward the door.
Then the lights flickered on.
An elderly woman stood at the end of the hallway.
Gray hair.
White coat.
A hospital ID hanging from her neck.
My mother whispered,
“Dr. Evelyn Shaw.””
The woman smiled.
“Eleanor.””
Mom stepped forward.
“You signed my daughter's death certificate.””
“I did.””
“You told me she died.””
“I told you what Richard ordered me to tell you.””
My mother went rigid.
Richard.
Again.
“Where is Laura?”” Daniel demanded.
Dr. Shaw looked at him.
“Dead.””
“Who killed her?””
She didn't answer.
I stepped forward.
“Why was I taken?””
The doctor looked at me for a long time.
Then she said,
“Because you weren't supposed to be Eleanor's daughter.””
I frowned.
“What?””
She walked closer.
“You were supposed to become someone else's daughter.””
My mother shook her head.
“No.””
Dr. Shaw nodded.
“Your father arranged it.””
Daniel's face went blank.
“My father?””
“Richard.””
Mom whispered,
“Why?””
The doctor looked at me.
“Because Richard knew the Mercer fortune would eventually be divided between the twins.””
I felt sick.
“He wanted me gone.””
“He wanted you erased.””
Milo stepped forward.
“But why keep her alive?””
Dr. Shaw looked at him.
“Because your sister was valuable.””
“To whom?””
The doctor hesitated.
Then she pointed toward the basement stairs.
“Someone paid a great deal of money to raise her.””
My mother grabbed my hand.
“Who?””
Dr. Shaw's expression softened.
“Eleanor, you should know this.””
“What?””
“The people who raised Kate weren't strangers.””
My mother went pale.
“They were?””
Dr. Shaw nodded.
“Your closest friends.””
Silence.
I felt a chill move through me.
“My friends?””
“Thomas and Abigail Hayes.””
My mother's face drained of color.
I knew those names.
They were the people my mother had always called family.
The people I had been told were distant relatives.
The people whose last name I'd carried.
Hayes.
My entire identity had been built around a lie.
I looked at Mom.
“You gave me to them.””
She shook her head desperately.
“I didn't.””
Dr. Shaw whispered,
“No.””
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the basement.
“They took you.””
A crash sounded below us.
Then a man's voice echoed through the hospital.
“Dr. Shaw.””
The doctor froze.
Daniel drew his weapon.
Milo grabbed my hand.
My mother stepped in front of me.
The voice came again.
“It's time to finish what we started.””
I recognized it.
So did Mom.
She whispered,
“Richard.””
But then another voice came from the darkness.
“No.””
A man's silhouette appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
“Richard isn't the one you should be afraid of.””
May you like
He stepped into the light.
And I saw the face of the man I'd spent nineteen years calling Dad.
