Chapter 10: The Hospital Basement
“Which baby was taken?””
My father didn’t answer.
He just stood there staring at my phone as if Michael could somehow reach through it and drag twenty-eight years of secrets into the room.
I stepped closer.
“Dad.””
Sarah moved Ethan behind her.
Ryan watched my father carefully.
Finally, Dad whispered, “Michael wants you angry.””
“I am angry.””
“He wants you confused.””
“I’m way past confused.””
“Then don’t go.””
I laughed.
“You disappeared for seven years, showed up at my house, told me I have a brother, and now Michael says you know something about a stolen baby.””
I grabbed my keys.
“I’m going.””
Sarah stepped forward.
“James, wait.””
“No.””
“I’m coming with you.””
“Absolutely not.””
Her face hardened.
“You don’t get to shut me out now.””
The irony almost made me laugh.
Then she looked toward Ethan.
“My sister lives ten minutes away. Ethan can stay with her.””
“No,” Dad said immediately.
Everyone turned.
He pointed toward the black SUV outside.
“Nobody takes Ethan anywhere.””
Ryan nodded.
“He’s right.””
I hated hearing it.
But they were right.
Sarah crouched beside Ethan.
“Buddy, you and Grandpa are going to stay here.””
Ethan looked at my father suspiciously.
“That’s Grandpa?””
I swallowed.
“Yes.””
“But Grandpa is in the picture.””
Dad’s face crumpled.
Ethan pointed toward the framed photograph on the shelf.
“Daddy said Grandpa went to heaven.””
Nobody knew what to say.
Dad finally knelt.
“Grandpa got lost for a while.””
Ethan considered that.
Then held up his bicycle helmet.
“You can watch me ride.””
Dad smiled through wet eyes.
“I’d like that.””
Twenty minutes later, Ryan, Sarah, and I were driving toward St. Matthew’s Hospital.
The same hospital where Ethan had been born.
The same hospital where, according to Michael, something had happened decades before.
Rain started falling as we pulled into the parking structure.
Ryan checked his phone.
“The transfer is still pending.””
“How long?””
“Maybe an hour.””
“Can you stop it?””
“Not without proving fraud.””
Sarah looked at me.
“Then we get proof.””
We entered through the emergency entrance.
The fluorescent lights made everything feel painfully familiar.
I remembered running through these halls three years earlier.
Sarah screaming.
My hand around hers.
Then Ethan’s first cry.
I had thought it was the beginning of my family.
Now I wondered whether someone had been watching us even then.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Michael.
*Basement. Records archive. Come alone.*
I showed Ryan.
“He wants to separate us,” Ryan said.
“I know.””
“Then don’t give him what he wants.””
But Sarah pointed toward the elevator.
“We can all go down.””
The basement smelled like disinfectant and old paper.
Rows of locked doors stretched beneath flickering lights.
Then we saw one standing open.
Medical Records Archive B.
I entered first.
“Michael?””
No answer.
Shelves towered around us.
Then a lamp switched on.
Michael was sitting at a metal table.
He looked exactly like the man who had shared drinks with me after Ethan was born.
The man I called my best friend.
“James.””
I lunged toward him.
Ryan caught my shoulder.
“Not yet.””
Michael smiled.
“Still trusting lawyers?””
“More than I trust you.””
His smile disappeared.
“Fair.””
I slammed the forged transfer onto the table.
“You stole from me.””
“Yes.””
The admission shocked me.
Sarah stepped forward.
“You admit it?””
Michael looked at her.
“I moved the money.””
“Why?””
“To keep someone else from getting it.””
I laughed.
“There it is. Another person protecting me.””
Michael looked at me.
“You really don’t understand.””
“Then make me understand.””
He opened a cardboard archive box.
Inside were old hospital records.
He removed one file.
The date was twenty-eight years ago.
My birth date.
My hands trembled.
Michael opened it.
Two newborn boys had been admitted that night.
One was listed as James Carter.
The second name had been blacked out.
“What is this?””
Michael pushed another page toward me.
A nurse’s handwritten note.
*Infant identification bands replaced after unauthorized nursery access.*
Sarah covered her mouth.
I looked at Michael.
“Who entered the nursery?””
“Your father.””
My stomach twisted.
“You’re lying.””
“Call him.””
I pulled out my phone.
Dad answered immediately.
“James?””
“Were you in the hospital nursery the night I was born?””
Silence.
That silence answered me.
“Dad!””
“Yes.””
Sarah stared at me.
“Why?””
Dad breathed heavily.
“Because someone was coming for you.””
“Who?””
“I didn’t know then.””
Michael stood.
“Ask him what he did with the other baby.””
I repeated the question.
Dad didn’t answer.
Then Michael said loudly enough for the phone to hear:
“Tell him, Thomas.””
My father’s voice cracked.
“I switched the identification bands.””
The room disappeared around me.
Sarah whispered, “Oh my God.””
I held onto the table.
“You switched two babies?””
“No. James, listen—”
“You changed our identities?””
“I was trying to save you.””
“Which baby was I?””
My father started crying.
That frightened me more than anything.
“Dad.””
Michael pushed the second file toward me.
The black marker covering the name had faded around the edges.
I could barely make out the letters beneath it.
Ryan moved the lamp closer.
I rubbed my thumb across the plastic sleeve.
The name slowly became visible.
And when I read it, I stopped breathing.
*Infant: Ryan Mitchell.*
I looked up.
Ryan had gone completely pale.
May you like
And Michael whispered:
“Now you understand why Ryan’s family has been looking for you.””
