Chapter 11: The Two Babies
Ryan stared at the file.
“No.””
Michael said nothing.
Ryan grabbed it.
“This is fake.””
“It isn’t.””
“My birth certificate says I was born in Boston.””
Michael almost smiled.
“So does the certificate your family created.””
Ryan slammed both hands onto the table.
“My mother would have told me.””
“Would she?””
That silenced him.
I looked between them.
“Someone explain this.””
Michael pointed at the records.
“Twenty-eight years ago, two babies were in this hospital.””
“Me and Ryan?””
“No.””
Michael’s answer came too quickly.
I frowned.
“You just showed me his name.””
“I showed you the name attached to the second infant.””
“That’s not the same thing.””
Ryan looked up.
“What are you saying?””
Michael pulled out another sheet.
“The identification bands were switched twice.””
Sarah whispered, “Twice?””
“The first switch was unauthorized. Thomas Carter discovered it and tried to reverse it.””
I gripped the table.
“My father said he switched them.””
“He did.””
Michael nodded.
“But he wasn’t first.””
The archive room felt colder.
“Who was?””
Michael looked at Ryan.
“Your grandmother.””
Ryan stepped backward.
“My grandmother died fifteen years ago.””
“That doesn’t change what she did.””
Ryan shook his head.
“Why would she switch babies?””
“Money.””
Of course.
Money again.
Michael opened an old trust document.
“The Carter and Mitchell families created a joint manufacturing company generations ago. Eventually the families split. The Carter side retained controlling rights, but there was one condition.””
“What condition?””
“Control could pass only through a verified descendant of both founding branches.””
I stared at him.
“That makes no sense.””
“It made sense a hundred years ago when the families were marrying each other.””
Sarah looked at the DNA report.
“And Ethan?””
Michael nodded.
“Ethan reopened the claim.””
I felt sick.
“My three-year-old son reopened a hundred-year-old corporate dispute?””
“Biologically, yes.””
I looked at Ryan.
He was still staring at his supposed birth record.
“Why does Ethan have Mitchell markers?””
Michael didn’t answer.
Ryan slowly lifted his head.
Then looked at Sarah.
The expression on his face made me move between them.
“No.””
Sarah immediately understood.
“No, James.””
I pointed at Michael.
“You’re not doing this.””
Michael frowned.
“Doing what?””
“You’re not suggesting Ryan is Ethan’s father.””
Sarah grabbed my hand.
“He isn’t.””
Ryan said firmly, “I never touched your wife.””
I looked at Sarah.
“Then explain the DNA.””
“I can’t.””
Michael sighed.
“You’re all asking the wrong question.””
He pulled out the photograph Dad had shown us earlier.
The one with the unidentified child.
My supposed half-brother.
Michael pointed at him.
“This boy is the connection.””
I stared at the picture.
“Who is he?””
“My older brother,” Michael said.
Silence.
I looked up.
“What?””
Michael’s eyes hardened.
“His name was Nathan.””
My father’s voice suddenly came from behind us.
“He was not your brother.””
We spun around.
Dad stood in the doorway.
I stared at him.
“You were supposed to stay with Ethan.””
“Your neighbor Karen is with him. Police are outside the house.””
“You called the police?””
“I should have done it years ago.””
Michael looked furious.
“You shouldn’t have come.””
Dad walked inside.
“You wanted me here.””
Michael stepped toward him.
“I wanted James to hear you admit it.””
“Then tell him everything.””
Michael’s jaw tightened.
Dad looked at me.
“Nathan was the other baby.””
I felt dizzy.
“But you said I had a half-brother.””
“You did.””
He pointed toward the photograph.
“Nathan.””
My mouth went dry.
Michael shook his head.
“You stole him.””
Dad turned.
“I saved him.””
“You destroyed my family.””
“Your father was going to use him.””
Michael slammed his fist onto the table.
“My father spent thirty years believing his son was dead!””
“And what did he do when he discovered Nathan was alive?””
Michael went silent.
Dad looked at me.
“He tried to buy him.””
Sarah whispered, “Buy him?””
“The trust was worth hundreds of millions.””
Nobody moved.
Dad continued.
“Nathan disappeared when he was nineteen.””
I stared at the childhood photograph.
“What happened to him?””
“We believed he died.””
“Believed?””
Dad nodded.
“No body was found.””
My phone suddenly buzzed.
Security footage from my house.
Motion detected.
I opened the notification.
A man was standing in my driveway.
Not police.
Not my neighbor.
He was looking directly into the camera.
Dad saw the screen.
His knees nearly buckled.
“No.””
I enlarged the image.
The man looked older than the boy in the photograph.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Dad whispered:
“Nathan.””
Then another alert appeared.
*Front door opened.*
My heart stopped.
“Ethan.””
I ran.
Behind me, Sarah screamed my name.
But I was already racing toward the elevator.
May you like
Because the man everyone had spent decades searching for had just walked into my house.
And my three-year-old son was inside.
