Chapter 5
The police took Patricia away.
She kept shouting that everyone was lying.
That Richard had manipulated Daniel’s father.
That my parents had stolen me.
That Daniel needed to “protect the Walker bloodline.”
By then, I could barely hear her.
My pulse was pounding in my ears.
I sat on the couch with one hand over my stomach.
Daniel stood across the room.
He hadn't touched me since reading Thomas Walker’s name on the birth record.
I knew why.
Even after Richard said the document had been altered, fear had already entered the room.
A horrible possibility.
Something neither of us could erase until we had proof.
Rachel sat beside me.
Richard remained near the door.
Daniel finally spoke.
“What do you mean it was altered?”
Richard held the document beneath the lamp.
“The paper is genuine.”
My stomach sank.
“But?”
“The entry is not.”
He pointed at the father’s name.
“The original birth record listed Robert Hayes.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because I handled the original documents.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
Richard looked at me.
“Because your father hired me.”
“My father?”
“Robert.”
He lowered himself into a chair.
“Thirty-three years ago.”
I felt Rachel grab my hand.
Richard continued.
“Robert and Susan had been trying to have a child for years.”
I knew that.
Mom had told us before she died.
She called me their miracle.
Richard looked at Patricia.
Or rather, at the empty doorway where police had taken her.
“Then Thomas Walker came to Robert with a proposal.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What proposal?”
“Private adoption.”
My mind struggled to keep up.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Whose baby was I?”
Richard hesitated.
That hesitation terrified me.
“We don't know.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Your biological mother was a young woman who wanted anonymity.”
“Who?”
“I never knew her legal name.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It was not handled normally.”
Daniel said, “What does my father have to do with it?”
Richard clasped his hands.
“Thomas worked with a charitable foundation.”
Daniel frowned.
“My grandfather’s foundation?”
“Yes.”
The Walker Family Foundation.
It had funded shelters, adoption services, and women’s clinics for decades.
Daniel looked sick.
“Dad arranged Emily’s adoption?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That is where everything becomes complicated.”
Richard reached into his coat.
He removed a small cassette tape.
Rachel blinked.
“You still have one?”
“Robert believed digital files could be altered.”
He looked at me.
“He trusted paper and tape.”
That sounded exactly like my father.
Richard placed the cassette beside the package on the porch.
“The package contains a copy.”
“What’s on it?”
“A conversation between Robert and Thomas.”
Daniel whispered, “My father.”
“Yes.”
“What did they say?”
Richard looked at me.
“You should hear it yourself.”
We didn't own a cassette player.
Rachel did.
Of course she did.
She collected old music.
She drove home and returned twenty minutes later with one.
Daniel sat beside me this time.
Close.
Not touching.
That hurt.
Richard inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then my father’s voice.
I hadn't heard it in nine years.
My chest collapsed.
“Turn it off.”
Rachel reached for the player.
“No.”
I swallowed.
“Keep going.”
My father spoke.
“Thomas, she knows.”
Another male voice answered.
Daniel flinched.
His father.
“What exactly does she know?”
“She knows Emily wasn't born to us.”
“Patricia has suspected that for years.”
“She knows about the foundation.”
Silence.
Then Thomas said, “That’s worse.”
My father’s voice became angry.
“You promised us confidentiality.”
“I gave you confidentiality.”
“Your wife is stalking my daughter.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The tape continued.
Thomas sounded exhausted.
“I can’t control Patricia anymore.”
“You’d better.”
“Robert—”
“If she comes near Emily again, I go to the police.”
“With what?”
“With everything.”
There was a long silence.
Then Thomas whispered, “You’d destroy dozens of families.”
My skin went cold.
My father answered, “Then maybe they deserve the truth.”
The recording clicked off.
Nobody spoke.
Daniel stared at Richard.
“What does that mean?”
Richard exhaled slowly.
“The Walker Foundation did more than facilitate legal adoptions.”
My mouth went dry.
“What did they do?”
“They moved babies.”
Rachel whispered, “Moved?”
Richard looked ashamed.
“From vulnerable mothers to wealthy families.”
“Legally?”
“Sometimes.”
My stomach turned.
“And other times?”
He didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Daniel stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.
“My father trafficked children?”
Richard winced.
“I don't know how much Thomas personally knew at the beginning.”
“At the beginning?”
“The program existed before him.”
“My grandfather?”
“Yes.”
Daniel walked away.
He punched the wall.
I jumped.
“Daniel!”
He turned toward me.
His eyes were wet.
“My family…”
“Come here.”
He looked at me.
For a moment, he hesitated.
Then he crossed the room and knelt in front of me.
I touched his face.
“We need facts.”
“What if we’re related?”
Richard answered.
“You are not.”
We both looked at him.
“How can you know?”
“Because Daniel’s birth records were verified years ago during a medical issue.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“I had surgery when I was sixteen.”
Richard continued.
“And Emily’s biological records were independently sealed through another agency.”
“Then why does that document say Thomas?”
“Because someone changed it.”
“Patricia,” Rachel said.
Richard nodded.
“Most likely.”
Daniel looked furious.
“She wanted us to think we were brother and sister.”
“She wanted to break the marriage,” I whispered.
“But why?”
Richard looked at the house.
“Because of this property.”
I stared at him.
“The land?”
“Yes.”
He pointed toward the floor.
“This property is connected to what happened.”
Daniel frowned.
“How?”
“Your father transferred it to Robert as leverage.”
“Leverage against whom?”
“Patricia.”
I felt another chill.
Richard explained.
Years ago, Patricia discovered pieces of the foundation’s illegal history.
But instead of exposing it, she allegedly used the information to pressure Thomas.
Money.
Property.
Control.
Robert found out.
He threatened to reveal everything.
Thomas transferred the land to Robert because the property contained something Patricia wanted.
“What?” I asked.
Richard looked toward the backyard.
“Records.”
Daniel frowned.
“What records?”
“Your grandfather kept physical files.”
“Here?”
“Before this house existed, there was an older building on this land.”
I remembered something.
A farmhouse.
The seller had mentioned it when we bought the property.
It had been demolished decades earlier.
Richard continued.
“Thomas believed his father hid documents beneath the old foundation.”
Rachel stared at the polished floors.
“You’re saying evidence of illegal adoptions is buried under Emily’s house?”
“Possibly.”
Daniel looked toward the kitchen.
Suddenly Patricia’s obsession with getting my ownership made sense.
If she controlled the property, she controlled access.
“She wanted to search without us knowing.”
Richard nodded.
“Or destroy whatever remained.”
My hand instinctively covered my belly.
“Why wait until now?”
Richard looked at me.
“Because she learned someone else was searching too.”
“Who?”
Before he answered, headlights appeared outside.
A black SUV stopped at the curb.
Daniel moved to the window.
“Do you know them?”
Richard stood.
His face went pale.
“Turn off the lights.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What?”
“Now.”
Rachel rushed to the switches.
The room went dark.
My heartbeat exploded.
Two men stepped from the SUV.
They wore suits.
They didn't approach the front door.
One walked toward the side gate.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
Richard stopped him.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“They may be police.”
“May?”
Richard pulled back the curtain slightly.
“No.”
He whispered the word.
“Definitely not.”
Daniel dialed 911.
A loud crash came from the backyard.
Glass shattered.
Rachel screamed.
One of the men had broken the patio door.
Daniel shoved a dining chair beneath the handle.
“Upstairs!”
I tried to stand.
Pain tore through my abdomen.
Daniel caught me.
“Emily.”
“Contraction.”
Not now.
Please.
Not now.
Another crash.
The chair moved.
Richard grabbed the cassette.
Rachel grabbed the envelope.
Daniel helped me toward the stairs.
Then a voice came from the other side of the patio door.
“Richard!”
Everyone froze.
The man knew him.
“Give us the tape.”
Richard went white.
Daniel whispered, “Who are they?”
Richard said only one word.
“Foundation.”
The glass shattered again.
Daniel pushed me toward Rachel.
“Take her upstairs.”
“No!”
“Go!”
He grabbed the fireplace poker.
Richard grabbed a heavy lamp.
The chair began sliding.
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
The men outside stopped.
Then one shouted through the broken glass.
“Emily Hayes!”
My body froze.
“You want to know who your real mother is?”
Daniel stared toward the door.
The man laughed.
“Ask Richard why he buried her name.”
Then the men ran.
The SUV disappeared seconds before police arrived.
I turned toward Richard.
He looked devastated.
“Emily…”
I whispered, “You know her.”
He didn't deny it.
“Who is my mother?”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“I promised Robert I would never tell you.”
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“So tell me.”
He looked at Daniel.
Then Rachel.
Finally, at me.
“Your biological mother is alive.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“Where?”
Richard swallowed.
“She’s closer than you think.”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered without thinking.
A woman whispered my name.
“Emily?”
My throat closed.
“Who is this?”
She started crying.
May you like
Then said,
“I’m the woman who gave birth to you.”
