Chapter 8 - THE FORGED SIGNATURE
Elena retrieved an envelope hidden beneath the lining of her suitcase.
Inside was a custody document.
Adrian’s signature appeared at the bottom.
The document claimed Elena had surrendered the baby willingly in exchange for $500,000.
Adrian stared at it.
“I never signed this.”
“I know that now.”
“But you believed it.”
“I didn’t know what to believe.”
Elena’s voice cracked.
“I had already been told my baby was dead.”
“Then I found him alive.”
“And Vanessa showed me this.”
“She told me you had paid to take him because the Blackwood family could never allow someone like me to raise your heir.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
The lie was cruel because it sounded believable.
His family had been powerful.
Controlling.
Obsessed with reputation.
Elena had been a twenty-four-year-old nursing student.
Vanessa had weaponized every difference between them.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
“For what?”
“For not finding you.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“You were lied to too.”
Noah appeared in the doorway.
Neither adult had heard him.
“Are you my real parents?”
Elena’s heart broke.
She crouched.
“Yes.”
Noah looked at Adrian.
“And Daddy is my real daddy?”
“Yes.”
The boy thought about it.
Then he looked at Elena.
“Why did you leave me?”
Elena could barely breathe.
She took his hands.
“I didn’t.”
“I would never leave you.”
“Someone told me you were gone.”
Noah frowned.
“Gone where?”
Elena chose her words carefully.
“They told me I couldn’t ever see you again.”
“Why?”
“Because someone lied.”
Noah looked toward the front doors through which Vanessa had disappeared.
“Vanessa?”
Elena did not answer.
She did not need to.
Noah wrapped his arms around her neck.
“I knew you were Mommy.”
Elena held him.
“How?”
“The song.”
He whispered.
“And your eyes.”
Elena started crying.
Noah touched her cheek.
“You have my eyes.”
“No.”
May you like
She smiled through the tears.
“You have mine.”
