Chapter 4 - THE SECOND BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Detective Rachel Moreno arrived forty minutes later.
She didn’t care about Adrian’s money.
That was immediately obvious.
She separated everyone.
Clara told her story.
Vanessa demanded an attorney.
Adrian surrendered the blue box voluntarily.
Then Detective Moreno discovered something strange.
There were two birth certificates.
One named Clara.
The other listed Vanessa.
Same child.
Same hospital.
Same date.
Different mother.
“That doesn’t happen accidentally,” Moreno said.
Adrian looked toward Vanessa.
Her attorney had arrived.
He advised her not to speak.
Moreno examined the hospital documents.
“There’s something else.”
She placed a billing statement on the table.
A private medical company had received $280,000 three days after Noah’s birth.
The payment came from a shell corporation.
Adrian recognized the company.
“VHB Consulting.”
Moreno nodded.
“Know it?”
Adrian stared at Vanessa.
“Vanessa Helena Blackwood.”
Vanessa’s maiden initials.
Her attorney stood.
“We’re done here.”
Moreno didn’t stop him.
Not yet.
But before Vanessa left the room, Noah appeared in the doorway.
He looked at her.
“Did you take me from Mommy?”
Vanessa froze.
No one spoke.
Noah’s eyes filled with tears.
“Did you?”
Vanessa’s face softened for the first time.
“Noah—”
“Tell me.”
She couldn’t.
That silence answered him.
Noah turned and ran.
Clara followed.
Adrian stayed behind.
He stared at Vanessa.
“You told me Clara died.”
Vanessa looked away.
“You told me Noah’s biological mother suffered a hemorrhage and died.”
“I was trying to give him stability.”
“You told me there was no one to contact.”
Vanessa finally looked at him.
“And what would you have done?”
“Found her.”
“Exactly.”
The word came out bitter.
“You would have found her.”
Adrian stared at her.
Vanessa laughed softly.
“And then what?”
“You would have fallen in love with the brave little mother of your child?”
“You would have married her?”
“Where would that have left me?”
Adrian looked at her as if he had never seen her before.
“This was about you.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“It was always about us.”
“There was never an us.”
Vanessa flinched.
Adrian continued.
“There was a lie.”
Then Detective Moreno’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Everyone watched her.
She ended the call.
“We found the doctor who signed the second birth certificate.”
Clara stood.
“He’s alive?”
Moreno nodded.
“And he wants immunity.”
Vanessa’s attorney whispered something urgently.
May you like
But Vanessa wasn’t listening.
Because she knew exactly what the doctor could tell them.
