Chapter 5: The Woman Who Gave Him Away
For several seconds, I forgot Marcus was standing beside me.
The ballroom below us disappeared.
The wedding disappeared.
Even Daniel disappeared.
There was only the trembling voice in my ear.
“I’m the woman who gave birth to your brother.””
I gripped the edge of the desk.
“What’s your name?””
“Rebecca Hale.””
The name meant nothing to me.
And somehow that made it worse.
“Where did you get my number?””
“Your company website.””
My stomach tightened.
“Why are you calling me now?””
Rebecca was silent.
Then she said, “Because Daniel found me first.””
I stood so quickly my chair rolled backward.
Marcus frowned.
“What happened?””
I raised a hand.
“Rebecca, start from the beginning.””
“I can’t do this over the phone.””
“Then why did you call?””
“Because I needed to know if you were really alive.””
That sentence hit differently now.
“Why wouldn’t I be?””
“Daniel told me you were dead.””
Of course he did.
I closed my eyes.
“Where are you?””
She named a diner fifteen minutes from the hotel.
“I’ll be there.””
Marcus stood.
“You’re not going alone.””
“This is family.””
“With respect, Claire, I’m beginning to think that makes it more dangerous.””
I almost argued.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from my mother.
*We need to talk before you destroy your brother’s life.*
I showed Marcus.
He read it once.
“I’m coming.””
Twenty minutes later, we entered the diner.
Rebecca sat in the back booth.
She was probably in her late fifties, with silver threaded through dark hair and nervous hands wrapped around untouched tea.
When she saw me, she stood.
“Oh.””
Her eyes moved over my face.
“You look like Evelyn.””
“My mother?””
Rebecca flinched.
“The woman who raised you.””
That distinction made my skin crawl.
Marcus slid into the booth opposite her.
Rebecca looked alarmed.
“This is Marcus Ashford,” I said.
Her face drained.
“The bride’s father?””
“Yes.””
“I didn’t know—”
“He knows Daniel lied.””
Rebecca slowly sat.
I placed the birth certificate on the table.
“Explain.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Daniel was born David Hale.””
I stared at her.
“David?””
“My son.””
She pressed a hand to her mouth.
“I was nineteen. His father disappeared before he was born. I had no money. No family willing to help.””
“So you placed him for adoption?””
She nodded.
“A private adoption.””
“Through an agency?””
Her silence answered before she did.
“No.””
Marcus leaned forward.
“What does that mean?””
Rebecca looked terrified.
“It means your parents paid me.””
The diner seemed to tilt.
“How much?””
“Claire—”
“How much?””
“Twenty thousand dollars.””
Thirty-three years ago, that had been a fortune to a frightened nineteen-year-old.
“Why would my parents do that?””
Rebecca looked at me.
“Because Evelyn couldn’t have another child.””
My chest tightened.
I remembered my mother telling everyone Daniel had been her miracle baby.
Apparently that part was true.
Just not in the way anyone thought.
Rebecca continued.
“They wanted a son. Your father handled everything. He had a lawyer. I signed papers.””
“Legal papers?””
“I thought they were.””
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“You thought?””
Rebecca’s eyes dropped.
“Years later, I discovered there was no finalized adoption record.””
My fingers went numb.
“What?””
“They changed the birth certificate privately. I don’t know how.””
Marcus sat back.
“That would be extremely serious.””
Rebecca nodded.
“I know.””
“Why didn’t you report it?””
“Because I took the money.””
Her voice cracked.
“And because Evelyn found me when Daniel was six.””
I stopped breathing.
“My mother contacted you?””
“She came to my apartment.””
“What did she want?””
“To make sure I disappeared.””
Rebecca looked directly at me.
“She said if I ever contacted Daniel, your father would tell police I had sold my baby.””
I felt something old and ugly rearranging itself inside me.
My parents had always been obsessed with appearances.
Daniel’s achievements.
Lauren’s marriage.
My work.
Every family decision had been about how things looked from the outside.
But this?
This wasn’t embarrassment.
This was fear.
“Why contact Daniel now?””
“I didn’t.””
Rebecca shook her head.
“He contacted me six months ago.””
“Six months?””
“He said he’d done a DNA test.””
That explained something.
Daniel’s behavior had become unbearable around that time.
More secretive.
More desperate to impress Victoria’s family.
“He asked if I was his biological mother,” Rebecca said.
“I told him yes.””
“What happened next?””
“He wanted everything.””
“Everything?””
“Documents. Names. Dates. The lawyer your father used.””
Rebecca swallowed.
“At first I thought he wanted to understand where he came from.””
“But?””
“He wanted to know whether the Ashfords could find out.””
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Why would I care whether he was adopted?””
Rebecca gave him a sad look.
“He wasn’t afraid you’d learn he was adopted.””
She turned back to me.
“He was afraid you’d learn how your parents got him.””
I thought of Daniel’s words.
If they know who you are, everything changes.
“Why erase me?””
Rebecca reached into her handbag.
“Because of this.””
She handed me an envelope.
Inside was a photocopy of a handwritten letter.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
My father’s.
The date was twenty-seven years earlier.
I had been five.
Daniel had been six.
Rebecca pointed to one paragraph.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
My father had written:
*Claire remembers Rebecca visiting the house. Evelyn says she was asleep, but Claire saw her at the door. We need to make sure she never connects the woman to Daniel.*
My throat closed.
A memory flickered.
Rain against glass.
My mother shouting.
A woman crying on the porch.
My father carrying me upstairs.
I had thought it was a dream.
Rebecca whispered, “You were the only person outside the three of us who ever saw me.””
“But I was five.””
“Daniel didn’t know how much you remembered.””
I looked at Marcus.
Everything suddenly made horrifying sense.
Daniel wasn’t merely ashamed of me.
Once he learned the truth about his birth, I became a risk.
So he had killed me on paper before anyone could ask me about the past.
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was Victoria.
*Claire, where are you?*
Then another message.
*My parents just arrived at the hotel.*
I frowned.
Her parents?
Marcus was sitting across from me.
I looked up.
“Marcus.””
“What?””
“Victoria says her parents just arrived.””
His expression changed.
Slowly.
“My ex-wife,” he said.
Before I could respond, Victoria sent one final message.
*Daniel told Mom you’re trying to blackmail him.*
May you like
And beneath it:
*She believes him.*
