Chapter 3: The Child Behind the Missing Name
The room became completely silent.
Not the peaceful kind of silence.
The kind that came after a door slammed shut and everyone realized they were trapped on the other side.
Stallone stared at Vanessa.
“Three?””
Vanessa looked down.
“I didn’t know how much they had hidden from you.””
“You’re telling me there was another child?””
“I’m telling you there were things I was forced to keep quiet.””
Daniel stood beside his father, confused and frightened.
“Dad…”
Stallone placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Go with the bodyguard for a minute.””
Daniel shook his head.
“No.””
“Daniel.””
“I don’t want to leave.””
The boy looked at Vanessa.
“Every time adults say they need to talk privately, something bad happens.””
That sentence hit harder than anything else.
Stallone crouched beside him.
“Nothing is happening to you.””
Daniel glanced at the broken photograph frame on the floor.
“Something already happened.””
Stallone had no answer.
The bodyguard carefully escorted Daniel to the sitting room across the hall, leaving the investigators, Stallone, and Vanessa in the foyer.
Harris placed the documents across the table.
“We need everyone to stay calm and explain exactly what happened.””
Stallone didn’t sit.
He stared at the birth certificates.
“My name is on these.””
“Yes,” Harris said.
“But I don’t remember this.””
Vanessa folded her arms.
“That’s because you weren’t supposed to.””
Stallone turned sharply.
“Explain.””
She looked toward the windows.
Rain had started falling outside.
“When I married you, I knew there were secrets.””
“Whose secrets?””
“Your family’s.””
A bitter laugh escaped him.
“My family?””
Vanessa looked at the old photograph.
“That picture was taken during a charity event years ago. You thought it was just a normal day with your son.””
“It was.””
“No.””
She shook her head.
“That was the day someone tried to remove a person from your life.””
Harris leaned forward.
“Who?””
Vanessa hesitated.
Then she said a name.
“Emily.””
Stallone froze.
“Who is Emily?””
Vanessa looked at him.
“The third child.””
The words felt impossible.
“Where is she?””
“I don’t know.””
“You expect me to believe that?””
“I expect you to understand that I was scared.””
Stallone stepped closer.
“You destroyed evidence.””
“I protected Daniel.””
“By hurting him?””
Vanessa’s eyes filled with frustration.
“I never wanted Daniel hurt.””
“But you broke the only thing he had.””
Her expression changed.
For a second, she looked ashamed.
Then the investigators found something else.
One of them opened a smaller envelope hidden beneath the documents.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Harris read the first line.
“‘If you are reading this, then they failed to keep the truth buried.’”
Stallone reached for it.
The handwriting looked familiar.
His own.
“What is this?””
Harris handed it over.
Stallone read silently.
The letter was dated twelve years earlier.
It described a conversation he had no memory of.
A warning from someone named Dr. Rebecca Lane.
A woman who claimed she had discovered irregularities in hospital records connected to his children.
The final paragraph was the one that made his hands shake.
*They told me the baby never survived. I believed them. If I was wrong, find Emily before they do.*
Stallone looked up.
“Who is Dr. Lane?””
Vanessa answered quietly.
“She was the doctor who delivered Sophie.””
“And Emily?””
Vanessa looked away.
“She delivered all three.””
Harris immediately wrote something down.
“Where is Dr. Lane now?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“She disappeared.””
“When?””
“Years ago.””
Stallone looked back at the letter.
Someone had spent years hiding his children.
And Vanessa knew more than she admitted.
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
Vanessa’s voice cracked.
“Because every time I tried, someone reminded me what happened to the people who spoke.””
The lights suddenly flickered.
Everyone stopped.
The security officer looked toward the hallway.
“Sir.””
“What?””
“The cameras just went offline.””
Harris reached for his radio.
“Lock the exits.””
A second later, Daniel screamed from the sitting room.
“Dad!””
Stallone ran.
The door slammed open.
Daniel stood frozen beside the window.
The room was empty.
But the photograph of Sophie that had been sitting on the table was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A small note placed beneath it.
Stallone picked it up.
Three words were written in black ink.
*SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING.*
At the bottom was a name.
May you like
A name Stallone hadn’t heard in twelve years.
*Rebecca Lane.*
