Chapter 3
A nurse noticed Noah's bracelet.
That was how the next lie came apart.
She had entered to check both babies while Vittorio kept my father and brother on the other side of the room.
Lily was fine.
Noah was fine.
Then the nurse frowned.
“What?”
She touched the hospital identification band around his ankle.
“This clasp has been reopened.”
Samuel looked up.
“What?”
“These are sealed after placement.”
My body went cold.
“Who touched him?”
Nobody answered.
The nurse checked Lily.
Secure.
Then Noah again.
Loose.
Samuel left without being told.
Vittorio stared at Mark.
“What did you change?”
“Nothing.”
“Then answer the question I actually asked.”
Mark swallowed.
“I didn't touch him.”
Dad stepped forward.
“Neither did I.”
I looked at them.
“You were moving his bassinet.”
“To take you home.”
“You weren't taking me.”
Silence.
“You were taking Noah first.”
Mark looked away.
There.
Another crack.
I thought back to Ethan's funeral.
Dad had asked me something strange.
Something I had been too broken to examine.
Are you certain both babies are Ethan's?
At the time, I thought grief had made him cruel.
Now it felt different.
“Why did you ask about Noah at the funeral?”
Dad's face went still.
“What?”
“You asked whether Ethan was the father of both children.”
Mark closed his eyes.
Vittorio turned toward Dad.
“You asked that?”
“It was a question.”
“Why?”
No answer.
Samuel returned.
He was holding another newborn band.
NOAH WALKER.
My son's name.
But beneath it was a different hospital number.
A different child.
Samuel placed it on the table.
“This was printed seventeen minutes before Emma's surgery began.”
I stared.
“That isn't possible.”
Samuel looked grim.
“It shouldn't be.”
“Who printed it?”
“Terminal in the family consultation room.”
Vittorio looked at Dad.
Dad looked at Mark.
Mark looked at the floor.
I understood before anyone spoke.
“They were going to change his identity.”
“No,” Dad said.
Too fast.
I looked at the three carriers on Samuel's tablet.
Two babies.
Three carriers.
Then the false bracelet.
A horrible possibility formed.
“You were going to switch him.”
Mark stood.
“We're done.”
One of Vittorio's bodyguards stepped behind him.
Mark sat again.
I stared at my father.
“With who?”
Nothing.
“Whose baby were you putting in Noah's place?”
Dad's face finally cracked.
Not guilt.
Frustration.
As if I were ruining something carefully arranged.
Vittorio saw it too.
His voice dropped.
“Richard.”
Dad looked at him.
“You don't understand what Ethan left behind.”
I stopped breathing.
Vittorio didn't move.
“What did my son leave behind?”
Dad looked at Noah.
Not Lily.
Noah.
And suddenly I realized something else.
My father had barely looked at my daughter all night.
May you like
Only my son.
Whatever this was, Noah had always been the target.
