Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT I WAS BORN
I couldn’t stop looking at the photograph.
Olivia was younger.
Different hair.
Fewer lines around her eyes.
But unquestionably her.
Holding me.
My mother unconscious behind her.
“Why were you there?”
Olivia sat down slowly.
Nobody spoke.
“Why were you in the hospital room when I was born?”
She looked at Julian.
Not me.
“That photograph doesn’t prove anything.”
Julian laughed quietly.
“It proves more than you want.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed.
“Evelyn called me.”
“Why you?”
“She had nobody else.”
“She had me.”
“She didn’t want you.”
Julian flinched.
I hated how easily Olivia knew where to cut people.
“Why did she call you?” I asked again.
Olivia stared at the floor.
“She was frightened.”
“Of Thomas?”
Silence.
“Was Thomas my father?”
Richard made a sound behind me.
I barely heard it.
Julian looked at Olivia.
“Was he?”
Olivia’s jaw tightened.
“I don’t know.”
“You were at the birth.”
“That doesn’t mean I knew who fathered the child.”
I felt sick.
My mother had never told me my father’s identity.
Only that he left before I was born.
Whenever I asked, she said some doors should remain closed.
I had believed she meant heartbreak.
“What does ‘before transfer’ mean?”
Olivia looked at the photograph.
“I don’t remember.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You remember everything else.”
Olivia glared at her.
I searched the screenshots around the photograph.
Another document followed.
Hospital discharge summary.
Mother: Evelyn Hart.
Infant: Female.
Then a strange notation.
TEMPORARY PROTECTIVE TRANSFER AUTHORIZED.
Recipient information redacted.
“What is this?”
Julian took the phone.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Olivia looked away.
“Stop pretending,” I said.
She stood.
“I helped Evelyn leave.”
The words stopped everyone.
Julian stared.
“What?”
“She came to me because she believed Thomas was watching her.”
My heart pounded.
“Thomas Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She discovered something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe she trusted you without telling you why?”
Olivia’s eyes flashed.
“She didn’t trust me. She was desperate.”
That sounded more believable.
“Why not Julian?”
“She believed the Sterling family would bring Thomas back into negotiations.”
Julian shook his head.
“No.”
“You weren’t there.”
“You could have called me.”
“She begged me not to.”
Julian’s face crumpled for half a second before he hid it.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Then I remembered my mother had died without ever reconciling with him.
Whatever happened had taken thirty-three years from both of them.
“Where was I transferred?”
Olivia looked at me.
“To another hospital.”
“Why?”
“Your birth had been registered under another name.”
I stopped breathing.
“What name?”
She closed her eyes.
“Sterling.”
Julian whispered, “Jesus.”
Olivia continued.
“Evelyn believed someone would search hospital records for a Sterling infant.”
“So she transferred me?”
“Yes.”
“Under Hart?”
“Eventually.”
“What happened to my original records?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa muttered, “Vault 4827.”
We all looked at the screenshot again.
Original maternity record.
Child survived.
Do not release to Bennett.
Julian pulled out his phone.
“I’m calling my archivist.”
Olivia lunged for it.
He stepped away.
“What are you afraid he’ll find?”
“Nothing.”
Julian dialed.
Nobody answered.
He tried again.
Voicemail.
Then his phone buzzed.
A text.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward me.
Message from Sterling Archive Security.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED — VAULT 4827 OPENED 17 MINUTES AGO.
Someone had opened the archive while we were standing inside Olivia’s house.
Julian immediately called security.
This time someone answered.
He put the call on speaker.
“Mr. Sterling, we have a problem.”
“What happened?”
“Vault 4827 was accessed using a valid family credential.”
“Whose?”
A pause.
“Yours.”
Julian stared at the phone.
“I’m in Connecticut.”
“I understand.”
“Who entered?”
“We’re reviewing footage.”
“Lock the archive.”
“We did.”
“Was anything removed?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
My hand tightened around the ring.
“What?” I asked.
The security officer responded.
“One sealed maternity file and a small cassette recording.”
Olivia sank into the chair.
Julian looked at her.
“What cassette?”
She whispered, “Evelyn.”
“How do you know?”
Olivia covered her face.
“She recorded what happened before Claire was born.”
My heart started pounding.
“What happened?”
Before Olivia answered, Julian’s phone buzzed again.
A still image from archive security.
A man walking out of the Sterling building carrying a document case.
His face was partly turned away.
But Olivia recognized him.
She whispered one name.
“Thomas.”
Richard laughed nervously.
“Thomas Bennett is dead.”
Olivia looked at her son.
“No.”
The room went completely still.
Richard stared.
“What did you just say?”
Olivia realized what she had admitted.
Too late.
She looked at me.
Then Julian.
May you like
And whispered, “The man you buried wasn’t Thomas.”
📖 Discover why the Bennett family believed Thomas had been dead for twelve years—and who had actually been buried under his name in CHAPTER 7. 👇
