Chapter 15 - The Woman Behind Sophie’s Birth File
I couldn't breathe.
"Sophie!"
The live feed had no visible call controls.
My daughter looked toward someone off camera.
She wasn't crying.
That frightened me more.
She didn't understand yet that she was in danger.
I grabbed my phone and called Dana.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
Rachel rushed beside me.
"Call Chloe."
I did.
No answer.
Madison.
Nothing.
Daniel grabbed Peter by the front of his suit.
"Who is in that house?"
The two men behind him moved.
Board members shouted.
Peter raised both hands.
"They are unharmed."
"Who?"
"All of them."
I stepped closer.
"If anyone touches my daughter—"
"Then listen."
His voice remained calm.
That calmness made me want to tear the room apart.
"What do you want?"
"The DNA report."
"You already have the result."
"The original."
"Why?"
"Because of the specimen seal."
Elaine's warning.
I took the report from my handbag.
Peter's eyes followed it.
"What's attached to this seal?"
His smile thinned.
"Not attached."
"Then what?"
"Linked."
I stared at him.
"The laboratory number connects Sophie to the older sample series."
Laura stepped forward.
"LP-1989."
Peter looked at her.
"You should've stayed hidden."
Laura flinched.
I moved between them.
"What is LP-1989?"
He ignored me.
The screen changed.
A second video window appeared.
Chloe and Madison sat beside Sophie.
Dana was on the floor near the kitchen island.
Conscious.
Her hands secured in front of her.
My stomach turned.
"Let them go."
Peter said, "After the board votes."
Rachel shouted, "Votes on what?"
He opened the folder.
"Emergency fiduciary authority."
One board member stood.
"I'm not voting under threat."
Peter looked almost amused.
"You already did."
The man froze.
Peter turned the folder around.
Proxy ballots.
Signed.
I saw names.
Five board members.
Margaret's face hardened.
"You forged them."
Peter looked at her.
"That's rich coming from you."
Daniel moved toward him again.
I grabbed Daniel's arm.
"Not yet."
He looked at me.
I recognized the fury in his face.
Once, years ago, I would have followed it anywhere.
Tonight I needed him controlled.
Peter wanted chaos.
I wouldn't give it to him.
"What happens if the board accepts your fiduciary appointment?"
"I administer the girls' trust interests until adulthood."
"And control Parker Development."
"Temporarily."
"Seventeen years isn't temporary."
His eyes flickered.
Sophie was eight.
He knew exactly how long.
Rachel whispered, "You planned this before she was born."
Peter smiled.
"I planned for several possibilities."
I looked at Margaret.
"Did you know?"
"No."
For once, there was no hesitation.
Peter laughed.
"Margaret knew enough."
She turned on him.
"You told me Sophie would be excluded."
"Because otherwise you wouldn't have helped."
Rachel stared at our mother.
Margaret couldn't defend that.
She had still helped.
Peter merely exploited what was already inside her.
I held up the report.
"Release the girls and I'll give you the original."
"No."
"Then you get nothing."
"You misunderstand your position."
"You're threatening three children in front of six board members."
"Who are trapped in a room with you."
I looked around.
Locked doors.
No visible security.
Phones had signal but Dana didn't answer.
Peter had chosen the building carefully.
Then Laura whispered, "Emily."
She was staring at the old St. Catherine's video still frozen behind the live feed.
The unknown pregnant woman.
"What?"
"Her bracelet."
I looked.
A plastic hospital band circled the woman's wrist.
Laura stepped toward the screen.
"Zoom in."
One board member used the table controls.
The image enlarged.
The bracelet was blurry.
But a surname was visible.
TRENT.
Dr. Samuel Trent.
My pulse jumped.
"His wife?"
Margaret whispered, "His daughter."
I turned.
"What?"
"Caroline Trent."
"Who is she?"
Margaret stared at the screen.
"The woman your father was having an affair with."
The room went silent.
Laura went completely still.
I looked at her.
She looked devastated.
"My father?"
Margaret nodded.
"Henry."
Rachel whispered, "Mom..."
Margaret continued.
"Caroline became pregnant the same year Laura did."
My mind couldn't organize the sentence.
"What does that have to do with me?"
Margaret looked at Laura.
Then at me.
"Because Henry never knew which baby Dr. Trent gave us."
My skin turned cold.
Laura whispered, "No."
Peter's face changed.
He hadn't expected Margaret to say that.
I saw it.
"You don't know for certain," he snapped.
Margaret looked at him.
"Neither do you."
For the first time, Peter lost control.
"Stop talking."
I stepped toward Margaret.
"Explain."
She looked at me.
"Laura gave birth first."
Laura was crying now.
"To me."
Margaret shook her head.
"I don't know."
Laura backed away.
"No."
"Caroline gave birth twenty-three hours later."
Rachel covered her mouth.
Margaret continued.
"Both girls were premature. Both were placed in the same private nursery."
My heart pounded.
"What happened?"
"There was a fire alarm."
Peter shouted, "Margaret!"
She ignored him.
"Records were moved. Bracelets were replaced. Trent handled everything himself."
Laura whispered, "He told me my baby died."
Margaret nodded.
"He told Caroline the same thing."
I felt the room tipping.
"Then who am I?"
Margaret's voice broke for the first time all night.
"I don't know."
Silence.
Thirty-four years.
My mother didn't know who had given birth to me.
Laura might not be my biological mother.
Caroline Trent might be.
My father's alleged mistress.
And the DNA report contained an older specimen reference that could answer it.
Peter wanted that report destroyed.
I looked at him.
"LP doesn't mean Laura Parker."
His face tightened.
"What does it mean?"
He said nothing.
Daniel moved beside me.
"Emily."
Something in his tone made me turn.
He was looking at page seven.
At the specimen code.
"That's not LP."
I frowned.
"What?"
He pointed.
The handwriting was cramped.
LPI-989.
Not LP-1989.
A specimen index.
Laura suddenly reached into her coat.
She pulled out the old infant hospital bracelet.
"There's a number inside."
She handed it to me.
I turned it over.
LPI-989.
Everyone went silent.
The DNA report was linked to the bracelet Laura had carried for thirty-four years.
My hands began shaking.
Peter lunged.
Daniel tackled him into the conference table.
Board members shouted.
The two men behind Daniel moved, but Margaret grabbed one chair and slammed it into the first man's path.
Rachel snatched Peter's folder.
I stepped backward with the report.
The live video feed flickered.
Sophie disappeared.
"Sophie!"
The screen went black.
Then a woman's face appeared.
Mid-sixties.
Silver-blond hair.
Sharp blue eyes.
She looked directly into the camera.
Margaret dropped the chair.
Her face went white.
"Caroline."
The woman smiled.
Caroline Trent.
Alive.
She raised one hand.
In it was another hospital bracelet.
EMILY PARKER — INFANT FEMALE.
Same name.
Different specimen number.
Laura whispered, "There were two."
Caroline looked through the camera as if she could see me.
Then she spoke.
"Hello, Emily."
I couldn't move.
Behind her, Sophie suddenly stepped into frame.
Unharmed.
Caroline rested a hand on my daughter's shoulder.
Every instinct in my body screamed.
"Take your hand off her."
Caroline smiled.
"You've spent tonight asking who Sophie's mother is."
My throat tightened.
"Let her go."
"But that's the smaller question."
She lifted the second bracelet.
"The real question is which infant Henry Parker took home thirty-four years ago."
Margaret whispered, "Don't listen to her."
Caroline laughed softly.
"Margaret still hasn't told you why she chose one nursery crib instead of the other."
I looked at Margaret.
She shook her head.
"No."
Caroline continued.
"And Laura doesn't know what Peter found when he tested her against Emily three years ago."
Laura stared at Peter.
"What?"
I looked at him.
"You tested us?"
Peter was on the floor beside Daniel, blood at the corner of his mouth.
He didn't answer.
Caroline smiled again.
"The result is why he needed Sophie."
My heart slammed.
"How?"
"Because Sophie isn't only the third Parker descendant."
She leaned closer to the camera.
"Her paternal bloodline connects to the infant switch."
Daniel went still.
"What does that mean?"
Caroline looked past the camera.
Someone handed her a red folder.
Daniel's red folder.
The one Margaret gave him last night.
The one he supposedly still had.
My stomach dropped.
"How did you get that?"
Daniel stared at the screen.
"I didn't give it to her."
Caroline opened it.
Inside were two DNA reports.
One labeled EMILY PARKER.
One labeled DANIEL BROOKS.
She held them side by side.
Then she looked directly at me.
"Peter didn't force Daniel to deny Sophie's paternity because he wasn't her father."
Daniel's face drained of color.
"He forced him to sign because confirming Daniel as Sophie's father would expose who Daniel's biological mother really is."
Silence.
Daniel whispered, "My mother died when I was six."
Caroline smiled.
"No, Daniel."
Margaret gripped the table.
Peter closed his eyes.
Caroline turned the first page toward the camera.
At the bottom was a relationship result.
I couldn't read the name.
Not yet.
Then Sophie looked toward Caroline.
"Can I go home now?"
My entire body tightened.
Caroline gently moved Sophie out of frame.
"Very soon."
"Don't touch her!"
Caroline returned her attention to me.
"If you want your daughter back, Emily, bring Laura and Daniel to St. Catherine's old clinic."
Laura whispered, "It's abandoned."
"Not underneath."
Caroline lifted the two DNA reports.
"That's where Henry hid the original maternity ledger."
Margaret stepped forward.
"That ledger burned."
Caroline's smile vanished.
"No."
For the first time, Margaret looked genuinely stunned.
Caroline continued.
"Henry stole it before the fire."
Then she held up one final document.
My father's handwriting covered the front.
EMILY — DANIEL — DO NOT LET THEM MEET.
Daniel stared at it.
So did I.
Caroline's next words made the entire room go silent.
"Your father knew exactly who both of you were."
The screen cut to black.
A second later, my phone rang.
Sophie's name appeared on the caller ID.
I answered immediately.
"Sophie?"
My daughter's frightened whisper came through.
"Mom... there's another little girl here."
My blood went cold.
"What little girl?"
Sophie lowered her voice.
"She says Grandma chained her too."
I looked at Margaret.
Her face collapsed.
Then Sophie whispered one final sentence.
May you like
"Mom... she says her last name is Parker."
📖 Discover who the second Parker girl is—and why Caroline’s hidden maternity ledger could destroy everything we know about Emily, Daniel, and Sophie when CHAPTER 16 begins in PART 2. 👇
