Chapter 11 - THE SECOND DAUGHTER
Anna’s second child was born while she was held at Richard’s clinic.
She had been told the baby died.
The records identified a girl named Lily Grant.
Transferred at birth.
Current status unknown.
Eleanor remembered hearing an infant cry in the room beside Anna’s.
Diane later carried a bundle out through the service entrance.
Federal investigators searched sealed adoptions.
One woman matched the birth date and genetic markers.
Rachel Vale.
Dr. Samuel Vale’s daughter.
He had raised Anna’s stolen baby as his own.
Rachel was thirty-one and worked as a family-court attorney.
She had represented Diane in multiple guardianship cases.
She helped continue the system that stole her.
When agents confronted Rachel, she refused to believe them.
Then DNA confirmed Anna was her mother.
Rachel’s entire identity collapsed.
She blamed Anna for returning.
She blamed me for exposing the family.
She defended Vale because he was the only father she knew.
Anna did not demand love from her.
“I only wanted you to know you were not abandoned.”
Rachel began crying.
Then she admitted she had Diane’s client ledger.
Diane gave it to her before the courthouse hearing.
Rachel planned to destroy it to protect adoptive families.
Rebecca warned that destroying the ledger would also erase evidence needed to find victims.
Rachel surrendered it.
The ledger contained names, payments, medical records, and recordings.
It also revealed why Diane selected me.
The twelve-million-dollar account did not belong to Richard.
It belonged to Anna.
Her father left it in trust for her children.
Diane needed control over both daughters to access it.
She found me first.
She raised Rachel through Vale.
My marriage and guardianship were designed to consolidate both shares.
The money had always been ours.
Diane destroyed our family to steal what she could have never earned.
Then Rachel found an entry dated the day before my hospital admission.
CLAIRE — PROCEDURE COMPLETE. PREGNANCY CONFIRMED.
I stared at her.
“I’m not pregnant.”
Dr. Brooks ordered an immediate test.
May you like
It was positive.
While I was unconscious in Diane’s house, someone had implanted an embryo.
