C17 The other mother

Alexander Hayes read the message for the seventh time.

Ask your mother what she promised the woman who gave birth to the other baby.

The words were simple, but they opened a door he wasn't sure he wanted to walk through.

For five years, he had believed the greatest tragedy of his life was losing Elizabeth and missing the first years of his daughter's childhood.

Now he was beginning to suspect that the separation between him and Elizabeth had been only one part of a much larger arrangement.

Someone had planned something at St. Vincent's Hospital.

Someone had known about two babies.

And someone had made a promise to a woman whose identity remained hidden.

Alexander grabbed his car keys.

He was going to his mother's mansion.

This time, he wouldn't leave until she told him the truth.

---

Victoria Hayes was in her private study when Alexander arrived.

She looked up from her desk, and for a fraction of a second, alarm crossed her face.

Then she composed herself.

“You could have called before coming.”

“I've spent five years waiting for answers. I don't intend to schedule an appointment for them.”

Victoria placed her pen down.

“What have you discovered?”

Alexander pulled out his father's letter and placed it on the desk.

“Jonathan knew about the arrangement involving the two babies.”

His mother's face went pale.

“Where did you get that?”

“From his private belongings. He left it for me.”

Victoria reached for the letter, but Alexander withdrew it.

“You don't get to decide what I read anymore.”

“Alexander, there are things you don't understand.”

“Then explain them.”

She stood and walked toward the window.

“Your grandfather believed the Hayes family was more important than any individual member of it. He thought the family name, the company, and the inheritance had to be protected at all costs.”

“And you agreed with him?”

“I was raised to believe that loyalty meant making difficult choices.”

“Did loyalty mean forging a letter to Elizabeth?”

Victoria turned sharply.

“That's different.”

“Is it? You separated me from the woman I loved. You made her believe I wanted nothing to do with her. You allowed me to believe she had abandoned me.”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

Victoria's lips parted, but no answer came.

Alexander stepped closer.

“What did you promise the woman who gave birth to the other baby?”

His mother's expression changed.

For several seconds, the room was completely silent.

Then she whispered, “Who told you that?”

“So it's true.”

Victoria sank into her chair.

“I should have known this day would come.”

“Who was she?”

“I can't tell you.”

Alexander stared at her in disbelief.

“You can't, or you won't?”

“Both.”

He turned away, struggling to control his anger.

“Mother, I have a daughter. I have a woman I loved and still love, and both of them were dragged into a situation they knew nothing about. If someone was hurt because of what you did, I have a right to know.”

Victoria's eyes filled with tears.

“You think I don't know that?”

“Then tell me the truth!”

She pressed a hand to her mouth.

“I promised that woman her child would be safe.”

Alexander froze.

“Safe from whom?”

Victoria looked at him.

“From this family.”

The words hung between them.

Alexander felt as though the room had tilted beneath his feet.

“You promised to protect a child from the Hayes family, but you stayed here and helped my grandfather control the inheritance?”

“I didn't understand the full arrangement when I made the promise.”

“When did you understand it?”

Victoria looked down.

“Too late.”

Alexander paced across the room.

“What happened to the woman?”

“I don't know.”

“Don't lie to me.”

“I am not lying! She disappeared after the transfer. I was told she had left the country.”

“Who told you?”

Victoria hesitated.

“Your grandfather's lawyer.”

“Name.”

“Edmund Price.”

Alexander immediately took out his phone and typed the name into a message to Daniel.

“Did the woman know where her baby was being taken?”

“I believe she did.”

“Did she agree to the transfer?”

Victoria closed her eyes.

“She agreed to something. But I don't know whether she understood what she was agreeing to.”

Alexander stared at her.

“You helped arrange the transfer without knowing whether the mother understood it?”

“I was trying to prevent a scandal.”

“No,” he said coldly. “You were trying to control a situation that should never have been yours to control.”

Victoria flinched.

He collected the letter.

“I'm going to find that woman.”

“Alexander, you don't know what you're getting into.”

“Then perhaps you should have told me before it reached this point.”

He walked toward the door.

Behind him, Victoria spoke again.

“There's something else.”

He stopped.

She struggled to meet his eyes.

“The woman didn't give birth alone.”

Alexander slowly turned around.

“What does that mean?”

Victoria's voice trembled.

“There was another woman in the maternity wing that night. A woman who had come to see her.”

“Who?”

“I never learned her name.”

“Did she leave with the baby?”

“I don't know.”

Alexander's expression hardened.

“You expect me to believe that you arranged a transfer involving two babies, promised one mother protection, and don't know where either woman went?”

Victoria said nothing.

For the first time, Alexander understood that his mother might not have been the mastermind behind everything.

She might have been one of several people who had agreed to a plan without understanding its full consequences.

That didn't excuse her.

But it meant someone else was still out there.

Someone who might know the truth.

Alexander left without another word.

---

Richard Hayes had never trusted his grandfather's lawyers.

He trusted them even less now.

He sat in his penthouse with the private family agreement spread across the table. Daniel had not released the document to him, of course, but Richard had his own sources.

One of them had quietly obtained a partial copy from an old legal archive.

The agreement was incomplete, but the surviving pages were enough to reveal something disturbing.

The two babies had been placed under a confidential arrangement.

Their identities were not to be disclosed until a specific condition was met.

And if the arrangement was broken, the inheritance could be challenged.

Richard leaned back.

For years, he had believed Alexander's position as heir was secure because their grandfather had favored him.

Now he wondered whether the old man had been preparing for a future in which Alexander might lose everything.

His phone rang.

The number was unfamiliar.

He answered.

“Richard Hayes.”

A woman spoke.

“I'm calling about the hospital records.”

His body stiffened.

“Who is this?”

“Someone who knows what happened to the second baby.”

Richard sat upright.

“Tell me where the child is.”

“I can't do that over the phone.”

“Then meet me.”

“No.”

Richard slammed his hand against the table.

“Listen to me. My family has spent five years lying to me. I am done being kept in the dark.”

There was a pause.

Then the woman said, “If you want answers, stop asking your mother.”

“That's exactly what I've been doing.”

“Then ask your grandfather's former lawyer what happened to the missing page.”

“Edmund Price?”

The woman went silent.

Richard smiled without humor.

“So you know him.”

“I know what he did.”

“What did he do?”

“He made sure the wrong people received the right information.”

The line went dead.

Richard stared at his phone.

He immediately searched for Edmund Price's contact details.

The lawyer had retired years ago, but his name still appeared on several old Hayes estate documents.

Richard called the number listed in the directory.

A receptionist answered.

“Price and Associates.”

“I need to speak with Edmund Price.”

“I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Price is no longer taking appointments.”

“Tell him Richard Hayes is calling about the St. Vincent's agreement.”

There was a long silence.

Then the receptionist said, “Please hold.”

Richard waited.

A minute later, another voice came on the line.

Older. Deeper. Familiar with the sound of authority.

“This is Edmund Price.”

“Mr. Price, I need to ask you about an agreement signed by my grandfather and father.”

“I don't discuss confidential client matters.”

“Even when those matters involve two babies whose identities may have been changed?”

Silence.

Richard leaned forward.

“I know about the transfer. I know my mother was involved. And I know there's a missing page.”

When the lawyer finally spoke, his voice had changed.

“Where did you get that information?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes,” Price replied. “Because if you have the wrong document, you could destroy several lives by pursuing it.”

Richard's blood ran cold.

“Then tell me whether I have the wrong document.”

“I can't.”

“Why?”

“Because the agreement was never meant to become public.”

Richard laughed bitterly.

“Neither was the truth about my family, apparently.”

“Mr. Hayes, listen carefully. There are people who will do anything to prevent those records from being examined.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No. I'm warning you.”

Richard stood.

“I'm coming to see you.”

“Don't.”

“Why?”

“Because if you come here, you may discover that I am not the person you should be afraid of.”

The line went dead.

Richard remained standing, his phone pressed against his ear.

For the first time, he wondered whether his mother had been right about one thing.

The truth could destroy them all.

But he had already decided he would rather face the truth than spend the rest of his life living inside her lies.

---

Back at Alexander's apartment, Elizabeth sat beside Grace on the sofa.

The little girl was coloring a picture of a house with a red roof and a garden full of flowers.

“Mommy, can we plant flowers outside our home?”

“Of course.”

“Can Daddy help?”

Elizabeth paused.

“If he wants to.”

Grace looked up.

“He always wants to help me.”

There was such certainty in her voice that Elizabeth felt a familiar ache in her chest.

Alexander had missed five years of Grace's life. He couldn't recover those birthdays, those first words, or the countless little moments that made up a childhood.

But he was trying.

And Grace was giving him a chance without asking him to earn it.

Elizabeth wished the adults around them had been half as honest.

Her phone rang.

Alexander.

She answered immediately.

“What happened?”

“I spoke to my mother.”

“And?”

“She admitted she promised a woman that her child would be safe from the Hayes family.”

Elizabeth stopped coloring.

“A child?”

“Yes. But she claims she doesn't know where the woman went.”

“Do you believe her?”

“I believe she knows more than she's telling me.”

Elizabeth looked toward Grace.

“Alexander, I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“When I was pregnant, I received a call from a woman who asked about my hospital paperwork. I thought it was a scam, but now I wonder whether she was trying to warn me.”

“Did she say her name?”

“I think she called herself Catherine. I'm not completely sure.”

Alexander was quiet for a moment.

“Catherine Moore contacted you before you left the country?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn't she contact you again?”

“I don't know.”

Alexander took a slow breath.

“Elizabeth, I think we need to find her.”

“What if she's the woman your mother promised to protect?”

“It's possible.”

“And what if she's the mother of the second baby?”

“That's possible too.”

Elizabeth lowered her voice.

“Then we might be looking for someone who has been running from your family for five years.”

“Or someone who has been trying to reach us.”

They fell silent.

Then Grace called from the sofa.

“Mommy! Look!”

Elizabeth turned.

Grace held up her drawing.

She had drawn three people standing in front of the house.

Then she added a fourth figure.

A little boy.

Elizabeth stared at the paper.

“Sweetheart, who's that?”

Grace shrugged.

“I don't know. I just thought he needed a home too.”

Elizabeth felt a chill move through her.

It was only a child's drawing.

It meant nothing.

It had to mean nothing.

But she couldn't forget the mysterious boy Grace had described in her dream.

Nor could she forget the messages warning that another child had been caught in the Hayes family's secrets.

Alexander's voice came through the phone.

“Elizabeth?”

She forced herself to answer.

“I'm here.”

“Are you all right?”

She looked at Grace's drawing again.

“No,” she admitted. “But I'm trying to be.”

“I'll come home as soon as I can.”

“Alexander?”

“Yes?”

“Whatever happens, we protect Grace first.”

His answer came without hesitation.

“Always.”

---

An hour later, Daniel called Alexander with an update.

“I found Edmund Price's current address.”

“Where?”

“Boston. But there's a complication.”

Alexander stood from his desk.

“What now?”

“Price's office was broken into early this morning. The police have confirmed that several old client files were taken.”

“Which files?”

“They haven't released the full list. But one of the missing folders was labeled Jonathan Hayes.”

Alexander closed his eyes briefly.

“Someone is cleaning up the past.”

“That's what it looks like.”

“Can you get me Price's home address?”

“I already have it. I'm sending it now.”

Alexander collected his coat.

“I'm going to Boston.”

“Should I come with you?”

“Yes. And Daniel?”

“I'm listening.”

“Find out whether Catherine Moore is still alive.”

“I'll do my best.”

Alexander ended the call.

He looked once toward the living room.

Elizabeth was reading Grace a bedtime story. Grace had fallen asleep against her mother's shoulder, her drawing resting on the table beside them.

For a moment, he considered staying.

Then he remembered his father's letter.

One child's future was decided before he could even open his eyes.

He had spent too many years allowing other people to decide what he deserved to know.

That ended now.

---

In Boston, an elderly man sat alone in a dimly lit study.

Edmund Price had received Richard's call.

He had also received another message, one that had left him trembling.

They have found the agreement. Destroy the remaining copy before Alexander arrives.

Price opened the bottom drawer of his desk and removed a small metal box.

Inside lay a document wrapped in protective paper.

The missing page.

He unfolded it carefully.

Two names were written beneath the agreement.

Two children.

Two different futures.

And beside one name was a handwritten note:

The mother must never be told where her child has been taken.

Price stared at the words.

Then he heard a knock at the front door.

Three sharp knocks.

He froze.

Another knock followed.

A man's voice called from the other side.

“Mr. Price? Alexander Hayes.”

Price quickly folded the document and slipped it into his jacket.

He had spent five years protecting the agreement.

But now the son of the man who signed it was standing at his door.

And the truth could no longer be kept hidden.