The Hidden heir’s revenge

Chapter 40 — The Mother Who Lied

Varek stared at the hospital bracelet in his hand.

MOTHER: GRACE CROSS.

The words seemed to move in front of his eyes.

Grace had looked him in the face and told him she was only a nurse. She had spoken about the children, the hospital records, and the switched identities, but she had never once claimed to be his mother.

Now her name was printed on a bracelet bearing his date of birth.

“That’s impossible,” Evelyn whispered.

Varek looked at her.

“Your mother just said the sixth child wasn’t Samuel. Then the screen went off. Now I find this.”

Evelyn shook her head.

“Grace never gave birth to you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I grew up with her. I know what happened to her after the hospital closed. I know the years she spent searching for someone.”

“Who was she searching for?”

Evelyn opened her mouth, but no answer came.

Samuel picked up the gun Matthew had dropped.

“Maybe we’re asking the wrong questions.”

Adrian immediately raised his weapon.

“Put that down.”

Samuel looked at him.

“I’m not going to shoot anyone.”

“Then don’t pick up a gun.”

Samuel placed it on a nearby table.

“I think Matthew left because he knew something was about to happen.”

Varek examined the bracelet again.

“Or because he was involved.”

Naomi’s voice came through the earpiece.

“Varek, I need you to send me a picture of that bracelet.”

He held it up toward the small camera attached to his phone.

“Sending it now.”

A few seconds passed.

Then Naomi spoke.

“That’s not an ordinary identification bracelet.”

“What does that mean?”

“It has two registration numbers. One is the number on the outside. The other is hidden beneath the plastic coating.”

“Can you read it?”

“I’m trying.”

A loud bang came from the corridor.

Adrian turned toward the door.

“Someone is coming.”

Varek moved toward the entrance and looked through the narrow glass panel.

Two men in black uniforms were walking down the corridor.

They were not hospital staff.

One of them carried a small equipment case.

“Get away from the door,” Varek ordered.

Evelyn moved behind him.

The first man stopped outside the room.

“Security inspection. Open the door.”

Varek didn’t move.

“Show your identification.”

The man lifted a card.

Varek looked at it.

It carried the hospital’s old security logo.

Something was wrong.

The logo was outdated, but the access card displayed a green light.

Naomi suddenly spoke.

“Varek, don’t open that door!”

He stepped back.

“Why?”

“Those cards were deactivated twenty-five years ago. Someone has restored the old security permissions.”

The handle began turning.

Adrian pulled Daniel behind a medical trolley.

“Get down.”

The door opened.

Varek struck the first man before he could raise his weapon. The man’s equipment case fell, scattering cables and electronic devices across the floor.

The second man rushed inside.

Evelyn grabbed a metal stand and swung it against his arm. His weapon dropped, and Adrian kicked it away.

The struggle lasted only seconds.

But when Varek turned back toward the corridor, the first man was already running.

“Don’t let him escape!” Evelyn shouted.

Varek chased him.

The man reached the stairwell and slammed the door behind him.

Varek followed.

At the bottom of the stairs, he found the equipment case abandoned beside a fire exit.

There was no sign of the man.

He returned to the room carrying the case.

Naomi’s voice became sharper.

“Don’t connect anything from that case to your phone.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“There’s a device inside that could be transmitting your location.”

Varek opened the case carefully.

Inside was a laptop, a portable storage drive, and a small black device with a blinking red light.

There was also a sealed envelope.

His name was written on it.

VAREK THORNE.

He opened it.

A single photograph fell out.

It showed Grace standing outside St. Catherine’s Medical Centre, holding a newborn baby.

The photograph was old, but the baby’s face was visible.

Varek looked at it.

Then he looked at the bracelet.

The date was the same.

Evelyn approached him.

“Let me see.”

He handed her the photograph.

She stared at it for several seconds.

“That’s my mother.”

“And the baby?”

Evelyn looked closer.

“I don’t know.”

Varek took the photograph back.

“Look at the bracelet around the baby’s wrist.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened.

It carried the same symbol printed on Samuel’s document.

The black circle with six lines.

Samuel walked toward them.

“That symbol was on the document Alistair gave me.”

Naomi interrupted.

“Wait. I have something.”

Varek put the phone on speaker.

“I’ve opened the image you sent. The hidden registration number matches an archived patient record.”

“Whose record?”

“Not yours. Not exactly.”

Varek frowned.

“Explain.”

“The bracelet was first registered under a temporary identity. The name was Grace Cross’s baby. But the record was later transferred to another patient number.”

“Which name?”

Naomi paused.

“Helena Vale.”

Varek went still.

Evelyn looked at him.

“What?”

Naomi continued.

“The hospital record says Grace delivered a male child. Helena Vale was listed as the person who received that child less than three hours later.”

Varek looked at the photograph again.

“So Grace gave birth to me, and Helena took me?”

“That’s what the record suggests,” Naomi replied. “But there’s another detail.”

“What?”

“The transfer was not approved by Grace.”

“Who approved it?”

Naomi’s voice lowered.

“Matthew Cross.”

Evelyn slowly turned toward the empty doorway.

“My father.”

Varek shook his head.

“Or the man who wanted us to believe he was your father.”

Evelyn’s expression hardened.

“Don’t.”

“I’m not saying it’s true. I’m saying we don’t know who he really is.”

Samuel picked up the photograph.

“Maybe that’s why he pointed a gun at me. He knew this record would be found.”

Adrian looked at him.

“Why would that matter to you?”

Samuel turned the photograph over.

There was writing on the back.

THE FIRST CHILD WAS NOT GIVEN AWAY. THE FIRST CHILD WAS RETURNED.

Beneath the words was another name.

MARCUS BLACKSTONE.

Varek took the photograph from him.

“Marcus?”

Evelyn nodded slowly.

“If Grace gave birth to the child in this photograph, and that child was transferred to Helena, then what happened to Marcus?”

“Maybe the child was Marcus,” Samuel said.

“No,” Varek replied. “Marcus was already listed in the hospital records.”

“Then someone changed the names.”

Naomi’s voice came through again.

“I found the transfer history.”

Everyone became quiet.

“There’s a second document attached to the same patient number. It was created six months after the birth.”

“Read it,” Varek said.

Naomi hesitated.

“Varek, the document says the child was returned to St. Catherine’s.”

“Returned from where?”

“From a private residence registered to Eleanor.”

Varek’s fingers tightened around the photograph.

Eleanor had once told him she took the fifth child away to protect him.

Now the records suggested she had received a child who was originally born to Grace.

But why would she return him?

And who had taken him in the first place?

Daniel suddenly tugged at Adrian’s jacket.

“Daddy.”

Adrian turned.

“What is it?”

“The picture.”

“What picture?”

Daniel pointed toward the laptop in the equipment case.

A new image had appeared on its screen.

It showed a hospital room.

A little boy stood beside a woman whose face was hidden by a curtain.

The boy was holding a toy car.

Daniel stepped closer.

“That’s me.”

Adrian’s face changed.

“Where did you see this?”

Daniel pointed at the screen.

“They showed me this picture when I was with the bad man.”

Varek looked at him.

“Did anyone tell you who the woman was?”

Daniel shook his head.

“They said she was the woman who gave me my real name.”

Adrian crouched in front of his son.

“Did you see her face?”

Daniel nodded.

“Yes.”

“Do you remember her?”

The boy looked at the photograph for a long moment.

Then he slowly turned toward Evelyn.

“She looks like her.”

Evelyn froze.

“Like me?”

Daniel nodded.

Adrian stood up.

“Are you sure?”

Daniel pointed at the screen.

“She had the same eyes.”

Nobody spoke.

Then Naomi’s voice returned.

“I’ve identified the woman in the picture.”

Varek moved closer to the phone.

“Who is she?”

Naomi took a breath.

“Grace Cross.”

Evelyn stared at the screen.

“That’s my mother.”

Naomi continued.

“But the picture was taken three years ago. And according to the hospital’s hidden records, Grace was listed as deceased at that time.”

Varek looked at the image again.

Grace had been alive.

She had been with Daniel.

And someone had deliberately hidden her identity.

Before anyone could respond, the laptop screen changed.

A message appeared.

TRANSFER COMPLETE.

BENEFICIARY SIX: CONFIRMED.

Below it was a name.

Not Samuel Cross.

Not Matthew Cross.

Not Varek Thorne.

It was a name nobody in the room expected.

EVELYN CROSS.

Evelyn stepped backward.

“No.”

The screen flashed again.

WELCOME HOME, SIXTH CHILD.