PART 3
The room fell silent.
I stared at Sophia's phone.
A fourth child.
The words didn't make sense.
They couldn't.
I looked at the three children standing in front of me.
Three faces that carried pieces of me.
Three lives I had only just discovered.
And now...
There was another?
"Sophia."
My voice came out low.
"What does that mean?"
She didn't answer.
Her fingers trembled as she held the phone.
For the first time since I had walked back into her life, I saw fear in her eyes.
Not anger.
Not disappointment.
Fear.
Daniel immediately noticed.
"Sophia..."
She quickly locked the phone screen.
"It's nothing."
I almost laughed.
Nothing?
After everything that had happened?
After a stranger had just threatened to expose a secret involving our children?
"Don't lie to me."
My words were sharper than I intended.
Sophia looked at me.
A flash of hurt crossed her face.
"You don't get to demand answers from me, Lucas."
The sentence hit harder than I expected.
Because she was right.
For four years, she had carried everything alone.
The pregnancy.
The children.
The fear.
The pain.
And I had no right to walk back in and act like I had always been there.
But then I looked at my children.
And something inside me changed.
"I know I don't deserve anything from you," I said quietly.
"But I deserve to know if there is another child of mine out there."
Sophia looked away.
That was enough.
I already knew.
My heart started beating faster.
"There is, isn't there?"
Nobody answered.
The silence was the answer.
I took a step back.
Four years.
Four years, and I had missed not just three children...
But maybe four.
"Where is my child?"
Sophia closed her eyes.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"Lucas..."
"Where is my child?"
This time my voice broke.
Daniel looked at Sophia.
Then he looked at me.
And I saw something in his expression.
Pity.
Not hatred.
Not jealousy.
Pity.
That scared me.
Because whatever the truth was...
It was worse than I imagined.
Finally, Sophia spoke.
"Her name is Lily."
The world stopped.
"Her?"
Sophia nodded slowly.
"She was born two months after the triplets."
I stared at her.
"Two months?"
My mind couldn't process it.
"How?"
Sophia looked down.
"Because Lily wasn't born in the same hospital."
My chest tightened.
"Why?"
Her hands curled into fists.
"Because someone was trying to take her away from me."
A cold feeling spread through my body.
"Who?"
Sophia didn't answer.
Instead, Daniel spoke.
"Victor Hale."
The name sent anger through me.
Again.
Always him.
"What did he do?"
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"After he failed to destroy Hart Group, he changed his plan."
He looked at the children.
"He realized the easiest way to hurt you wasn't through your company."
A pause.
"It was through your family."
I felt sick.
"What happened to Lily?"
Sophia walked toward the table and picked up a small photograph.
She stared at it for several seconds before handing it to me.
My hands shook as I took it.
A little girl.
About four years old.
Dark hair.
Bright eyes.
A small smile.
And immediately...
I knew.
She had my eyes.
My heart stopped.
"My daughter..."
Sophia nodded.
"Yes."
I looked at the picture again.
A child who had existed for four years.
A child who had never seen my face.
A child who had never heard my voice.
A child who might not even know I existed.
"Where is she now?"
Sophia hesitated.
That hesitation terrified me.
"Where is she, Sophia?"
Her voice became barely audible.
"She's with Victor."
The photograph almost slipped from my hand.
"What?"
"He took custody."
My entire body went cold.
"No."
I shook my head.
"No, that's impossible."
Sophia looked at me with pain-filled eyes.
"He manipulated everything."
She explained through tears.
"After Lily was born, Victor used forged documents to claim that I was unstable. He said I was hiding children from their father. He used your disappearance as proof that I had been abandoned."
My fists tightened.
"He convinced the court?"
"Not completely."
Daniel interrupted.
"He had influence. Money. Connections."
He looked at me.
"And you weren't there to fight."
Those words destroyed me.
Because once again...
I was the missing piece.
The reason everything happened.
I had built a billion-dollar company.
I could negotiate million-dollar deals.
I could destroy competitors.
But I couldn't protect my own family.
Because I didn't even know I had one.
I looked at Sophia.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Her expression changed.
"I tried."
She walked closer.
"I tried every way I could."
Her voice shook.
"But every time I got close to reaching you, something happened."
"What?"
"Messages disappeared. Lawyers refused my case. Evidence went missing."
She looked at the photograph of Lily.
"And then Victor threatened that if I kept searching for you, Lily would disappear forever."
My blood ran cold.
"So you stayed silent."
"I survived."
The two words broke something inside me.
She wasn't weak.
She wasn't hiding.
She was protecting our daughter.
Then suddenly...
A small hand grabbed mine.
I looked down.
Liam was standing beside me.
He had been listening.
His little face looked confused.
"Is Lily our sister?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Emma quietly stepped forward.
"Is she coming home?"
That question nearly broke me.
Because I didn't know.
But I knew one thing.
I had already lost four years.
I wasn't losing another second.
I looked at Sophia.
"I'll get her back."
She stared at me.
"You can't just walk in and fix everything, Lucas."
"I know."
I looked at my children.
Then back at her.
"I know I can't erase what I did."
My voice softened.
"But I can fight for what I should have protected from the beginning."
For the first time...
Sophia didn't look angry.
She looked uncertain.
Then her phone rang again.
This time, she answered.
A man's voice came through the speaker.
Cold.
Confident.
Familiar.
"Lucas Hart."
I froze.
Victor Hale.
"I heard you finally discovered the truth."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"Where is my daughter?"
Victor laughed.
"Your daughter?"
A pause.
"You lost the right to call her that four years ago."
My blood boiled.
"Give her back."
Another laugh.
"You still don't understand, do you?"
The line went silent for a moment.
Then Victor said the words that changed everything:
"Ask Sophia what really happened the night you woke up in that hotel room."
I looked at Sophia.
Her face turned completely pale.
Because whatever Victor was about to reveal...
Was the one secret she had spent four years trying to hide from me.
And I suddenly realized...
Maybe that night wasn't just a trap.
Maybe there was another truth.
One that even Sophia never told me.
