PART 4 — MY SON WAS ALIVE
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The message remained on my screen.
YOUR SON IS ALIVE.
I looked at Ethan.
“My son?”
His face had lost all color.
“I thought he was dead.”
“You said that already.”
“I was told he died.”
“By whom?”
He swallowed.
“The clinic.”
I stared at him.
“You never investigated?”
“I tried.”
“No.”
My voice was quiet.
“You didn't try hard enough.”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
For three years, I had believed my marriage had been destroyed by another woman.
Now I understood.
The betrayal went much deeper.
Someone had taken my children.
And my husband had helped create the circumstances that allowed it to happen.
I looked at the address on my phone.
“We're going.”
Ethan stood.
“I'll come with you.”
“No.”
“Mabel—”
“You've made enough decisions for me.”
He stopped.
“I don't trust you.”
Those words seemed to break something inside him.
But I didn't care.
I took Lily's hand.
Amelia followed.
We left the house with the investigator Evelyn had arranged waiting outside.
The address led us nearly an hour outside Chicago.
It was a quiet suburban neighborhood.
Nothing looked suspicious.
Small houses.
Neatly trimmed lawns.
Children's bicycles scattered across driveways.
Then we reached the final house.
Number 184.
I looked at the windows.
A curtain moved.
Someone was watching us.
The door opened before we could knock.
An elderly woman stood there.
She looked at me.
Then at Lily.
Then at Ethan.
Her face changed.
“You came.”
I frowned.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Margaret.”
She stepped aside.
“Come in.”
We entered.
The house smelled of coffee and baby powder.
There were children's drawings on the refrigerator.
Toys in the living room.
And photographs covering one wall.
I walked closer.
Then stopped breathing.
A little boy.
Newborn.
Three months old.
Six months old.
One year old.
He had Ethan's eyes.
And my nose.
I touched the photograph.
“That's him.”
Margaret nodded.
“His name is Daniel.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Why isn't he called Ethan Jr.?”
“Because his identity was changed.”
“By whom?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Your husband's father.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“My father died years ago.”
“He didn't die before he arranged this.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
Margaret looked at me.
“Your son was taken from the clinic shortly after birth.”
“Why?”
“Because your father believed he could use the boy to control your family.”
I felt sick.
“What does that mean?”
“He knew about the genetic material.”
I frowned.
Margaret continued.
“Your family owns pharmaceutical companies.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“My father was developing a treatment.”
“For what?”
“Several rare diseases.”
“And my children?”
Margaret looked at Lily.
“They carried a genetic combination he needed.”
I felt my stomach turn.
“So my children were experiments?”
“Not exactly.”
Margaret shook her head.
“They were valuable.”
“To whom?”
“Your father.”
Silence filled the room.
Then a child's laughter came from upstairs.
I froze.
“Is that him?”
Margaret nodded.
“He's upstairs.”
I ran.
I didn't care about anything else.
I climbed the stairs and opened the bedroom door.
A little boy sat on the floor playing with wooden blocks.
He looked up.
Our eyes met.
He smiled.
Something inside me shattered.
“Daniel…”
The boy tilted his head.
Then he said:
“Mommy?”
I dropped to my knees.
“Yes.”
He ran toward me.
I caught him.
I held him so tightly that tears filled my eyes.
“I found you.”
He buried his face against my shoulder.
Behind me, Ethan began crying.
I turned.
For once, he looked like a broken man rather than a powerful businessman.
He approached slowly.
“Son…”
Daniel looked at him.
Then he stepped closer.
Ethan knelt.
“I'm your father.”
Daniel stared at him.
Then asked:
“Why did you leave me?”
Ethan covered his face.
“I didn't know.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“You never came.”
Ethan couldn't answer.
I looked away.
Because I couldn't forgive him yet.
Maybe I never would.
Then Margaret spoke.
“There is something you need to know.”
I turned.
“What?”
She handed me a sealed envelope.
“It was left for you.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
My hands trembled.
“He knew I would find this?”
“He said you would eventually discover the truth.”
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Only one sentence stood out:
“If you're reading this, the children are together.”
Then another line:
“But you still haven't found the third.”
I stared at the page.
“The third?”
Margaret's face became pale.
“I was afraid you'd see that.”
“What third child?”
She didn't answer.
I turned toward Ethan.
“Did you know?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Margaret whispered:
“There was another embryo.”
My heart stopped.
“Another?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
The room suddenly felt cold.
Evelyn called from downstairs.
“Mabel!”
I ran down.
She was holding a file.
“We found something.”
“What?”
She pointed to a laboratory record.
A frozen embryo had been transferred six months after Lily's birth.
The recipient's name had been erased.
But the genetic profile remained.
It matched mine.
My hands began shaking.
“That means…”
Evelyn nodded.
“Someone used your genetic material again.”
“Where is the child?”
“We don't know.”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
“You found Daniel.”
I froze.
“Who are you?”
“You're looking in the wrong place.”
“Where is my other child?”
Silence.
Then:
“You have two children.”
I looked at Lily and Daniel.
The voice continued:
“The third was never born.”
My heart sank.
“What happened?”
“He was transferred.”
“To whom?”
The woman whispered:
“To someone you trust.”
The call ended.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Everyone was staring at me.
Then I noticed something.
The woman had called me by a name almost nobody used anymore.
My maiden name.
Mabel Anderson.
I turned toward Ethan.
He looked confused.
Then Margaret suddenly gasped.
“Oh no.”
“What?”
She pointed toward the photograph wall.
One photograph had been turned face down.
I picked it up.
It showed Ethan's father.
Standing beside a woman.
The woman from the phone.
And beside them…
was Evelyn.
My lawyer.
My blood ran cold.
Evelyn had been helping me uncover everything.
But now I realized something terrifying.
She hadn't just known about my children.
She had been there when the third child disappeared.
