CHAPTER 3: THE ROOM ETHAN NEVER ENTERED
The black car stopped outside Saint Mary’s Children’s Hospital just before midnight.
Emma rushed inside first.
Ethan followed behind her, silent and pale.
The nurses recognized Emma immediately.
“Miss Carter, visiting hours are over.”
Emma clasped her hands.
“Please. Just five minutes.”
Before the nurse could answer, Ethan stepped forward.
“She’s with me.”
The nurse looked at him.
Then her face changed.
“Mr. Ashford…”
Suddenly everyone moved.
Doors opened.
Doctors appeared.
Emma stared in shock.
“You know this place?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
They reached Noah’s room.
The little boy was asleep, thin and pale beneath a blue blanket.
Emma touched his forehead.
“I’m here, buddy.”
Ethan stood frozen at the doorway.
His eyes moved to the toy dinosaur.
Then to the small scar near Noah’s eyebrow.
His face drained of color.
Emma noticed.
“What’s wrong?”
Ethan whispered, “How old is he?”
“Six.”
His hand slowly gripped the doorframe.
“And your mother?”
Emma’s heart tightened.
“She died when Noah was a baby.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“What was her name?”
Emma frowned.
“Lillian Carter.”
The air seemed to disappear from the room.
A doctor whispered, “Mr. Ashford, are you okay?”
But Ethan wasn’t looking at the doctor.
He was looking at Emma.
“Lillian had a daughter.”
Emma went still.
“How do you know that?”
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“Because Lillian was my sister.”
Emma felt the floor tilt beneath her.
“No.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“My father threw her out when she married a poor mechanic. We were told she never had children.”
Emma shook her head.
“My mother said her family abandoned her.”
Ethan looked at Noah.
Then at Emma.
“And she was right.”
At that exact moment, Mrs. Dalton appeared at the doorway.
Breathless.
Furious.
Terrified.
“Sir, you shouldn’t be here.”
Ethan turned slowly.
“Why?”
Mrs. Dalton swallowed.
“Because some secrets are buried for a reason.”
Emma’s stomach twisted.
Then Ethan said the words that made everyone freeze.
“What did my father do to Lillian?”
Mrs. Dalton said nothing.
May you like
And that silence answered everything.
End of Chapter 3.
