CHAPTER 3 — The Baby Who Was Never Supposed to Exist
Ethan's hands shook so violently that the silver locket nearly slipped onto the hardwood floor.
Inside was a faded photograph.
It was Emily.
There was no mistaking her warm smile, the tiny dimple on her left cheek, or the sapphire necklace he had given her the night he proposed.
But it wasn't Emily's face that stole the air from his lungs.
It was the baby in her arms.
A newborn wrapped in a pale pink blanket.
Alive.
His heart pounded so hard it hurt.
"Where... where did you get this?" he whispered.
Sophia hugged Noodle tightly.
"My grandma kept it in a little wooden box. She said it belonged to a man whose heart forgot how to smile."
Maria rushed into the room, her face turning white the moment she saw the photograph.
"Sophia!" she cried. "What did I tell you about touching Grandma Rosa's things?"
Sophia lowered her head.
"I'm sorry, Mommy. Grandma said if we ever met the sad man, I had to give it back."
Ethan looked at Maria.
"You've seen this before?"
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Only once."
"My mother never explained it. She just said the locket belonged to someone who had lost everything."
Ethan could barely breathe.
Lost everything.
That was exactly how he had felt after the accident.
Years earlier, police had told him Emily died instantly.
Doctors told him their unborn daughter could not be saved.
The funeral was closed.
He had never been allowed to see either of them.
Too dangerous, they said.
Too traumatic.
He believed them.
Because grief makes people accept answers they would normally question.
That afternoon Ethan drove to the small nursing home where Rosa Delgado lived.
The elderly woman looked at him for only a few seconds before tears filled her eyes.
"I wondered if I'd live long enough to see you again," she whispered.
Ethan froze.
"You know who I am?"
Rosa slowly reached for his hand.
"I knew you before the whole country did."
His chest tightened.
"What happened to Emily?"
The old woman's smile disappeared.
"Someone powerful wanted you to believe she was gone."
The room fell silent.
"There was another crash that same night," Rosa continued quietly.
"Records disappeared."
"Witnesses changed their stories."
"And one tiny baby vanished before sunrise."
Ethan stared at her, unable to blink.
"You mean..."
Before Rosa could answer—
The lights inside the nursing home suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Outside, tires screeched across the parking lot.
A black SUV stopped at the entrance.
Three men stepped out wearing dark suits.
One of them looked directly through the window...
May you like
...and smiled at Ethan.
As if they had finally found him.
