Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The Midwife's Secret
The name remained in the air.
Alexander Vale.
For twenty-six years, Victoria Whitmore had buried that name beneath layers of silence, wealth, and carefully controlled memories.
Now it had returned.
And with it came every unanswered question.
Lillian stood across from her, waiting.
"Who was he?"
Victoria looked older than she had the night before.
Not like a powerful businesswoman.
Not like the woman who had controlled every room she entered.
Just like a mother who had carried a painful truth for too long.
"Alexander was your father."
The words landed harder than Lillian expected.
She had spent her entire life believing she was simply a child abandoned by circumstances.
Now she had a father.
A family.
A history.
And somehow, all of it had been stolen.
"Where is he?"
Victoria looked away.
"He disappeared the same night you did."
"Disappeared?"
"Everyone thought he ran."
Lillian frowned.
"Did he?"
Victoria didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Before anyone could continue, Margaret Lin entered the library carrying an old wooden box.
"I think it's time you knew everything."
Victoria looked at her.
"You kept this all these years?"
Margaret nodded.
"I promised Amelia."
Lillian looked at the box.
"What's inside?"
"The truth about the night you vanished."
The box contained a collection of items carefully preserved for decades.
A hospital bracelet.
A faded newspaper clipping.
A small notebook.
And an old photograph of a woman Lillian had never seen.
Margaret touched the photograph gently.
"Her name was Clara Bell."
"Who was she?"
"The woman who helped bring you into this world."
"A doctor?"
"No."
Margaret paused.
"A midwife."
Twenty-six years earlier.
Before the Whitmore family became the center of a national business empire, Amelia Whitmore had lived quietly away from the public eye.
She had refused the family's expectations.
She wanted a normal life.
And when she became pregnant, she chose a small private clinic outside the city instead of a famous hospital.
Only a few people knew.
Her mother.
Her husband.
And Clara Bell.
The midwife who promised to protect her.
Margaret opened the old notebook.
Inside were handwritten notes.
Clara's handwriting.
The first pages described Amelia's pregnancy.
"Amelia is frightened, but not of becoming a mother."
"She is frightened because someone has been watching her."
Lillian held her breath.
The next entry was dated three days before her birth.
"She found the documents."
"She knows someone has been stealing from the Whitmore trust."
"She knows the child is in danger."
Ethan leaned closer.
"What documents?"
Margaret looked at him.
"The original inheritance records."
Victoria's expression darkened.
"The ones proving Amelia was the sole heir."
Margaret nodded.
"But Amelia discovered something else."
"What?"
"Someone had been preparing to replace her."
The room became silent.
Replace her?
Margaret continued reading.
"They don't want Amelia gone because of the company."
"They want her gone because of the child."
"The baby carries the bloodline."
Lillian touched the jade hairpin around her wrist.
The same pendant that had exposed everything.
"Because of me?"
Margaret nodded sadly.
"Because you were the next heir."
The next pages of the notebook had been damaged by water.
Only fragments remained.
"The night Lily was born..."
"A stranger came to the clinic..."
"He knew the baby's name..."
"He knew the family password..."
Then nothing.
The final page contained only one sentence.
I gave the child to the person Amelia trusted most.
Victoria looked confused.
"Who?"
Margaret closed the notebook.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No."
"Then how did Lillian survive?"
The old woman looked at Lillian.
"Because someone else protected her."
Later that afternoon, Detective Aaron Blake returned to the Whitmore estate.
He carried a file.
"We found something."
Victoria immediately stood.
"What?"
"A record from the clinic where Amelia gave birth."
"That clinic burned down twenty-five years ago."
"Yes."
Aaron placed the file on the table.
"Almost everything was destroyed."
"But?"
"But one document survived."
He opened the folder.
Inside was an old patient transfer form.
The mother's name:
Amelia Whitmore.
The child:
Female Infant — Lily Vale.
Lillian stared.
Vale.
Not Whitmore.
Not Carter.
Vale.
Her father's name.
"Why was my name changed?"
Nobody answered.
Aaron continued.
"Because the person who took you wanted you hidden."
"From whom?"
He looked at Victoria.
"From everyone."
That night, Margaret returned to her room alone.
She thought she was alone.
She was wrong.
A shadow moved near the window.
The old woman froze.
"Who's there?"
A figure stepped forward.
Not a stranger.
Someone she recognized.
Someone she believed had disappeared years ago.
Her face lost all color.
"No..."
The figure placed an old envelope on the table.
"You kept your promise."
Margaret stared.
"Alexander?"
The man said nothing.
He only looked toward the hallway where Lillian's room was located.
"She knows now."
Margaret's voice trembled.
"Why did you come back?"
Alexander Vale looked at the old family portraits covering the walls.
"Because the people who stole my daughter..."
"...are coming for her again."
The following morning, Lillian found another message waiting beside her bedroom door.
No envelope.
No signature.
Only a single sentence written on a piece of paper.
Your mother didn't disappear. She was murdered.
May you like
Below it was a second line.
And the person who killed her is still inside the Whitmore family.
