Chapter 6 - THE NAME HIDDEN IN THE BRACELET
Dominic barely slept.
By sunrise, the house had become a controlled investigation site.
Marco doubled security.
Every employee was interviewed.
The transmitters were removed.
The nursery was moved temporarily to another wing.
And Dr. Grant insisted the children remain together.
“They react to each other,” she explained.
“Especially Rose.”
Dominic looked at his daughter.
“What do you mean?”
“Rose appears to recognize certain sounds before her brothers do.”
“The clicking?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
That answer no longer bothered him.
It frightened him.
Rachel sat in the corner with Lily.
The little girl was holding her doll.
Dominic walked toward them.
“I need to ask you something.”
Rachel nodded.
“Did Lily ever have another name?”
Rachel's face went pale.
Lily looked up.
“Mommy?”
Rachel took her hand.
“No, sweetheart.”
Dominic sat across from them.
“I found a photograph.”
Rachel knew immediately.
“Where?”
“In my father's watch.”
She stared at him.
“Your father had it?”
“Yes.”
Rachel looked at Lily.
Then whispered,
“Her birth name was Mara.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was told never to.”
“By whom?”
“My mother.”
“Why?”
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
“Because your family wasn't supposed to know where she was.”
Dominic looked at Lily.
“Is she Mara?”
Rachel nodded.
“Why call her Lily?”
“My mother said the name Mara was dangerous.”
Dominic looked toward the doll.
“What's dangerous about a name?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then Lily spoke.
“Grandma said Mara was the name of a little girl who had to hide.”
Dominic looked at her.
“From who?”
“The bad men.”
Rachel's face tightened.
“Lily…”
“It's okay,” Dominic said.
He turned back to the child.
“Did your grandmother ever tell you who the bad men were?”
Lily shook her head.
“She said they wanted the baby.”
“What baby?”
Lily pointed at Rose.
Dominic froze.
“Rose?”
Lily nodded.
“Grandma said she was supposed to have the rose bracelet.”
Dominic looked at Rose's wrist.
The silver bracelet.
He had put it there himself.
“What does the bracelet mean?”
Lily touched her own wrist.
“I have one too.”
Dominic stared.
Rachel looked shocked.
“No, you don't.”
Lily reached into her dress pocket.
She pulled out a tiny silver bracelet.
Dominic recognized the design.
Same rose.
Same engraving.
But the engraving on Lily's bracelet was different.
MARA.
Dominic's heart pounded.
Two girls.
Two bracelets.
One name.
One family.
And a secret that had lasted twenty-seven years.
He called Martin Bellini, an old family historian.
Martin arrived within an hour.
He examined the bracelets.
“These were made together.”
“How do you know?”
“The maker's mark.”
“Can you trace it?”
“I can try.”
“Do it.”
While Martin worked, Dominic opened the old family records.
He found a reference to his mother donating money to a women's shelter twenty-seven years earlier.
The shelter was called Rose House.
Its records were sealed.
But one page had survived.
A handwritten note.
One child delivered. One child transferred. Both protected.
Dominic stared at the words.
“Both.”
He looked toward the nursery.
“Two children.”
Rachel nodded slowly.
“What if Lily and Rose were connected before they were born?”
Dominic shook his head.
“They're not related.”
Rachel whispered,
“Maybe they are.”
Dr. Grant entered.
“I ran the records.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What did you find?”
She hesitated.
“The triplets' birth records were altered.”
His blood ran cold.
“Altered how?”
“The original hospital file listed three names.”
“Ethan. Caleb. Rose.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“There was a second record.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What second record?”
“A temporary patient number.”
“Whose?”
Dr. Grant looked at Rachel.
Then at Dominic.
“It belonged to a newborn girl.”
Dominic stared.
“Rose?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Dr. Grant placed a photocopy on the table.
The name was partially covered.
But the visible letters were enough.
MARA B—
Dominic felt the room tilt.
Rachel whispered,
“That isn't possible.”
Dr. Grant nodded.
“That's why I need to explain something.”
She pointed to the date.
“The temporary record was created twenty-seven years ago.”
Dominic stared.
Twenty-seven years.
Not at the triplets' birth.
At the time of Lily's birth.
But why was a twenty-seven-year-old record connected to a newborn in his children's file?
Unless the hospital had reused the patient number.
Or unless someone had deliberately linked them.
Dominic suddenly remembered the photograph.
Mara at five.
The same face as Lily.
The same bracelet.
The same doll.
He looked at Rachel.
“Where was Lily born?”
Rachel answered quietly.
“St. Vincent's.”
Dominic's heart stopped.
That was the same hospital where his mother had given birth to him.
And where his triplets had been born.
The same hospital.
The same maternity records.
The same family.
Someone had been connecting these children for decades.
Then Martin returned.
He was holding a document.
“I found the bracelet maker.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Who?”
“Caruso Jewelers.”
Dominic frowned.
“That was my grandfather's company.”
Martin nodded.
“And there's more.”
He handed over a receipt.
The bracelets had been ordered twenty-seven years ago.
Two bracelets.
One engraved MARA.
The other engraved ROSE.
The purchaser was listed as:
VINCENT CARUSO.
Dominic's grandfather.
He stared at the receipt.
His grandfather had ordered two bracelets before Lily was born.
Before Rose.
Before the triplets.
And suddenly Dominic understood why his father had been afraid.
This secret hadn't started with him.
It had started before him.
Then Rachel looked toward the nursery.
Her face drained of color.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“Lily's doll.”
“What about it?”
“She wasn't carrying it when she came downstairs.”
Dominic turned.
The doll was gone.
A minute later, they found it.
Not in the nursery.
Not in Lily's room.
It was sitting on Dominic's father's chair in the old library.
May you like
And beside it was a handwritten note.
YOU FOUND THE FIRST CHILD. NOW FIND THE SECOND.
