Chapter 5 - He Took the City Apart to Find Her
I had never seen what Stellan Cross truly was until Fern disappeared.
The quiet man vanished.
The restrained man vanished.
What remained was the reason powerful men feared his name.
Within twenty minutes, every airport, private runway, train station, marina, and highway contact Stellan controlled was searching for Fern.
He made one phone call after another.
No threats.
No shouting.
Just instructions.
“Close the river.”
“Check every ambulance.”
“Find Rafe’s mother.”
“Freeze every Vale account connected to Victor.”
I sat in the back of the armored SUV clutching Fern’s blanket.
“She needs her medicine.”
Stellan looked at me.
“We’ll find her.”
“She needs it every six hours.”
“We’ll find her.”
“What if we don’t?”
His face cracked.
For half a second.
Then he reached across the seat and took my hand.
“We will.”
The trail led to a warehouse near the old stockyards.
Inside, we found one of Rafe’s men bleeding on the floor.
Stellan knelt beside him.
“Where is the baby?”
The man laughed weakly.
“You’re too late.”
Stellan’s expression became empty.
I grabbed his shoulder.
“Don’t kill him.”
He looked at me.
“We need him talking.”
That was the only reason he stopped.
The man finally gave us an address.
A private pediatric clinic outside the city.
We arrived before noon.
Fern was there.
Alive.
I ran so hard I nearly fell.
She was lying in a hospital crib with oxygen under her nose.
“Mommy’s here.”
I lifted her.
She cried against me.
I cried harder.
Stellan stood in the doorway.
He did not approach.
Fern saw him.
Immediately, she reached one hand toward him.
Stellan closed his eyes.
I walked over.
“Hold her.”
He looked at me.
“Selene—”
“Hold her.”
He took Fern.
She settled against him.
And for a moment, nothing else mattered.
Then Dr. Hale, who had followed us after regaining consciousness, entered holding a medical file recovered from the clinic.
“Stellan.”
“What?”
“We have another DNA result.”
My stomach dropped.
“From what?”
“The clinic drew Fern’s blood.”
“Why?”
Hale looked grim.
“Victor wanted to know exactly who she was.”
“And?”
Hale handed Stellan the paper.
Fern was Cassandra Cross’s biological daughter.
Stellan closed his eyes.
His niece.
Not his daughter.
I expected disappointment.
Instead, he kissed Fern’s forehead.
“You’re still ours,” he whispered.
The words broke something open inside me.
Then I remembered.
“My biological daughter.”
Hale nodded.
“We may finally know where she is.”
He opened another file.
The hospital had retained neonatal blood samples.
One sample matched me.
My daughter had survived.
Her blood had been registered months later under another name.
“Where?”
Hale looked at Stellan.
“Chicago.”
My knees weakened.
“She’s here?”
“Yes.”
“What’s her name?”
Hale hesitated.
“Rose Mercer.”
Stellan went rigid.
Mercer.
Rafe.
I stared at him.
“No.”
Hale continued.
“Rafe Mercer has been raising your biological daughter.”
Everything became clear.
Rafe hadn’t betrayed Stellan recently.
The betrayal had started the night our babies were born.
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And somewhere in Chicago, the man who had just kidnapped Fern had another little girl.
Mine.
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