Chapter 5 - THE TRUTH ABOUT ETHANIsabella sat inside a quiet hospital room outside Milwaukee.
She looked thinner than Victor remembered.
Older.
But her eyes were unmistakable.
Lily entered first.
Isabella watched her carefully.
“Did Serena send you?”
“No.”
Lily placed the recorder on the table.
She played Serena's threats.
Isabella's hands began to shake.
“Ethan?”
“He's alive.”
Tears filled Isabella's eyes.
“Is he safe?”
“He was hurt.”
The words broke something inside her.
“He broke his arm.”
Isabella covered her mouth.
Then Lily said:
“Serena hurt him.”
Victor waited outside.
Isabella eventually agreed to see him.
The reunion was nothing like a movie.
There was no embrace.
No miraculous forgiveness.
Only two people standing across from one another, surrounded by years of lies.
“You believed I was dead,” Isabella said.
“Yes.”
“You never questioned it.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled with pain.
“I spent years believing you hated me.”
Victor's voice broke.
“I never hated you.”
“You didn't have to.”
She looked at him.
“You forgot me.”
That hurt more.
Then Isabella revealed the truth about Ethan.
She had given birth while imprisoned.
Serena told her the baby had died.
But the child had been taken.
Victor had later been given a story about an embryo and surrogate arrangement.
He believed Ethan was his son.
He never knew the mother had been alive.
Victor stared at Lily.
“Ethan is…”
“Your son,” Isabella said.
Victor looked toward the hallway.
He could hear the child's faint voice.
His son.
His wife.
Both had been stolen from him.
Then Isabella whispered:
“Serena has a ledger.”
“What kind?”
“Every payment.”
“Every doctor.”
“Every judge.”
“Every person she bought.”
“Where is it?”
Isabella looked toward the mirror.
“Inside Ethan's crib.”
Lily's heart stopped.
The crib was still in the mansion.
Then Victor's phone rang.
May you like
Smoke alarms were sounding.
The nursery was on fire.
