Chapter 2 - The Letter in the Baby Blanket
I didn’t follow Camille.
I followed the child.
Emma looked at her.
“Are you Grandma?”
My mother covered her mouth.
“Sir—”
“No one touches them.”
The men stopped.
My best man, Noah, stepped between us.
“Back up.”
Emma tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy gave me something.”
She unfolded Ava’s pink blanket.
A white envelope fell onto the floor.
My name was written across the front.
ALEXANDRE HALE - ONLY IF EMMA FINDS YOU.
I knew Olivia’s handwriting.
Even after seven years.
My fingers shook opening it.
Alexandre,
If Emma is standing in front of you, something went wrong.
She is your daughter.
I tried to tell you.
More than once.
Every letter came back.
Every call was blocked.
Then your lawyer sent me papers saying you wanted nothing to do with us.
I believed them.
Six months ago, I learned those papers were fake.
I also learned someone in the Whitmore family knew about Emma before you met Camille.
My eyes moved automatically toward the side door Camille had used.
The letter continued.
Do not let Camille or her father take Emma.
Do not give them my phone.
And if anyone tells you I abandoned you, ask them about November 17.
I stopped reading.
November 17.
The day Olivia disappeared from my life.
The day my father suffered the stroke that killed him three weeks later.
My mother whispered, “What does it say?”
Before I could answer, Emma said, “There’s more.”
She reached into the baby bag.
Pulled out a phone.
The screen was cracked.
One unread video sat on it.
Time stamped that morning.
Olivia’s face appeared.
Bruised.
Terrified.
She looked straight into the camera.
“Alexandre, if you’re seeing this, Camille already knows I found the trust file.”
May you like
Then someone pounded on Olivia’s door.
The video ended.
