Chapter 21
“Did he?”
“No.”
The answer came without anger. That made it more painful.
“What happened to the child?”
“Claire gave birth to a boy. She developed complications afterward. Her condition deteriorated over several days.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
“Did Ryan visit her?”
“Once, according to the hospital records.”
“Only once?”
“I wasn’t in the country. I was working overseas. By the time I returned, Claire was gone.”
“And the baby?”
“Ryan’s family took temporary custody. They said it was for the child’s safety.”
“Where is he now?”
Ethan looked toward the closed laptop.
“I don’t know.”
I frowned.
“You don’t know where your nephew is?”
“I know where he was. I don’t know where he is now.”
“What does that mean?”
“After Claire died, Ryan’s mother told us the baby would be raised by relatives while the family resolved the guardianship arrangements. Then she said the child had been adopted.”
“By whom?”
“She refused to tell us.”
“That isn’t legal.”
“No. But my father accepted the explanation.”
“Why?”
“Because grief made him tired, and the Hart family controlled every document connected to Claire’s final weeks.”
I studied him.
“Your father knew Ryan was the father?”
“Yes.”
“And he did nothing?”
“My father believed the child was better off away from scandal.”
“Scandal?”
“A young unmarried woman dying after giving birth. A powerful family unwilling to acknowledge the father. There were lawyers, hospital administrators, and people who preferred quiet solutions.”
His voice held no bitterness now. Only regret.
“I should have investigated sooner,” he continued. “By the time I understood how much had been hidden, the records were sealed.”
“Why did you never ask Ryan?”
“I did.”
“What did he say?”
“That the child was not mine to discuss.”
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I believed he was grieving.”
I closed my eyes.
Ryan had always known how to make silence look like pain.
“What does this have to do with me?” I asked.
“That’s what we need to find out.”
He opened the laptop again but did not touch the file.
“There may be no connection between your pregnancy and Claire’s history,” he said. “The file could have been copied by someone investigating Ryan. The paternity document could refer to Claire’s child, not yours.”
“Then why was it hidden in my suitcase?”
“That is the question.”
I remembered the message from Ryan.
My mother found something in your suitcase.