Chapter 7 - The Girl Who Had My Name
The second Evelyn Hayes had existed for only eleven days.
At least, that was what the official records claimed.
Samuel arrived at my hotel room shortly after midnight carrying a laptop and a folder he'd retrieved from storage.
Rebecca came with him.
Neither looked comfortable.
I stood beside the window.
"Tell me."
Samuel placed the folder on the desk.
"Your mother gave birth to a second daughter in June 1993."
I shook my head.
"I was nineteen months old."
"Yes."
"She never told me."
"She intended to."
"Then why didn't she?"
Samuel's voice softened.
"Because the child was taken from her."
I stared at him.
"What do you mean, taken?"
He opened the folder.
A birth certificate appeared.
EVELYN CATHERINE HAYES.
Mother: Catherine Eleanor Hayes.
Father: Not recorded.
I looked at the document.
The world seemed to tilt.
"Why would she name us both Evelyn?"
"She didn't."
Samuel turned the page.
The original hospital record listed a different name.
EMILY CATHERINE HAYES.
I gripped the desk.
"Emily."
Rebecca spoke quietly.
"The name was changed after a private adoption proceeding."
"Who adopted her?"
"That's what we're trying to establish."
I stared at Samuel.
"You knew I had a sister?"
"I knew Catherine had delivered another child. I was told the baby had died."
"By who?"
He hesitated.
"Margaret."
I laughed once.
A sharp, ugly sound.
"Of course."
Samuel continued.
"When I reviewed the old records after Catherine disappeared, I found inconsistencies. I suspected an adoption had been concealed."
"And you never told me?"
"I didn't have proof."
"You had a birth certificate!"
"A document in a file connected to a sealed proceeding. I couldn't establish whether it was genuine or whether the child survived."
I wanted to throw the folder across the room.
Instead, I sat down.
My mother's life had been dismantled one piece at a time.
Her business.
Her identity.
Her freedom.
Her children.
I looked at the birth certificate again.
"Why change Emily's name to Evelyn?"
Rebecca exchanged a look with Samuel.
"Because someone wanted to create confusion between two beneficiaries."
The answer came slowly.
A child with the same mother.
A nearly identical legal name.
Different middle initial.
Different birth date.
A paper trail that could be exploited.
I remembered the trust documents Daniel had asked me to sign.
He'd told me my mother's estate records contained clerical errors.
He'd said the family accountants needed my cooperation to correct outdated beneficiary information.
He'd even joked that bureaucrats could turn one person into three.
I felt sick.
"They weren't just trying to transfer my inheritance."
Samuel looked grim.
"No."
"They were trying to use another woman as me."
"That's one possibility."
I stared at him.
"Who is she?"
He turned the final page.
A recent photograph had been clipped to the file.
A beautiful blonde woman stood outside a Manhattan medical clinic.
She wore a cream-colored maternity dress.
Her left hand rested on her rounded stomach.
And even though her hair was different, I recognized her immediately.
Vanessa.
My husband's mistress.
I stopped breathing.
"No."
Rebecca covered her mouth.
"That's why my father said to find the daughter."
I stumbled backward.
"No."
Samuel stood.
"Evelyn—"
"You're saying Vanessa is my sister?"
"We have reason to suspect that she is."
I shook my head harder.
"That's impossible."
But I couldn't stop looking at the photograph.
Vanessa's dark green eyes.
Her sharp cheekbones.
The familiar shape of her mouth.
I'd been so consumed by her betrayal that I'd never examined her resemblance to my mother.
Now I saw it.
Not an exact match.
But enough to make my skin crawl.
"Does she know?"
Samuel hesitated.
"We don't know."
I remembered Vanessa extending her hand.
Showing off the emerald ring.
Calling me sweetheart.
Smiling while Daniel humiliated me.
My stomach twisted.
"Does Daniel know?"
"Possibly."
I closed my eyes.
My husband had been sleeping with a woman who might be my half-sister.
A woman whose legal identity might have been manipulated to resemble mine.
And she was carrying his child.
I felt as though I had stepped into a nightmare with no exit.
At six the next morning, Natalie called.
She had news.
A judge had authorized an expedited hearing concerning Catherine's current status and access to independent counsel.
Blackthorn's administrators had been notified to preserve relevant records.
But there was a complication.
"Anna Bell has filed an emergency motion opposing the request."
I stood.
"On what grounds?"
"She claims Catherine lacks decision-making capacity and that contact with you would cause severe psychological distress."
I stared at the wall.
"She's been waiting seventeen years to see me."
"That's what we'll argue."
"Can I attend?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Tomorrow morning."
I looked at the photograph of Blackthorn House.
"Then I'm going."
Natalie paused.
"Evelyn, there's more."
I closed my eyes.
"What?"
"Someone submitted documents identifying Vanessa Lane as a previously unacknowledged child of Catherine Hayes."
My pulse quickened.
"Who submitted them?"
"An attorney representing Daniel."
I gripped the phone.
"And what are they asking for?"
"They want a declaration that Vanessa has an interest in the trust."
I stared at Samuel.
He'd already guessed.
His face was pale.
Natalie continued.
"They're also alleging that certain original records naming you as primary beneficiary were altered."
I could barely speak.
"Daniel is trying to replace me."
"He's trying to create a competing claim."
I looked at my mother's handwriting.
Her instructions.
Her signature.
Her warning about Richard.
Seventeen years of suffering had not ended.
The people responsible were still fighting for control.
"What happens if Vanessa really is my sister?"
Samuel answered.
"That alone doesn't entitle Daniel to your mother's trust."
"Then why?"
"Because he hopes to use the dispute to freeze your control and force a settlement."
Natalie agreed.
"He's creating uncertainty when the trusteeship is about to change."
My hands clenched.
"He wants time."
"Exactly."
I stared at the photograph of Vanessa.
For the first time, I wondered whether she was simply cruel.
Or whether she had been manipulated too.
That afternoon, I made a decision.
I wanted to speak with Vanessa.
Not through Daniel.
Not through attorneys.
Directly.
Natalie strongly advised against an unsupervised meeting.
So she arranged a recorded video conference with counsel present.
Vanessa appeared on the screen shortly after four.
She wore a white silk robe.
Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders.
The emerald ring glittered on her left hand.
When she saw me, she smiled.
"Well, look who decided to stop hiding."
I stared at her.
"Take the ring off."
Her smile widened.
"Still jealous?"
"It belonged to my mother."
"Daniel said it belonged to his grandmother."
"Daniel lied."
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
"Look, Evelyn, I know you're upset about the divorce."
"This isn't about the divorce."
"Of course it is."
She lifted her chin.
"Daniel chose me."
I took a slow breath.
"How old were you when you learned you were adopted?"
Her smile vanished.
For a moment, she looked frightened.
"What?"
"Did you always know?"
Vanessa glanced toward someone off-camera.
"Who told you that?"
My heart quickened.
"Answer me."
"That's none of your business."
I leaned forward.
"Do you know who your biological mother is?"
Vanessa's face turned white.
She looked off-camera again.
Then a man's voice spoke.
Daniel.
"End the call."
Vanessa didn't move.
I watched her eyes fill with confusion.
"Vanessa, did Daniel tell you your mother's name was Catherine Hayes?"
Her lips parted.
Daniel's voice sharpened.
"Vanessa!"
She looked straight into the camera.
"My mother died when I was a baby."
I swallowed.
"That's what they told me too."
Vanessa stared.
For one brief second, her cruelty disappeared.
There was only fear.
Then Daniel stepped into view.
He grabbed the laptop.
"Don't contact her again."
I looked directly at him.
"How long have you known?"
He leaned toward the camera.
"Known what?"
"That Vanessa might be my sister."
His expression hardened.
I continued.
"Did you plan this?"
"You're delusional."
"Did you choose her because she could make a claim to my inheritance?"
Daniel laughed.
"You really think everything is about you."
I leaned forward.
"No."
My voice turned cold.
"I think everything has always been about my mother's money."
His smile faded.
I watched Vanessa in the background.
She had turned the emerald ring around on her finger.
Staring at it.
Then she whispered something.
Daniel glanced back.
"What?"
Vanessa looked at him.
"Why did you tell me I had to keep this ring on?"
He froze.
My pulse quickened.
She continued.
"You said your father needed to see it at the party."
Daniel reached for the laptop again.
But Vanessa grabbed his wrist.
"Daniel."
Her voice shook.
"Why did you need Richard to see it?"
For the first time, my husband looked genuinely afraid.
He forced a smile.
"Baby, we'll talk later."
Vanessa pulled away.
"No."
She turned back toward the camera.
"Evelyn."
I leaned closer.
"Yes?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"There's something I need to tell you."
Daniel lunged toward the screen.
The image jolted.
Vanessa screamed.
Then the call disconnected.
I stood so quickly my chair overturned.
"Call the police."
Natalie was already reaching for her phone.
I stared at the black screen.
A second later, my own phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
One sentence.
"Vanessa was never supposed to get pregnant."
May you like
Then another message arrived.
"Ask Daniel what happened to the first baby."
