Chapter 3 - Three Names on a Birth Certificate
“You’re lying.”
Roman didn't react.
“I wish I were.”
Dr. Keller looked between us.
“Roman, perhaps this conversation should happen privately.”
“No,” I said. “Right here.”
Roman nodded.
“Right here.”
He pulled out his phone and handed it to me.
A scanned document filled the screen.
BIRTH CERTIFICATE.
Child: Lily Elena Garza.
Mother: Elena Marquez.
Father: Roman Alejandro Garza.
I stared at it.
“That isn't me.”
“No.”
“Then she isn't mine.”
Roman’s eyes remained fixed on me.
“The original hospital intake record lists Baby Girl Reyes.”
My hands began trembling.
“Show me.”
Mateo placed another document beside the phone.
Patient: Ava Reyes.
Pregnancy: thirty-seven weeks.
Emergency cesarean delivery.
Live female birth.
I stopped.
Live.
Not stillborn.
Not deceased.
Live.
I looked at Roman.
“My daughter was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Who told me she died?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
I looked back at the birth certificate.
“And who is Elena Marquez?”
Roman’s expression became cold.
“The woman I married.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“Your wife?”
“For eleven months.”
“Lily’s mother?”
“That’s what I believed.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared.”
I stared at him.
“You said Lily lost her mother.”
“That was the explanation given to the doctors. Elena vanished when Lily was eleven months old.”
“And that’s when Lily stopped talking.”
“Three days later.”
Dr. Keller collected our samples.
She promised results within hours.
Roman moved Lily and me into a private upstairs dining room.
I refused to leave without answers.
Roman refused to let me leave until he knew I was safe.
Neither of us liked the arrangement.
Mateo entered forty minutes later.
“We found something.”
Roman looked up.
“The Calder Hotel?”
“Never closed.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Mateo turned his tablet toward me.
“The hotel is operating normally.”
“That’s impossible. Management told us the owners sold.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Mateo looked at Roman.
“Two days before Ava applied here.”
Roman stood.
“Who was her manager?”
“Thomas Vale.”
Roman froze.
I noticed.
“You know him.”
Roman’s expression darkened.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“The administrator of the hospital where Lily was born.”
Silence.
My mouth went dry.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” Roman said.
“To you, maybe.”
“To someone who wanted you and Lily in the same room.”
“Why?”
“That’s the question.”
His phone rang.
Roman answered.
“Garza.”
He listened.
His face changed.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Keep him there.”
He hung up.
“Thomas Vale just tried to leave Texas.”
I stood.
“Where is he?”
“Airport.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Roman.”
“Ava—”
“That man may have stolen my daughter.”
“And that is exactly why you're staying with Lily.”
“You don't order me around.”
His voice dropped.
“No. But somebody manipulated both of our lives for two years. Until I know why, I'm not putting you in front of him.”
Before I could respond, Dr. Keller entered.
She carried an envelope.
Roman looked at it.
“Results?”
“Yes.”
My heart began pounding.
Dr. Keller sat beside me.
“Ava, the probability that you are Lily’s biological mother exceeds 99.99 percent.”
Everything disappeared except Lily.
She sat across the room coloring on a napkin.
My daughter.
Alive.
Two years of birthdays.
First steps.
Fevers.
Nightmares.
Gone.
I covered my mouth.
Roman didn't speak.
Dr. Keller looked at him.
“And Roman…”
He raised his eyes.
“You are not Lily’s biological father.”
Roman went perfectly still.
I looked at him.
He didn't look angry.
He looked destroyed.
Lily suddenly climbed down from her chair.
She walked toward Roman.
“Daddy?”
His eyes closed.
The second word she had spoken after two years.
Roman crouched.
Lily touched his face.
“Daddy.”
Roman swallowed.
Then pulled her gently against his chest.
I watched them.
Whatever DNA said, that little girl knew exactly who her father was.
Mateo appeared at the doorway.
“Boss.”
Roman stood with Lily in his arms.
“What?”
“We found Vale.”
“And?”
Mateo hesitated.
“He says he'll talk.”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“What does he want?”
Mateo looked at me.
May you like
“He says he’ll only tell the truth if Ava is there.”
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