He picked it up.
Ethan, in his white coat, smiling. Holding a little girl in his arms.
The same girl.
Daniel’s breath thinned.
How did she know his son?
A memory surfaced.
Maria Alvarez. A quiet housekeeper who had worked in his home for two years before leaving abruptly six months after Ethan’s death. She had said she was moving away.
Daniel had barely noticed.
Now he called his investigator, Paul Ramirez.
“Find Maria Alvarez and her daughter. I want everything.”
That night his mansion felt cavernous and empty. Awards lined the walls. Photographs with senators and CEOs. None of it mattered.
He opened the box of Ethan’s belongings from the hospital.
Inside lay another photo. Ethan. Maria. The little girl—five years old—wearing a toy stethoscope.
On the back, Ethan had written:
“My girls. June 2020.”
Daniel’s hands trembled.
He found a journal.
The first entry read:
“Met someone today at Hope Community Clinic. Maria Alvarez. Seven months pregnant. Scared. Alone.”