Chapter 4 - THE BOY WITH TWO BIRTH CERTIFICATES
Theo had two birth certificates.
One listed Adrian Bell as his father.
The other contained no paternal information.
The second document had been issued after an amendment requested by a legal representative associated with the Arden Foundation.
Elena hadn't authorized the change.
Marco studied both documents.
"Why would someone alter his birth record?"
Elena shook her head.
"I don't know."
I sat beside Frank.
His hand trembled against the armrest.
"Adrian," he whispered.
Marco turned.
"Dad?"
Frank looked at Elena.
"Show him... the picture."
Elena hesitated.
Then removed another photograph.
This one showed Adrian Bell standing beside a hospital bed.
A young woman lay beneath a white blanket.
Celeste stood near the doorway.
Marco studied the image.
"Who's the woman?"
Elena answered.
"Celeste's younger sister. Rebecca Arden."
Marco frowned.
"I thought Rebecca died when she was nineteen."
"That's what Celeste told everyone."
Elena nodded toward the photograph.
"But this was taken three years ago."
Marco stared.
Rebecca was supposed to have died in a boating accident more than a decade earlier.
Yet the woman in the photograph looked older than nineteen.
And alive.
Marco called his attorney.
Within hours, an independent investigator began examining the records.
The first discovery came that afternoon.
Rebecca Arden had never been declared legally dead.
There was no death certificate.
No official record of the boating accident.
Only a private memorial announcement.
The second discovery was worse.
Rebecca had been admitted to a long-term psychiatric facility under a different name.
The facility was funded by the Arden Children's Foundation.
Frank began crying when he heard.
"That poor girl."
Marco looked at him.
"Dad, what do you know?"
Frank closed his eyes.
"I saw her... once."
"When?"
"At the hospital."
"Which hospital?"
Frank struggled.
I leaned forward.
"Take your time."
He squeezed my hand.
"Boston."
Elena went pale.
"The same hotel trip?"
Frank nodded.
"Celeste took me... to see a doctor."
Marco frowned.
"You never told me."
Frank looked ashamed.
"She said... you were too busy."
My stomach twisted.
Celeste had been isolating Frank long before the engagement dinner.
She had used his stroke as an excuse to control his visitors, calls, and appointments.
And Marco had been too busy running his empire to notice.
He looked at me.
"Natalie, has my father ever mentioned Rebecca?"
I hesitated.
"Once."
Frank looked toward me.
I continued.
"He said there was a woman in Boston who needed help. I thought he was remembering something from years ago."
Marco nodded slowly.
Then asked, "What else?"
I looked at Frank.
May you like
His eyes filled.
"He told me Celeste was afraid of a little boy."
