A Waitress Served Table Seven—Then an Elderly Woman Saw Her Locket and Uncovered a Family Secret Buried for Decades

Chapter 09 - Blood Cannot Be Forged

Emily, Thomas, and Mason traveled to the rehabilitation center before the information could leak. Eleanor was too weak to accompany them, so she gave Emily her matching locket and asked her to bring Lydia home if Lydia wanted to come.

The center stood beside a quiet lake. Its director explained that Laura Hayes had arrived after years in smaller facilities. She remembered songs, colors, and fragments of childhood, but names often disappeared. An anonymous trust paid every bill and prohibited staff from releasing information.

“When did anyone last visit her?” Thomas asked.

The director checked the records. “Mr. Julian Blackwood came six months ago.”

Emily’s anger turned cold. Julian had looked Eleanor in the eye while pretending Lydia was dead.

They found Lydia in a garden, arranging white lilies in a jar. She looked up when Emily approached and smiled politely, the way one smiles at a stranger.

Emily sat beside her. “My name is Emily Rose.”

Lydia’s fingers stopped moving.

Emily opened the two lockets and placed them together. The divided photograph became whole. Then she wound the tiny mechanism. A soft melody drifted between them.

Lydia began to tremble. “My baby had that song.”

Thomas knelt beside her. “Lydia, it’s Tom.”

She touched his face, confused and frightened. “Tommy?”

A memory rose slowly. Lydia remembered the storm, Samuel shouting that the brakes were failing, and a dark car following them. She remembered waking in a hospital and giving her baby to a social worker. Later, Robert Blackwood came to her bedside. He said Eleanor had rejected her and that the baby had died. Lydia, injured and disoriented, believed him.

Years later, Julian began visiting. He told her the family still considered her an embarrassment. He made her sign forms she did not understand, supposedly to continue her care.

Those signatures had likely been used to transfer Lydia’s inherited shares.

The center’s director produced copies of the documents. Mason forwarded them to Henry and the police.

Lydia looked at Emily for a long time. “Did I lose you?”

Emily took her hand. “You tried to protect me.”

“I should know your face.”

“You can learn it now.”

Lydia cried against her shoulder. Thomas turned away, unable to hide his own tears.

Before they left, police warned them that Julian had returned to the city and scheduled the board vote for the following morning. He intended to take control of Blackwood Hotels before the forged share transfers could be challenged.