Chapter 5 - THE FIRST LIE
Vincent left the gala without saying goodbye to the guests. He ordered his driver to follow the route Anna had taken, but by the time they reached the street, her car was gone.
“Find her,” he told his security chief, Marcus Reed. “Quietly. No one approaches her without my permission.”
Marcus studied him. “You’re certain it was Anna?”
“I saw her.”
“And the child?”
Vincent looked through the window at the city lights. “He’s mine.”
Marcus did not question the resemblance. He had worked for Vincent long enough to know when a fact had settled in the man’s mind.
Within hours, Vincent had ordered a review of the crash records. He requested every report, every passenger statement, every hospital inquiry, and every piece of evidence connected to Anna’s disappearance. He also demanded the original communications log from the day of the crash.
The official file said Anna had been presumed dead because no survivor matching her identity had been found. Yet there was a note in the supplemental records: an unidentified pregnant woman had been admitted to a regional hospital with injuries consistent with the crash. The entry had been marked “identity unresolved” and never connected to the passenger list.
Vincent read it twice.
“Who reviewed this?” he asked.
Marcus checked the record. “The file passed through three offices. There was a data-entry error in the name.”
“Find the hospital.”
Marcus began making calls.
At the mansion, Sophia waited for Vincent in his study. She had changed out of her gown and was pacing beside the desk when he entered.
“You can’t believe she’s really alive,” she said.
“I saw her.”
“She could be someone who looks like Anna.”
“And the child?”
Sophia’s mouth tightened. “Children can resemble people by coincidence.”
Vincent stared at her. “Don’t insult me.”
She flinched, then tried a different approach. “You were grieving. You built your life around the belief that she was dead. Maybe seeing that woman brought everything back. You shouldn’t make decisions tonight.”
“I’m not asking for your advice.”
Sophia looked toward the door. “Vincent, I was there when the plane exploded. I know what happened.”
“Then help me understand why a hospital record was never connected to the crash.”
Her face changed—only for a moment, but he saw it.
“What record?”
He placed a copy on the desk.
Sophia stared at the page.
“I’ve never seen that.”
“Then why are you afraid of it?”
“I’m not afraid.”
“You’re shaking.”
She folded her arms. “You’re accusing me of something terrible because your wife walked into a room.”
“I’m asking questions because my wife survived an explosion and somehow disappeared from every report.”
Sophia’s eyes filled with tears. “I loved you. I stayed beside you when you thought you’d lost everything. Now she comes back and you look at me like I’m the enemy.”
Vincent felt the old guilt rise, but it no longer controlled him.
“I didn’t ask you to stay,” he said. “And I didn’t ask you to become my wife. I asked you to be honest.”
Sophia stared at him, then left without another word.
The next morning, Marcus found the hospital. The records confirmed that an unidentified pregnant woman had been treated after the crash and later discharged to temporary housing. The name on the file had been entered as “Anna Benett,” missing one letter from her surname. A social worker’s notes showed that the patient had eventually used the name Anna Bennett.
Vincent gripped the edge of his desk.
“She was alive,” he said.
“Yes.”
“And no one told me.”
Marcus hesitated. “The file says a message was sent to the crash liaison office, but there’s no confirmation it reached your legal team.”
“Who handled the liaison office?”
Marcus named a former security consultant who had worked with the Moretti organization at the time.
Vincent’s expression hardened. “Find him.”
For three years, Vincent had blamed himself for failing to return to the plane. Now he began to understand that his failure might not have been the only reason Anna vanished.
May you like
Someone had allowed him to believe she was dead.
And that someone had known where to look.
