Chapter 25 - THE LAST PLAN
Sydney moved into a protected location.
No public hospital schedule.
No online records.
No social media.
Terrence remained nearby.
Not as husband.
As the person she still trusted in an emergency.
I visited once.
She looked smaller.
Older.
“Do you think Rachel wants the baby?”
“Yes.”
Sydney closed her eyes.
“Because of Jason?”
“Because Rachel sees children as assets.”
“She raised Ethan.”
“Exactly.”
Sydney understood.
Rachel had already participated in stealing one baby.
We would not let her touch another.
Three days later, Sydney went into premature labor.
Two weeks early.
The protected plan activated.
Private entrance.
Limited staff.
No family notifications.
Only me, Terrence, Naomi, and investigators knew.
Or so we thought.
At 2:18 a.m., a nurse entered Sydney’s room carrying medication that had not been ordered.
Terrence noticed.
He asked.
She hesitated.
Then ran.
Security caught her.
Not Rachel.
A woman Rachel had paid.
The plan was to sedate Sydney lightly after delivery.
Create confusion.
Move the newborn using altered discharge documents.
The same method used with Laura’s baby years earlier.
History repeating.
Except this time, we were watching.
Sydney delivered a baby girl at 5:42 a.m.
Small.
Alive.
Monitored carefully because of genetic risks.
Sydney cried when she heard her daughter breathe.
Terrence stood beside the window.
He cried too.
Not because the child was his.
Because grief and compassion could occupy the same room.
Sydney named her Evelyn.
I was not prepared for that.
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because maybe one person in this family should inherit something better than our mistakes.”
Baby Evelyn remained in neonatal care.
Rachel remained missing.
The hired nurse gave investigators an address.
A motel.
Empty.
But inside they found cash.
Fake IDs.
And a ticket for a flight departing that evening.
Passenger name.
Meline Carter.
My name.
Rachel intended to leave using my synthetic identity.
We let her.
Or rather, we let her believe she could.
At airport security, the identity triggered silently.
Agents watched.
Rachel arrived wearing a dark coat.
Carrying one bag.
She almost made it to the checkpoint.
Then she saw me.
I stood beyond the ropes with investigators.
Her face changed.
“You.”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
“Your grandmother would hate what you became.”
“No.”
I looked at the stolen passport in her hand.
“She’d hate that it took this long.”
Rachel was arrested.
No chase.
No gunfire.
No dramatic escape.
Just a woman whose entire criminal career ended under fluorescent airport lights because the identity she tried to steal finally belonged to someone who was watching.
The last active Northstar infrastructure began falling.
Accounts seized.
Shell companies exposed.
Victims notified.
Trials scheduled.
For the first time, there were fewer new secrets than old ones.
Then Naomi received a call.
Jason wanted to change his plea.
He was ready to cooperate.
“Why now?”
“Rachel’s arrest.”
I understood.
His final family shield had disappeared.
Jason offered information against Gregory and surviving Northstar members.
He wanted reduced charges.
Prosecutors listened.
Then he made one demand.
He wanted to speak to me before signing.
I refused.
He sent a written message instead.
THERE’S ONE THING I NEVER LIED ABOUT.
I LOVE YOU.
I tore it in half.
Then Naomi handed me the second page.
YOU THINK THE WEDDING WAS THE FIRST TIME I ASKED YOU TO SIGN SOMETHING.
IT WASN’T.
I froze.
We searched backward.
Contracts.
Cards.
Hotel forms.
Delivery receipts.
Then Marcus found it.
Two years earlier.
Jason had asked me to sign as witness on a “lease document” for his apartment.
My signature was real.
The document beneath it had later been altered.
And that genuine signature had become the template used on every forged financial document afterward.
Jason had been collecting my signature before he proposed.
But one detail was worse.
Another witness had signed that original lease form.
May you like
My mother.
Their partnership began even earlier than we thought.
