Chapter 13 - The Ferry Ledger
Elise did not show Victor the message.
Instead, she passed the phone silently to Nora.
Nora read it, then looked toward the road ahead.
“Stop the car,” she said.
Victor tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“If we stop, Amelia catches us.”
“How did she get Elise’s number?”
“She has access to the Registry.”
“What Registry?”
Victor did not answer.
Nora reached for the door handle.
Victor pulled onto the shoulder.
“Fine,” he said. “You deserve the whole truth.”
He opened the vehicle’s glove compartment and removed a thin ledger wrapped in plastic. Its pages recorded children moved through private clinics, foster homes and sealed adoption proceedings.
Every transfer had been approved by one of six officials.
Elise recognized the final signature.
Victor Hale.
Her husband had signed the document seventeen years before they met.
“You were part of it,” she whispered.
“I was nineteen.”
“You signed away children.”
“I signed what my father placed in front of me.”
Victor explained that his father, Malcolm Hale, had operated a private legal network known as the Registry. Wealthy families used it to replace dead heirs, conceal forbidden adoptions and create identities for children who officially did not exist.
Elise, Nora and Amelia were the Registry’s final unresolved case.
Their identities had been divided after a fire destroyed the clinic records.
Victor had been ordered to marry Elise and watch for returning memories.
“Did you ever love me?” Elise asked.
Victor looked at her through the rearview mirror.
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly.
A vehicle appeared behind them.
Its headlights flashed three times.
Victor’s face changed.
“That is not Amelia.”
“Then who is it?” Nora asked.
May you like
“My father.”
The approaching vehicle struck them from behind.
