PART 2 — THE STRANGER IN THE RAIN
The bus driver had already called an ambulance, but the black sedan that had stopped outside seemed to be waiting for me.
The man who ran toward the bus reached the door just as two paramedics arrived.
He looked at the pregnant passengers, then at me.
“Claire?”
My heart stopped.
“How do you know my name?”
He looked stunned.
“I’m Daniel Mercer.”
The surname hit me like a slap.
Mercer.
The name of Ethan’s father.
But Ethan had always told me his father died before they met.
“You’re related to Ethan?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“He’s my younger brother.”
I couldn’t understand.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
“I’ve been out of the country for years. Ethan told me I wanted nothing to do with the family.”
Another contraction tore through me.
The paramedics rushed me from the bus.
Daniel followed.
“I don’t know what Ethan told you,” he said, “but I swear to you, Claire, I never abandoned this family.”
Inside the ambulance, my blood pressure dropped.
One of the paramedics looked at the monitor.
“We’re going to deliver soon. Twenty-eight weeks with triplets is dangerous.”
Daniel stood outside the ambulance doors.
Before they closed, he leaned toward me.
“Whatever Ethan did to you, don’t sign anything.”
Then the doors shut.
For the next nine hours, doctors fought to keep my babies inside me.
They couldn’t.
At 4:26 a.m., our first daughter was born.
At 4:31, the second.
At 4:38, the third.
Three tiny cries.
Three incubators.
Three lives that had arrived far too early.
I couldn’t hold them.
I could only watch through glass.
Then Daniel appeared beside me.
He had stayed all night.
“You have no reason to trust me,” he said quietly. “But I need you to hear something.”
He placed a folder on my hospital table.
Inside was a photograph.
Ethan stood beside Sabrina.
But that wasn’t what shocked me.
Behind them stood Martin Keller, the attorney who had delivered my divorce papers.
And beneath the photograph was a date.
Six months earlier.
Daniel looked at me.
“Your husband didn’t discover Sabrina recently.”
“He’s been planning this for months.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Why?”
Daniel’s answer chilled me.
“Because of your children.”
PART 3 — THE SECRET BEHIND THE TRIPLETS
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