Chapter 5 - WHAT MADISON REMEMBERED
Madison survived surgery.
She refused to speak to police until Sarah arrived.
Margaret had already sent an attorney to the clinic.
The attorney claimed Madison was mentally unstable and requested that all interviews stop.
Amelia had him removed.
Sarah entered Madison’s room alone.
Madison looked smaller without makeup, jewelry, or arrogance.
A bandage covered her side.
Bruises circled one wrist.
“You slapped me,” she said weakly.
“You said Lily was not my child.”
“She is your child.”
Sarah stood beside the bed.
“Then tell me why you said it.”
“Because Mom told me if I made you angry enough, the police would remove Lily from the room.”
Sarah stared.
“She planned the hospital scene?”
“Every part.”
“Even grabbing Lily?”
Madison looked away.
“Mom said she needed proof that you were violent after surgery.”
“And you helped her.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was Lily.”
Madison began to cry.
“I know.”
Sarah did not comfort her.
Not yet.
“Who stabbed you?”
“I don’t know his real name. Mom called him Grant.”
“What did he want?”
“The flash drive.”
“Who sent it to the hospital?”
“I did.”
Sarah’s anger shifted.
Madison had been both attacker and witness.
Coward and protector.
Nothing was clean.
“Why did you give Lily to us?”
Madison looked toward the window.
“I did not choose you.”
Sarah said nothing.
“Mom chose you.”
“Why?”
“Because you were connected to Thomas Hale.”
Sarah’s pulse quickened.
Madison explained that Margaret had learned Thomas kept copies of his investigation in a series of family trusts.
One trust could only be accessed by a legal descendant.
Thomas had named Sarah.
But after his disappearance, no one found the trust documents.
Margaret believed Sarah might one day inherit the evidence.
By placing Lily with Sarah and Daniel, Margaret created leverage.
A child Sarah would love.
A child whose legal status Margaret could threaten whenever necessary.
Sarah felt physically ill.
“She gave us Lily so she could control us.”
“At first.”
“At first?”
Madison nodded.
“Then Dad changed the plan.”
Richard grew attached to Lily.
He also began to fear Margaret.
He secretly corrected some records before he died.
The emergency guardianship order Sarah received in the hospital had been based on those corrections.
“Dad wanted you to keep Lily,” Madison said. “Permanently.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew what Mom had done.”
“What did she do?”
Madison looked at Sarah.
“She sold babies.”
The words came out flat.
Margaret used private agencies to pressure vulnerable women into relinquishment. Some were lied to. Some were threatened. Some were told their babies died.
Richard signed sealed orders.
Elaine Porter moved the children.
Money flowed through trusts and charities.
Madison discovered the network when she became pregnant.
The father was a married state senator whose family paid Margaret to make the problem disappear.
Madison refused abortion.
Margaret arranged the adoption.
“Did the father know Lily lived?”
“No.”
“Who is he?”
Madison closed her eyes.
“Senator Andrew Cole.”
The name was nationally known.
He was preparing a campaign for governor.
Daniel had donated to him twice.
Sarah felt the room close in.
“Does he know now?”
“Yes.”
“Is he the man who attacked you?”
“I don’t know. But someone from his office contacted Mom last week.”
Bennett entered after Sarah called him in.
Madison provided names, dates, bank accounts.
She also revealed that Richard had kept one master ledger.
Not the adoption agency records.
The payment records.
Margaret believed Thomas Hale’s trust contained a copy.
“Where is the original?” Bennett asked.
Madison looked at Sarah.
“Inside the courthouse.”
“Where?”
“In a sealed family case under a false name.”
“What name?”
Madison whispered, “Lily Foster.”
Amelia immediately filed an emergency motion to unseal the adoption exhibits.
The hearing was set for the next morning.
That night, Sarah sat beside Lily in the hospital family lounge.
Lily colored a picture of three people holding hands.
“Is Aunt Madison going to take me?”
“No.”
“Did she grow me in her tummy?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Lily thought about that.
“Then how did I grow in your family?”
Sarah smiled through tears.
“Every day.”
Lily returned to coloring.
Then she asked, “Why does Grandma hate me?”
Sarah’s heart broke.
“She does not know how to love without controlling people.”
“Is that the same as hate?”
“Sometimes it feels the same.”
Lily drew a fourth person beside the family.
“Who is that?” Sarah asked.
“Aunt Madison.”
Sarah looked at the picture.
Lily had drawn Madison outside the house, standing alone.
At ten that night, Bennett called.
Senator Cole’s chief of staff had been arrested at Portland International Airport carrying forged passports.
One passport bore Madison’s photograph.
Another bore Lily’s.
Sarah looked at Lily sleeping beside her.
May you like
The plan had not been to win custody.
It had been to take Lily out of the country.
