Chapter 7
Vincent wanted to confront Marcella alone.
His lawyer said:
“That is how you lose both the case and your daughter.”
Vincent did not go.
That restraint became evidence of change.
Instead, investigators followed the money.
Marcella had paid a private maternity residence called St. Brigid House seven years earlier.
It advertised “confidential care for women in crisis pregnancies.”
It was licensed for housing.
Not medical delivery.
Several women had delivered at nearby hospitals under aliases arranged by outside attorneys.
Some placements were legal.
Some were questionable.
St. Brigid House had closed after a state inquiry found poor recordkeeping.
The old director, Paula Madsen, was still alive.
She initially denied knowing Serena.
Then Lena showed her the draft adoption file.
Paula cried.
“She used the name Sara Cole.”
“Who?”
“Serena.”
“Did she come voluntarily?”
“At first.”
“What does that mean?”
Paula looked toward her lawyer.
“She thought she was hiding from her family.”
“Who brought her?”
“Marcella Corvino.”
Paula said Marcella told Serena that Vincent had become dangerous because of what Serena knew.
Serena believed at least some of it.
She had reason to fear the family.
She stayed at St. Brigid under an alias while deciding whether to cooperate with federal authorities.
Then she gave birth early.
A baby girl.
Elsie.
Serena refused to sign adoption papers.
She wanted Lydia contacted.
She wanted an attorney not chosen by Marcella.
Paula said:
“That’s when everything changed.”
“What happened?”
“Marcella arrived with another lawyer.”
“And?”
“The baby was taken for ‘safe placement.’ Serena was told it was temporary.”
“Was it?”
Paula shook her head.
Two days later, Serena was gone.
Paula claimed Marcella’s men moved her.
Marcella denied it.
No body.
No clear proof of murder.
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But the adoption fraud was becoming undeniable.
Elsie’s life had begun inside a lie designed by adults who called themselves family.
