Chapter 8 - The Nurse Who Vanished
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Margaret Bell was not dead.
She was living in Vermont.
Jonathan found her through an old nursing-license database.
Dominic called.
No answer.
He called again.
Voicemail.
Then Grace tried.
Margaret answered on the second ring.
“Hello?”
Grace froze.
“Margaret?”
Silence.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Grace Hart.”
The line went dead.
Dominic stared at the phone.
“She hung up.”
Grace called again.
No answer.
Dominic wanted to send someone immediately.
Jonathan stopped him.
“Do not frighten the witness.”
“She’s already frightened.”
“Exactly.”
Grace sent one text.
Elena’s daughter found Dominic.
Three minutes passed.
Then five.
Maisie had fallen asleep on a sofa with Dominic’s jacket over her.
Finally, Grace’s phone rang.
Margaret.
Grace answered on speaker.
“Is Maisie safe?”
Dominic looked at the phone.
Grace answered.
“Yes.”
Margaret began crying.
“I always wondered.”
Dominic spoke carefully.
“Margaret, this is Dominic Castellano.”
Silence.
Then—
“I know your voice.”
“How?”
“I heard Elena call you from the hospital.”
Dominic sat forward.
“She reached me?”
“No.”
Margaret explained.
Elena had asked to use the nurses’ station because her room phone suddenly stopped making outside calls.
She dialed Dominic’s private number.
A woman answered.
Not Dominic.
The woman told Elena never to call again.
Dominic’s eyes shifted toward Vivienne.
Vivienne looked away.
“Was it her?”
Dominic asked.
Margaret hesitated.
“I saw her later.”
“Who?”
“The woman who answered.”
Margaret had been in Elena’s room when Vivienne arrived.
She heard part of the conversation.
Vivienne told Elena that Dominic had denied paternity.
That the family would take Maisie if Elena fought.
That documents had already been prepared.
Margaret became suspicious.
She copied the newborn record before leaving her shift.
Two days later, hospital administration accused her of improperly accessing patient information.
She was suspended.
Then offered a severance agreement if she resigned quietly.
“Who complained?”
Dominic asked.
Margaret answered—
“A Castellano family attorney.”
Jonathan immediately frowned.
“Name?”
“Richard Vale.”
Dominic knew him.
Vale had worked for the family briefly.
Then left suddenly.
He died three years ago.
Convenient.
But records might remain.
Margaret continued.
“I kept one copy.”
Dominic stood.
“Of the birth record?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“With me.”
Vivienne whispered something.
Dominic didn’t catch it.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Margaret’s voice came through the speaker.
“There’s more.”
Dominic turned back.
“The original record listed a father.”
Maisie stirred on the sofa.
Dominic’s pulse climbed.
“Who?”
Margaret took a breath.
“Dominic Anthony Castellano.”
No one moved.
Vivienne looked toward the door.
Dominic blocked her with one glance.
Margaret continued—
“And three days later, that entry disappeared from the hospital system.”
May you like
👉 A nurse had finally confirmed Dominic’s name was originally on Maisie’s birth record—but someone with access to the Castellano family’s lawyers had erased it almost immediately.
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