All Chapters of He Lost Me Before He Knew About Our Triplets: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

“Mommy!”The scream tore through the house.Ava ran.Ethan reached the bedroom first.The door flew open.Lucas was standing on the bed, clutching his blanket.Noah was beside him, crying.Lily was nowhere in sight.Ava stopped so abruptly that Ethan nearly collided with her.“Lily?”No answer.“Lily!”Ava rushed into the room.The window was open.The curtains were moving in the night air.Lucas pointed toward it with a trembling hand.“She took Lily.”Ava's face went white.“Who?”“I don't know!”Ethan crossed the room in two strides and looked outside.The window opened onto the backyard.Empty.No movement.No footsteps.Nothing.Then he noticed something on the floor.A small pink hair clip.Lily's.Ava snatched it up.“No.”Her voice broke.“No, no, no.”Ethan caught her shoulders.“Ava.”“She was right here.”“I know.”“She was sleeping.”“I know.”“They took my daughter.”Ethan looked directly into her eyes.“We're getting her back.”Ava stared at him.For one brief second, th

59:59.The numbers glowed on Ethan's phone.For several seconds, no one spoke.Ava stared at the photograph of Lily as if staring long enough might somehow pull her daughter out of it. The room around her—the lights, the security officers, Marcus speaking urgently into his phone—seemed to recede until there was nothing left except that small face on the screen.Lily was alive.That should have been enough to bring relief.Instead, Ava felt something colder.Someone wanted them to see her.Someone wanted them to know they were in control.Ethan took the phone from Ava before her trembling fingers could drop it.“What does it mean?” she asked.He looked at the message again.ETHAN BLACKWOOD WAS NEVER THE FATHER THEY WERE AFRAID OF.He was the child they were trying to protect.“I don't know.”Ava turned sharply.“You don't know?”His gaze lifted to hers.“No.”For the first time since she'd known him, there was no carefully constructed answer behind Ethan's expression. No controlled exp

“She's right.”The voice came from directly behind them.Ava's entire body locked.Ethan turned first.Marcus raised his weapon.Eleanor screamed.“Don't shoot!”The lights flickered once.For half a second, the room was illuminated.There was no man behind them.Only an empty corridor.Ethan spun back toward Eleanor.“Who said that?”“I don't know.”“You expect me to believe that?”“I heard it too!”Eleanor's voice trembled.Then the lights came back.The corridor was still empty.Ava grabbed Ethan's sleeve.“Lily.”He looked at her.“You heard her.”“She told me not to turn around.”Ava's breathing quickened.“Then where is she?”Marcus moved toward the corridor.“I'm checking.”Ethan caught his arm.“Not alone.”Marcus nodded.They moved together.Ava stayed beside Eleanor.The former nurse was shaking.“You knew,” Ava whispered.Eleanor looked at her.“I knew enough to be afraid.”“You knew what happened to Ethan.”“I knew what they wanted me to believe happened.”“That's not an a

Ava had seen that woman smile at Blackwood family dinners.She had accepted champagne from her.Called her elegant.Trusted her.And now that same woman was staring back at her from a five-year-old hospital photograph beneath three words that made Ava's stomach turn.BIOLOGICAL MOTHER — CONFIRMED.Ava couldn't breathe.“That's Sophia's mother.”Ethan said nothing.His eyes remained fixed on the photograph.Marcus zoomed in.The image sharpened.The woman was unmistakable.Helena Lancaster.Sophia's mother.A woman who had spent years moving comfortably through Blackwood circles.A woman Richard trusted.A woman who had once kissed Ava's cheek and told her she was “the perfect wife for Ethan.”Ava stepped backward.“No.”Ethan looked at her.“What?”“She can't be.”“Why?”“Because she was at the hospital.”Ethan's expression changed.“When?”Ava's memory raced.“I don't know if it was that night.”“You just recognized her.”“I recognized her from somewhere.”“Where?”Ava closed her eye

The fourth cry came again.This time, Ava knew it wasn't a memory.It was real.A child's voice echoed beneath the old hospital floor, faint but unmistakable.Ethan was already moving.“Ava, stay behind me.”She caught his wrist.“No.”He turned.“If Lily is down there, I'm coming with you.”“This could be a trap.”“So could leaving me upstairs.”Her voice was steady despite the fear tightening her chest.“I'm done being the person everyone protects by keeping me in the dark.”For a second, Ethan said nothing.Then he nodded.“Stay close.”They moved toward the center of Room Thirteen.Marcus was already examining the walls.“There has to be another level.”Eleanor pointed toward the floor.“Not another level.”Her face had gone pale.“A service tunnel.”Ethan looked at her.“You knew about it?”“I knew it existed.”“Where does it lead?”Eleanor swallowed.“That depends on which part of the hospital you're talking about.”Marcus crouched and ran his fingers along the floor.“There's a