I found the second document at 2:17 in the morning.

My daughters were sleeping in matching bassinets beside the bed of a small rented apartment.

For the first time in months, I had help.

My older sister, Natalie, had driven six hours to reach me after receiving one phone call.

She hadn’t asked why.

She had simply said, “Pack what you need. I’m coming.”

Now she sat across from me at the kitchen table.

Between us lay the blue folder.

“Emily,” she whispered, “where did Garrett get these papers?”

“I don’t know.”

She pointed to the second page.

There were four names.

Two belonged to our daughters, Sophie and Grace.

The other two were unfamiliar.

Mia Bennett.

Oliver Bennett.

Both children were listed as having been placed through Northbridge Family Services.

Their birth dates were three years apart.

And beside each name appeared the same signature.

Richard Cole.

Garrett’s father.

Natalie looked up.

“Why would your father-in-law be involved in other children’s guardianship arrangements?”

I had no answer.

Richard Cole was a wealthy businessman who owned several assisted-living facilities and a private investment company.

He had never been particularly affectionate.

But he had always been generous.

When Garrett and I struggled to conceive, Richard offered to pay for fertility treatment.

When I became pregnant, he insisted on choosing the hospital.

And when the twins were born, he sent an expensive silver bracelet engraved with their initials.

At the time, I thought he was simply excited to become a grandfather.

Now I wasn’t so sure.

I turned another page.

There was a handwritten note.

“Both girls confirmed. Final arrangements after maternal recovery.”

My stomach tightened.

“What does that mean?”

Natalie shook her head.

“We need a lawyer.”

The following morning, we met with a family attorney named Rebecca Sloan.

She studied the documents carefully.

Then she asked me a question I hadn’t expected.

“Did you ever sign anything giving your husband permission to make guardianship decisions without you?”

“No.”

“Are you absolutely certain?”

“Yes.”

Rebecca placed a document in front of me.

“Then we have a serious problem.”

At the bottom was my signature.

Except I had never signed it.

I recognized the handwriting immediately.

Someone had copied my name from our mortgage paperwork.

Rebecca looked at me.

“This appears to be a forged signature. We need to establish exactly how these documents were created and whether they were ever submitted anywhere.”

I felt my hands begin to shake.

“Could they take my babies?”

“These papers don’t establish that anyone has the right to take your children,” she answered firmly. “But we need to protect you and investigate what happened.”

She began preparing the necessary legal filings.

Then her assistant knocked on the door.

“Rebecca? There’s someone here asking for Mrs. Cole.”

A woman stood in the hallway.

She looked about forty.

Her coat was soaked from the rain.

And she was holding a photograph of two small children.

“My name is Vanessa Bennett,” she said.

I recognized the first name.

Vanessa.

The woman Garrett had called.

I stood up.

“What do you want?”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“I need to tell you what Northbridge really is.”

Rebecca stepped between us.

“Then you can speak here, with me present.”

Vanessa nodded.

She placed the photograph on the table.

The little girl in the picture had dark curls.

The boy had Garrett’s eyes.

I stared at them.

“Who are these children?”

Vanessa pressed her lips together.

“Mia and Oliver.”

“Why does Garrett have their paperwork?”

She looked at me with an expression I couldn’t understand.

“Because Garrett has been trying to find them for five years.”

I frowned.

“Find them?”

Vanessa nodded.

“His father told him they were gone forever.”

I looked back at the photograph.

“Why would his father say that?”

Vanessa took a trembling breath.

“Because they’re Garrett’s brother and sister.”

The room went completely silent.

Then she said something even more disturbing.

“And if Richard discovers that I’ve told you, he’ll do whatever he can to keep the rest of his secret buried.”

I looked at Rebecca.

Then at the photograph.

And finally at Vanessa.

“What secret?”

Vanessa reached into her handbag.

She pulled out a small digital recorder.

“Your husband wasn’t fishing with his friends, Emily.”

She placed the recorder on the table.

“He went to meet the one person who could prove what his father had done.”

Then she pressed play.

And I heard Garrett’s voice.

“If Emily ever finds out why the twins were included, she’ll never forgive me.”