The Lies Behind Her Marriage novel Chapter 227

The Birth Records.

Noelle blinked a few times.

Silas’s actions stirred unfamiliar feelings in her.

She remembered how, last night, he said he would marry her in a heartbeat, and now he claimed he would never fail as her future husband.

Did Silas like her? It was hard to imagine. He had always seemed like someone out of reach. Why would someone like him see her in that light?

Marrying Silas?

Honestly? It was tempting, but she didn’t want to go down that road again. At least, not yet.

So she said, “Right now, I just want to find my son and get answers.”

“But, Noelle,” Celine said, “I can’t have my grandson be an illegitimate child.”

Sterling nodded.

“Can we have this talk another time?” Noelle said. “My priority is to find my son.”

Everyone looked at each other. When they understood what Noelle wanted, Serena spoke. “I’ll still set up your account. We should at least compensate you while you think things over.”

“Yes,” Celine agreed.

“You can’t make us change our minds about that,” Silas said.

Noelle looked into everyone’s eyes. Seeing their determination, she responded, “Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.”

***

An hour later.

“Here, my men were able to retrieve your phone. It’s broken, but the SIM still works,” Silas said as he gave her a new phone. “This is my old phone. You can use it for now. I’ll get you a new one this week.”

It was a Samsung Galaxy S24, not really the “old phone” she was expecting.

“Oh, and if possible, keep every setting the same, other than your entry PIN, of course,” Silas requested.

Noelle nodded. “Sure.”

They were getting ready to leave. Noelle had already changed into casual clothes.

Silas and Noelle were heading to St. Mary’s Hospital first, accompanied by soldiers and lawyers. If that would not make the hospital hand over the information willingly, Noelle did not know what would.

Nathaniel Thorne was coming too. Noelle did not know what role Nathaniel would play, but she supposed she would find out soon enough.

When they hopped into the car, Noelle turned on the phone.

She saw the screensaver was Silas’s handsome face.

Her face flushed. Did he really expect her to keep all the settings the same?

But it wasn’t her phone. So she didn’t really have the right to change it.

She gulped and began reviewing any missed messages on her SIM. There were many screaming texts from Brian. The most recent one read:

[Where are you? Benson needs you! How can you ignore your son like this?]

Just then, her phone rang.

Noelle was very familiar with the number. Her body stiffened, and her hand shook as she answered it.

“Noelle? Do you know that I have to give Silas feedback today about the status of our partnership? How irresponsible of you to be out God knows where!”

“All employees working during those days should be handed over to us,” Nathaniel continued. “Any saved surveillance videos too.”

That’s when Noelle learned that Serena’s husband was a big name in the pharmaceutical business. The hospital owners were greatly threatened.

“But, Mr. Thorne,” one of the owners gulped, “that’s against the patient privacy policy.”

“Do you understand the urgency of this? This is about the life of Silas Vander’s son. Do you want to be criminally liable for kidnapping, child endangerment, and even fraud?” Nathaniel pointed out.

Silas leaned over the table and looked directly at the owners.

“Trust me,” he said coldly, “when we are done with Gwen Porter, a HIPAA violation will be the least of her problems.”

His gaze hardened.

“So let’s be clear. Either you are with us, or you are against us.”

He tapped the table once and added, “We want those records by the end of today. If we don’t get them…”

Silas paused, letting the silence settle.

“Then we start a war.”

***

In the afternoon, Noelle discussed her contract HelixPoint with Silas’s lawyers, including her divorce.

Silas was out inspecting different orphanages.

At some point, Noelle also tried hacking into the HelixPoint network. She wondered if Brian had kept something on his computer.

But before Noelle could yield any results, Silas returned with news. He said, “It’s like what we suspected. Gwen Porter gave birth at St. Mary’s Hospital two days after Miss Rowan delivered.”