Chapter 2
The file was thick.
Old.
Full of secrets.
I read it standing in the foyer of my own home.
Surrounded by police.
By broken glass.
By the echoes of violence.
The first page was a letter.
Addressed to me.
Dated seven years earlier.
*Dear Sylvester,*
*If you're reading this, something terrible has happened to me. And Vanessa has gotten away with it. I'm writing this because I'm scared. Scared of what she's capable of. Scared of what she's already done. And scared of what she'll do next.*
*You have more children than you know, Sylvester. Vanessa has been hiding them from you. She gets pregnant. And then she tells you she lost the baby. Or that it wasn't yours. And then she sends them away. To boarding schools. To relatives. To strangers. She doesn't want them to have your attention. Your love. Your money. She wants it all for herself.*
*Sage is not the only one. There's Sophia. Born two years after him. And there's another one. A boy. Born last year. His name is Robert. I don't know where she's sending them. But I know they exist. And I know they're yours.*
*I'm leaving this in the only place I know she won't look. Behind the photograph you gave Sage. The one he carries everywhere. She hates that photograph. Hates that it reminds him of you. But she's never thought to look behind it. She's too arrogant. Too sure of herself.*
*If you're reading this, you're alive. And you need to find them, Sylvester. Find our children. Protect them. Don't let Vanessa win.*
*Goodbye. And good luck.*
*Margaret*
Margaret.
Vanessa's personal assistant.
The woman who'd died in the "car accident" six months before my plane went down.
The accident Vanessa had arranged.
Because Margaret knew too much.
And she'd tried to warn me.
She'd hidden this file.
Seven years ago.
And it had stayed hidden.
Behind my son's photograph.
Until Vanessa had thrown it down the stairs.
Until she'd accidentally revealed the very secret she'd spent years trying to hide.
The irony was almost poetic.
I kept reading.
There were more documents.
Hospital records.
Birth certificates.
Boarding school tuition payments.
All in Vanessa's name.
All hidden from me.
Sophia.
Seven years old.
At a boarding school in Switzerland.
Robert.
Three years old.
With a family in Connecticut.
Foster parents.
Who thought they were adopting him.
But Vanessa had been paying them.
To keep him.
To keep him quiet.
To keep him away from me.
And there was more.
Another document.
A fourth child.
A baby girl.
Born just six months ago.
While I was in hiding.
While the world thought I was dead.
Named her Serena.
Vanessa had had another child.
My child.
And she was already planning to get rid of her too.
I felt sick.
Four children.
Four.
I'd known about Sage.
Loved him.
Raised him.
For a while.
But three others.
Three children I'd never held.
Never named.
Never known existed.
Vanessa had stolen them from me.
From their mother.
From their rightful lives.
I looked at Vanessa.
She was still talking to her lawyer.
Arrogant.
Untouchable.
She thought she was going to walk away from this.
She thought wrong.
The investigator looked at me.
"Mr. Stallone? Are you okay?"
I handed him the file.
"I need you to find them," I said. "All of them. Sophia in Switzerland. Robert in Connecticut. And Serena. A baby girl. Six months old. Vanessa has her somewhere. Find them. Bring them to me. And make sure Vanessa doesn't get to them first."
He nodded.
"We'll find them, sir. We'll put out an all-points bulletin. Contact the authorities in Switzerland. In Connecticut. We'll find them."
He walked away.
I went to Sage.
The paramedics said he was okay.
Bruised.
Shaken.
But no broken bones.
I knelt down in front of him.
"Sage, honey, I need to tell you something."
He looked at me.
Scared.
Confused.
"What is it, Daddy?"
"You have brothers and sisters," I said. "Three of them. Sophia. Robert. Serena. Vanessa didn't tell me about them. She hid them from me. But I'm going to find them. And we're going to be a family. All of us. Okay?"
Sage's eyes went wide.
"Really? I have brothers and sisters?"
"Really."
He threw his arms around my neck.
"I want to meet them. I want to be a big brother."
"You will be," I said. "The best big brother ever."
I stood up.
I held my son's hand.
And I looked at Vanessa.
She was watching me.
Her eyes were cold.
Angry.
Scared.
Good.
She should be scared.
I was going to take everything from her.
My children.
My home.
My fortune.
Everything she'd stolen.
And then I was going to make sure she spent the rest of her life in prison.
The police arrested her that night.
Charged with child endangerment.
Conspiracy to commit murder.
Fraud.
And more.
Much more.
As they led her out of my house in handcuffs, she looked at me.
And she smiled.
A cold, evil smile.
"You think you've won?" she said. "You think you've found all your little brats? You have no idea what I've done. What I've been planning. You'll never find them all. And even if you do, they'll never be yours. Not really. I've already poisoned them against you. They'll never love you. They'll never want you. You've already lost, Sylvester. You just don't know it yet."
She was led away.
I stood there.
Holding Sage's hand.
And I wondered.
Was she telling the truth?
Had she really poisoned them against me?
Would my own children hate me?
Reject me?
I didn't know.
But I was going to find out.
And I was going to fight for them.
No matter what.
The investigator called me the next morning.
His voice was grim.
"Mr. Stallone," he said. "We found Sophia in Switzerland. But she's not at the boarding school anymore. She was moved. Three days ago. And Robert? The foster family in Connecticut? They disappeared. Took the boy with them. And Serena? We can't find any trace of her anywhere. Vanessa covered her tracks well. Very well."
My blood ran cold.
Vanessa had moved them.
Before I came back.
She'd known I might return.
And she'd hidden my children.
Even deeper.
"Find them," I said. "Find them now. Use everything. Everyone. I don't care what it costs. I want my children back."
"We will, sir," he said. "But there's something else. We found something in Vanessa's safe. In her bedroom. Another document. Something you need to see."
"What is it?"
"It's a contract," he said. "For the sale of a child. A baby girl. Serena. Sold to a wealthy couple in Dubai. For two million dollars. The transaction is scheduled for next week."
I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.
Vanessa was going to sell my baby daughter.
To strangers.
For money.
Two million dollars.
I closed my eyes.
I took a deep breath.
And when I opened them, I was no longer just an actor.
No longer just a father.
I was a man on a mission.
May you like
And nothing was going to stop me.
"Get me a plane to Dubai," I said. "Now."
