Sebastian closed his eyes.
Claire had not simply buried them.
She had made sure they stayed buried.
The warrant for Claire’s townhouse came the next morning.
Inside a locked cabinet, investigators found everything.
Elena’s letters.
Photos of Leo at different ages.
Copies of unsigned custody challenges.
A forged psychiatric report labeling Elena unstable.
And a contingency plan titled:
If Child Appears Publicly
Sebastian read only the first page.
It included proposed statements accusing Elena of exploiting a minor for money.
It included instructions to question Leo’s identity.
It included language describing the flute performance as “manufactured emotional coercion.”
Claire had prepared for the truth.
She just had not prepared for the song.
Because no lawyer could explain how a poor boy knew the melody Sebastian had written before anyone knew Leo existed.
The Song Nobody Could Forge
The trial took nearly two years.
Claire’s lawyers argued that Elena had accepted money willingly.
That Sebastian’s memory after the crash was unreliable.
That Leo’s birth certificate was incomplete.
That the melody proved nothing.
Then the prosecutor asked Leo to play it.
