CHAPTER 6 — THE FATHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Daniel stared at Anna.
“My wife's father.”
Anna nodded.
“You know him?”
“I know the name.”
“What name?”
She hesitated.
“Samuel Cross.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because my wife told me her father died before she was born.”
Anna shook her head.
“He didn't.”
Daniel looked toward Rebecca.
“Is she telling the truth?”
Rebecca's expression was grim.
“Yes.”
Daniel felt the room closing around him.
“My wife lied to me about her father?”
“Not necessarily,” Rebecca said.
“Then what?”
“She may have believed the lie herself.”
Daniel looked confused.
Anna stepped closer.
“Your wife spent years trying to find Samuel.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered that the man she called her father wasn't actually her father.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
Anna nodded.
“She found out shortly before the accident.”
Daniel remembered the box upstairs.
The notes.
The storage receipt.
The photograph of his wife standing beside people she had supposedly never known.
His wife's entire history suddenly looked like a carefully constructed story.
“Who was her real father?”
Anna looked at him.
“Samuel Cross.”
Daniel's breathing stopped.
“So the man who supposedly died before she was born…”
“Was alive.”
“And he was connected to Victor Hale.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Anna lowered her voice.
“Victor worked for him.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Worked for him doing what?”
“Cleaning up problems.”
Daniel looked toward the shattered cassette.
“And my father was one of those problems?”
Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
Daniel walked to the window.
Cold night air entered the room.
He stared into the darkness.
Twenty-three years.
His father had been murdered.
His sister had been erased.
His wife had been investigating the same people.
And now his daughter had somehow become part of the same nightmare.
He turned.
“I want the truth.”
Anna nodded.
“Then you need to see where your wife went before she died.”
Daniel frowned.
“Where?”
“The storage unit.”
“Unit 314.”
“Yes.”
“What's inside?”
“Everything she couldn't keep at home.”
Daniel grabbed his coat.
Evelyn suddenly spoke.
“You can't go.”
Daniel turned.
“Why?”
“Because Samuel knows you're looking.”
“How?”
“He always knows.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You've met him.”
Evelyn didn't answer.
“Mom.”
She lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“You saw the man responsible for all of this and never told me?”
“He threatened your daughter.”
Daniel stopped.
“What did he threaten?”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“He said if you ever discovered the truth, she would disappear the same way Anna did.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
She was sitting beside Rebecca, holding a stuffed rabbit.
His anger disappeared.
Only fear remained.
He walked over and knelt.
“Sweetheart.”
She looked at him.
“Are we leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
She nodded.
Then she whispered,
“Can Anna come?”
Daniel looked at Anna.
Anna smiled faintly.
“If your father wants me to.”
Daniel stood.
“You're coming.”
Arthur suddenly spoke.
“Daniel.”
He turned.
Arthur was sitting alone in the living room.
“You need to know something before you leave.”
“What?”
Arthur looked toward Evelyn.
“She didn't know everything.”
Daniel frowned.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Then who did?”
Arthur's face tightened.
“Your wife.”
Daniel stared.
“My wife knew?”
“She knew more than any of us.”
“Then why didn't she tell me?”
“Because she discovered that someone inside your family was working for Samuel.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Arthur looked toward the front door.
Then toward the staircase.
“I don't know.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You've been saying that all night.”
Arthur shook his head.
“This time I'm telling you the truth.”
Daniel studied him.
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because the person who betrayed us was never afraid of me.”
“Who?”
Arthur looked directly at Daniel.
“They were afraid of you.”
Daniel froze.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the person who betrayed us has been watching you for years.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“Since when?”
“Since your wife met you.”
Silence.
Daniel suddenly remembered something.
Their first meeting.
A coffee shop.
Rain outside.
His wife sitting alone near the window.
She had looked at him as though she already knew him.
At the time, he had thought it was coincidence.
Now he wasn't sure.
He looked at Anna.
“Did my wife know who I was before we met?”
Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She was investigating your father.”
“And me?”
“She was investigating you too.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“Why?”
Anna looked away.
“Because she believed you had inherited something.”
“What?”
“The evidence.”
Daniel frowned.
“What evidence?”
“The evidence your father died trying to protect.”
Daniel's pulse quickened.
“My father left something to me?”
“Not money.”
“Then what?”
Anna whispered,
“A name.”
Daniel stared.
“What name?”
“Samuel Cross.”
Daniel felt a cold wave pass through him.
His father had left him the name of the man responsible.
But why?
And why had his wife been searching for it?
Daniel grabbed his phone.
This time, the signal returned.
He immediately opened his contacts.
He searched his wife's old number.
It was still saved.
He stared at the screen.
Then he noticed something.
A voicemail.
Never opened.
Dated six days before her death.
Daniel's heart began racing.
He pressed play.
Static.
Then his wife's voice.
Soft.
Afraid.
“Daniel, if you're hearing this, something went wrong.”
He stopped breathing.
Her voice continued.
“Don't trust the police.”
Static.
“Don't trust the hospital.”
A pause.
“And whatever you do…”
Her voice became a whisper.
“Don't trust the person who tells you I died alone.”
Daniel looked at Arthur.
The old man went pale.
His wife continued.
“Your father didn't die alone either.”
Daniel's hand began trembling.
“There was someone with him.”
A long pause.
“Someone you know.”
The message ended.
Daniel replayed it.
Again.
And again.
Someone he knew.
He looked around the room.
His mother.
His grandfather.
Anna.
Rebecca.
Who else?
Then he remembered Victor's final words.
Ask your wife's father.
Daniel opened a browser.
He searched Samuel Cross.
Nothing.
No obituary.
No public records.
No company information.
Nothing.
As if the man didn't exist.
Anna watched him.
“He doesn't use his real name.”
“Then how do we find him?”
“Your wife knew.”
“Where?”
“She left a clue.”
“What clue?”
Anna looked toward the broken bedroom door.
“The photograph.”
Daniel frowned.
“The one Victor took?”
“Yes.”
“But it's gone.”
Anna nodded.
“She expected that.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“She made copies.”
“Where?”
Anna smiled faintly.
“Three copies.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Where are they?”
“One with me.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
She reached into her coat.
She pulled out a folded photograph.
Daniel opened it.
His heart stopped.
It was the same photograph.
His father.
Arthur.
Evelyn.
Victor.
And his wife.
But this version had something different.
On the back was a handwritten address.
Daniel read it.
47 Bellamy Road.
He looked at Anna.
“What is this?”
“Samuel's old house.”
“Old?”
“He hasn't lived there in twenty years.”
“Then why would we go?”
“Because your wife went there.”
Daniel looked at the date written below the address.
Three days before her death.
He stared.
“She went there.”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
Daniel looked up.
“Who was with her?”
Anna's expression changed.
“Your daughter.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“What?”
Anna nodded.
“She took your five-year-old daughter there.”
“That can't be true.”
“She did.”
“My daughter was with me.”
“Not that day.”
Daniel froze.
He suddenly remembered.
Three days before his wife's death, he had been working late.
His daughter had been staying with Evelyn.
At least, that was what he'd been told.
He looked toward his mother.
“You had her.”
Evelyn began crying.
“Yes.”
“Did my wife come for her?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she take her?”
Evelyn didn't answer.
Daniel's voice became sharp.
“Where?”
“To Bellamy Road.”
Daniel stared.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You knew my wife took our daughter to Samuel's house.”
“Yes.”
“And you let her?”
Evelyn covered her face.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of what she would find.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What did she find?”
Evelyn whispered,
“Your wife found Samuel.”
Daniel's heart hammered.
“And?”
“He told her the truth.”
“What truth?”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
“That your daughter wasn't supposed to survive.”
The room went silent.
Daniel's face went blank.
“What?”
Evelyn was crying.
“Samuel said the child had to disappear.”
Daniel immediately grabbed his daughter.
She screamed in surprise.
“Daddy!”
He held her tightly.
Nobody touched her.
Nobody came near her.
Anna looked horrified.
“What happened after that?”
Evelyn answered.
“Your wife took her and ran.”
“Then the accident?”
Evelyn nodded.
Daniel's mind raced.
His wife hadn't simply been killed.
She had been hunted.
Because she had discovered Samuel.
Because she had taken their daughter.
Because she had learned something about the child.
“What did Samuel want with my daughter?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel looked at Arthur.
“You know.”
Arthur remained silent.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You know why he wanted her.”
Arthur finally whispered,
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Arthur looked at Daniel's daughter.
“Because she carries the same blood.”
Daniel frowned.
“Whose?”
Arthur looked toward Rebecca.
“Anna's.”
Daniel stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Arthur's voice was barely audible.
“Your daughter is not connected to Anna by coincidence.”
Daniel looked at Anna.
She was staring at the child.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
Daniel whispered,
“What are you saying?”
Anna stepped forward.
“Your daughter is my biological daughter.”
Daniel froze.
The room disappeared.
He heard nothing.
No breathing.
No clock.
No wind.
Nothing.
His daughter's face was buried against his chest.
Anna continued.
“Your wife wasn't pregnant when she married you.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“She was already carrying my child.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Anna's eyes filled with tears.
“She asked me to give her the baby.”
“No.”
“She couldn't protect her.”
Daniel backed away.
“No.”
Anna whispered,
“Your daughter is mine.”
Daniel stared at the little girl.
Then at Anna.
Then at Evelyn.
Everything inside him shattered.
He remembered his wife's pregnancy.
The doctor's appointments.
The ultrasound.
The birth.
He remembered holding his daughter for the first time.
He remembered his wife crying.
But there had always been one strange detail.
She had refused to let him see the original birth records.
She had said the hospital had misplaced them.
He had believed her.
Now he understood.
There had never been a missing record.
There had been a hidden truth.
Daniel looked at Anna.
“Why would my wife raise your child?”
Anna wiped her eyes.
“Because I was being hunted.”
“By Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Anna looked at Arthur.
“Because Samuel knew what I inherited.”
“What?”
She whispered,
“The Carter evidence.”
Daniel stared.
“What evidence?”
Anna took a breath.
“Your father left everything to me.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
“What?”
“The company shares.”
“The money?”
“The properties.”
“The evidence.”
“Everything.”
Daniel couldn't understand.
“But why would he leave it to you?”
Anna looked at him.
“Because I was his daughter.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Arthur was your father.”
Anna nodded.
“But your father legally adopted me.”
Daniel stared.
“My father adopted you?”
“Yes.”
“And that means—”
“He made me the legal heir.”
Daniel suddenly understood.
The money.
The documents.
The shell companies.
Victor.
Samuel.
His father's murder.
Anna's disappearance.
His wife's investigation.
It had all been connected to one thing.
Inheritance.
But then why had Samuel wanted his daughter?
Anna answered before he could ask.
“Because the inheritance passed again.”
Daniel's face went pale.
“To my daughter?”
Anna nodded.
“Your father died protecting the estate.”
“And now my daughter inherited it?”
“Not yet.”
“Then what?”
Anna looked at him.
“She becomes the legal heir when she turns eighteen.”
Daniel stared.
His daughter was five.
Thirteen years remained.
Victor and Samuel had been waiting.
Watching.
Planning.
And suddenly, the pantry calendar made sense.
Every time Daniel worked late.
Every time his daughter was alone.
Someone had been testing her.
Watching her.
Waiting.
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“Did you lock her in that pantry because of the inheritance?”
Evelyn cried.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because Samuel told me she had to be frightened.”
Daniel froze.
“Why?”
Evelyn whispered,
“So she would tell him where Anna was.”
Daniel stared.
The room fell silent.
His daughter looked up.
“Daddy?”
He looked down.
“What?”
She pointed toward the hallway.
“Anna is crying.”
Daniel turned.
Anna stood alone near the staircase.
She was crying silently.
And in her hand was another photograph.
She looked at Daniel.
“This isn't over.”
Daniel walked toward her.
“What is it?”
She handed him the photograph.
It showed his wife holding their newborn daughter.
But standing behind her was Samuel Cross.
Alive.
Watching.
And written on the back were the words:
HE WAS THERE THE DAY SHE WAS BORN.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
Then his daughter whispered:
“Daddy…”
He looked down.
“What?”
She pointed at Samuel's face.
“I know him.”
Daniel froze.
“How?”
She whispered,
“He came to my room last night.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“Before Grandma locked you in the pantry?”
She nodded.
“He told me not to tell you.”
Daniel looked toward every door in the house.
Someone had been inside.
Someone had been watching his daughter.
And that someone knew exactly what she was.
The heir.
May you like
The witness.
And the last living connection to a secret that had survived for twenty-three years.
