CHAPTER 7 — THE MAN WHO HAD BEEN WATCHING HER
Daniel did not sleep that night.
Neither did anyone else.
The mansion had become a prison of its own.
Every hallway seemed to hide a memory.
Every locked door suggested another secret.
And every sound made Daniel wonder whether someone was still inside.
His daughter slept in his arms on the living-room sofa.
He refused to let her out of his sight.
Anna sat across from him.
Rebecca stood near the windows.
Arthur remained in his chair.
Evelyn had disappeared upstairs.
Daniel finally broke the silence.
“Tell me everything.”
Anna looked at him.
“Everything?”
“No more pieces.”
He pointed toward his daughter.
“She is five years old. Someone has been entering this house and threatening her. My wife was investigating the same people before she died. My father was murdered. You were erased.”
His voice hardened.
“And somehow all of it leads back to my daughter.”
Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then start at the beginning.”
Anna took a breath.
“The beginning wasn't your father's death.”
Daniel frowned.
“It was your grandfather's company.”
“Carter Holdings?”
“Yes.”
“What's so important about it?”
“Control.”
Daniel waited.
Anna continued.
“Your grandfather built Carter Holdings from almost nothing. But your father transformed it into an international company.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
“What you don't know is that your father discovered someone was using the company to move illegal money.”
“Victor.”
“Victor was the accountant and fixer.”
“And Samuel?”
“Samuel controlled the network behind him.”
Daniel frowned.
“What network?”
Anna hesitated.
“A private financial syndicate.”
“Criminal?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“My father found them.”
“Yes.”
“And they killed him.”
“Yes.”
“But why did my grandfather help them?”
Anna looked at Arthur.
“He didn't at first.”
Arthur lowered his eyes.
“He tried to stop them.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Then why did you lie?”
Arthur spoke slowly.
“Because they threatened my family.”
“Who?”
“Samuel.”
“What did he threaten?”
Arthur looked at Daniel's daughter.
“Everyone.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“You sacrificed my father to save the rest of us.”
Arthur shook his head.
“I didn't kill him.”
“But you let it happen.”
“Yes.”
The admission hung in the room.
Daniel stared at him.
“You watched your son die.”
Arthur's eyes filled with tears.
“I was afraid.”
Daniel looked away.
He wanted to hate the old man.
Part of him already did.
But there was something worse than hatred.
Understanding.
Arthur had chosen fear.
And his family had paid for it.
Daniel looked at Anna.
“What happened to you after my father died?”
Anna lowered her eyes.
“I was taken.”
“By Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep me away from Victor.”
“But you said she betrayed you.”
“She did.”
“How?”
Anna looked toward the staircase.
“She changed my identity.”
Daniel frowned.
“She made me Anna Miller.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“I was sent to a boarding school.”
“Where?”
“Different places.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor kept searching.”
Daniel studied her.
“How did you survive?”
Anna smiled sadly.
“Because I learned how to disappear.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“I spent years trying to find her.”
“You didn't?”
“I did.”
“But you couldn't?”
“Every time I got close, someone moved her.”
Daniel looked at Arthur.
“You.”
Arthur nodded.
“I kept her moving.”
Anna's expression hardened.
“You were protecting me from Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“You were also hiding me from my mother.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“How did you finally find Anna?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Your wife.”
Daniel's chest tightened.
“She found her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six months before the accident.”
Daniel remembered the voicemail.
Don't trust the person who tells you I died alone.
His wife's final warning.
He clenched his fists.
“What did my wife discover?”
Rebecca answered.
“That Anna was the legal heir to your father's estate.”
Daniel looked at Anna.
“Because of the adoption.”
“Yes.”
“And my daughter inherited it?”
“Eventually.”
Daniel frowned.
“But why would Samuel care about a five-year-old?”
Anna looked at him.
“Because your daughter isn't just the future heir.”
Daniel waited.
“She is the only person who can activate the trust.”
“What trust?”
“Your father created a private trust before he died.”
Daniel stared.
“What does it contain?”
“Everything he discovered.”
“The financial records?”
“Those.”
“Evidence against Samuel?”
“That too.”
“Then why hasn't anyone found it?”
Anna shook her head.
“Because the trust requires two signatures.”
Daniel frowned.
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
She looked at Daniel.
“And your daughter's.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“She is five.”
“Yes.”
“So how could she sign?”
“She can't.”
“Then?”
Anna hesitated.
“Your father left another condition.”
“What?”
“The trust can only be accessed if the heir's biological mother and legal guardian are both present.”
Daniel stared.
“Biological mother.”
Anna nodded.
“And legal guardian.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
“So Samuel needs both of us.”
Anna nodded.
“That is why he has been watching her.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“And that's why he wanted me to believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“Because if you're alive…”
“He can't access the trust.”
Daniel understood.
The pantry.
The surveillance.
The threats.
The accident.
It all had a purpose.
Samuel wasn't trying to kill them.
He was trying to control them.
Daniel stood.
“Then we go to the police.”
Anna shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel owns people inside the department.”
Daniel stared.
“Who?”
“Detective Mason.”
Daniel frowned.
“I know Mason.”
“You think you do.”
“Why?”
“Because he was the detective assigned to your wife's accident.”
Daniel froze.
His wife's accident report.
The one he had never questioned.
The one that said:
SINGLE-VEHICLE COLLISION.
NO EVIDENCE OF FOUL PLAY.
Daniel suddenly understood.
Mason had closed the case.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
He searched for the old report.
He found a scanned copy.
He opened it.
His eyes widened.
At the bottom was Mason's signature.
But beneath it was something else.
A handwritten note.
Daniel zoomed in.
Vehicle inspection unavailable.
He frowned.
“Why wasn't the vehicle inspected?”
Anna answered.
“Because Victor had already taken it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Taken where?”
“To a private garage.”
“Which one?”
“Bellamy Road.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
The same address.
Samuel's old house.
He looked at Anna.
“So the car was there.”
“Yes.”
“And the evidence was destroyed.”
“Yes.”
“But my wife survived the crash.”
“Yes.”
Daniel's breathing quickened.
“She was alive.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Anna looked at Rebecca.
Rebecca answered.
“Almost three hours.”
Daniel stared.
“Three hours.”
“She was conscious.”
“And nobody told me?”
“No.”
“Who transported her?”
“An ambulance.”
“Which hospital?”
Rebecca looked away.
Daniel knew the answer before she said it.
“St. Vincent's.”
The hospital named in his wife's records.
His wife's final voicemail had warned him:
Don't trust the hospital.
Daniel's hands trembled.
“Who was the doctor?”
Anna answered.
“Dr. Elias Grant.”
Daniel recognized the name.
“He treated my wife.”
Anna nodded.
“He was paid by Samuel.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Everything had been manipulated.
The accident.
The hospital.
The death certificate.
The investigation.
Even the funeral.
His wife had been alive long enough to know she was going to die.
And someone had made sure he never saw her.
Daniel looked at his daughter.
She stirred in her sleep.
“Daddy…”
He immediately crouched.
“I’m here.”
Her eyes opened slightly.
“Is Mommy coming?”
Daniel's throat tightened.
“I don't know.”
She looked at him.
“Anna says Mommy isn't dead.”
Daniel froze.
Anna stood.
“What?”
The little girl pointed toward the hallway.
“She told me.”
Daniel looked at Anna.
“Did you tell her that?”
“No.”
His daughter continued.
“Mommy is waiting.”
Daniel's heart pounded.
“Where?”
She pointed upstairs.
“In her room.”
Daniel slowly stood.
“No one goes upstairs.”
Anna grabbed his arm.
“Daniel.”
He pulled free.
“My daughter says her mother is upstairs.”
“She may be confused.”
“She described the room.”
“She could remember it.”
“She hasn't been upstairs in years.”
Anna's face changed.
Daniel saw fear in her eyes.
“What?”
Anna whispered,
“Maybe she isn't remembering.”
Daniel looked toward the staircase.
“Then what?”
Anna stared at him.
“Maybe someone has been bringing her there.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“What are you saying?”
“Your wife may have survived.”
“No.”
“Daniel—”
“You told me she died.”
“I told you what I was told.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You said she was killed.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you saying she may have survived?”
“Because of the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Anna reached into her coat.
She pulled out a small envelope.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
His wife.
Alive.
Sitting in a hospital bed.
The date on the photograph was two days after the accident.
Daniel's heart stopped.
His wife looked directly at the camera.
Her face was bruised.
Her arm was in a sling.
But she was alive.
Written across the bottom was a single sentence.
I'M NOT SAFE.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“Where did you get this?”
“From your wife's storage unit.”
“Why didn't you show me earlier?”
“Because I didn't know if you were safe.”
He looked at her.
“You thought I was working for Samuel?”
“I didn't know.”
Daniel swallowed.
Then he noticed something.
In the background of the photograph was a window.
Outside the window stood a building.
He recognized it.
St. Vincent's.
But the photograph had not been taken in a patient room.
He knew the layout.
This was a private recovery ward.
A ward that didn't appear on public records.
Daniel looked closer.
A figure stood behind his wife.
A nurse.
And hanging around the nurse's neck was a badge.
Daniel zoomed in.
He read the name.
NORA VALE.
He froze.
“Nora.”
Anna looked at him.
“What?”
“My wife had a nurse named Nora.”
“Do you know where she is?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“She disappeared after the accident.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Then she's probably still alive.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because everyone who knew the truth disappeared.”
Daniel's phone suddenly rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
Very faint.
“Daniel.”
His entire body froze.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it every night in his dreams.
“Who is this?”
The woman breathed shakily.
“Don't trust Anna.”
Daniel stared at Anna.
The voice continued.
“She's not telling you everything.”
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“It's me.”
Daniel couldn't breathe.
“Who?”
The woman whispered:
“Your wife.”
The call ended.
Daniel stood frozen.
Anna looked at him.
“What happened?”
He slowly lowered the phone.
“My wife.”
Anna's face went white.
“What?”
“She called me.”
Nobody moved.
Then the upstairs bedroom door slammed shut.
Daniel looked toward the stairs.
His daughter woke up screaming.
“Daddy!”
He grabbed her.
“What?”
“She's there!”
“Who?”
“Mommy!”
Daniel ran upstairs.
Anna followed.
They reached the bedroom.
The door was locked.
Daniel grabbed the handle.
“Mom?”
No answer.
He unlocked it.
The room was empty.
Except for one thing.
A fresh photograph lay on the bed.
Daniel picked it up.
It showed his wife standing outside the Carter mansion.
Alive.
And holding his daughter's hand.
On the back was a handwritten message.
SHE NEVER DIED.
Daniel stared at the words.
Then another line appeared beneath them.
Written in red ink.
BUT SHE WILL IF YOU FIND HER.
Daniel looked at Anna.
She was staring at the photograph.
Her expression had changed.
“What?”
Anna whispered,
“I know where she is.”
“Where?”
Anna looked toward the window.
“Where they kept Anna.”
Daniel's heart pounded.
“The farmhouse?”
Anna nodded.
“But there's something you don't know.”
“What?”
Anna looked directly into his eyes.
“The farmhouse isn't abandoned.”
Daniel waited.
“Someone has been living there.”
“Who?”
Anna's voice dropped.
“The man who has been watching your daughter.”
Daniel tightened his grip on the photograph.
“Samuel?”
Anna shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Anna whispered:
“Your wife's father.”
Daniel stared.
Samuel Cross wasn't merely alive.
May you like
He was waiting.
And now Daniel knew exactly where to find him.
