Chapter 10 - THE MEMORYMara survived.
Barely.
They moved her to a hidden safe house belonging to Morales.
Daniel sat beside her bed while surgeons removed the bullet.
Lena refused to leave.
She watched Daniel for hours.
“You really are my father.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
She smiled sadly.
“I've wondered my whole life.”
“So have I.”
She took his hand.
“Why didn't you find me?”
Daniel's voice broke.
“Because they made sure I wouldn't.”
For the first time, the anger between them disappeared.
Then Mara woke.
“Lily.”
Daniel looked up.
“Mara?”
She stared at Lena.
“She remembers.”
“Remembers what?”
“The vault.”
Daniel frowned.
“What vault?”
Mara winced.
“Your mother told us.”
“Our mother?”
“Sarah.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“What did she tell you?”
Mara whispered:
“The money wasn't money.”
Daniel looked confused.
“It was evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Everyone involved.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“The politicians.”
“The judges.”
“The police.”
“The doctors.”
“Everyone who was paid.”
Daniel felt a chill.
Adrian Cross hadn't simply stolen two babies.
He had built a network.
Cross's wealth came from decades of corruption.
The children were only one part of it.
Daniel asked:
“Where is this evidence?”
Mara looked at Lena.
“Inside her.”
Lena's face went pale.
“What?”
“The memory.”
Lena shook her head.
“I don't remember anything.”
“You will.”
“Why?”
“Because they erased it.”
Daniel froze.
“Who?”
“Doctors working for Cross.”
Mara continued.
“When we were six, they separated us.”
“They told me Lily was dead.”
“They kept you in another facility.”
“Then they implanted false memories.”
Lena stared.
“What kind of memories?”
“Enough to make you forget your father.”
Daniel felt sick.
Mara reached beneath her pillow.
She removed a small cassette tape.
“This belonged to Sarah.”
Daniel pressed play.
His wife's voice filled the room.
“If Lily ever remembers the red door, everything comes back.”
Daniel looked at Lena.
“Do you remember a red door?”
Lena's breathing changed.
She stared into space.
Then whispered:
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Where?”
She closed her eyes.
“A basement.”
“What else?”
“A man.”
“Who?”
“He wore a silver ring.”
“What did he say?”
Lena began shaking.
“He said…”
She opened her eyes.
“He said, ‘Your father will come looking for you.’”
Daniel felt a cold wave pass through him.
Lena grabbed his shirt.
“And then he said something else.”
“What?”
“He told me that if I ever found you…”
She began crying.
Daniel held her.
“What?”
Lena whispered:
“He said you would be the one to destroy me.”
Silence.
Then someone knocked on the safe-house door.
Three times.
Slowly.
Morales opened it.
A courier stood outside.
He handed Daniel a sealed envelope.
“No return address.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
His own wedding day.
But there was one person standing in the background Daniel had never noticed.
Adrian Cross.
May you like
And on the back:
You have until tomorrow to remember everything.
