Chapter 14 - WHAT SARAH DIDDaniel watched the recording.
Sarah appeared younger.
Terrified.
She was sitting in the same room beneath Cross's estate.
“I know what you will think.”
Daniel couldn't move.
“You will think I betrayed you.”
Her voice shook.
“I did.”
Lena stared at the screen.
Sarah continued.
“When Lily and Mara were born, I made a terrible choice.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“They threatened you.”
“They threatened both girls.”
“I believed I could control what happened.”
“I was wrong.”
Sarah wiped her eyes.
“Adrian wanted one daughter.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“I offered Lily.”
Lena gasped.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Sarah continued.
“But I made a deal.”
“I asked Amira to take Lily.”
“I asked Marcus to protect her.”
“And I gave Adrian Mara.”
Daniel whispered:
“Why?”
Sarah's voice broke.
“Because I thought I could save at least one.”
The recording paused.
Then resumed.
“But Adrian didn't keep his promise.”
“He took Mara.”
“And then he tried to take Lily too.”
“That was when I turned against him.”
Daniel stared.
Sarah had sacrificed one daughter to save the other.
And then spent the rest of her life trying to undo that decision.
She had never told Daniel.
Because she knew he would hate her.
The recording continued.
“The evidence is in the basement of our old house.”
“Not the estate.”
“The real basement.”
“Behind Lily's old bedroom.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
He remembered.
The wall.
The one he had never repaired after Lily vanished.
The one covered in childish drawings.
Sarah's voice continued.
“Daniel, if you found this, I'm sorry.”
“I loved you.”
“I loved both of our daughters.”
“But love doesn't erase what I did.”
The screen went black.
Lena was crying.
Daniel stood silently.
Mara put her hand on his shoulder.
“What now?”
Daniel looked at both women.
“My daughters.”
He corrected himself.
“Our daughters.”
“We go home.”
They returned to Daniel's old house before sunrise.
It had been empty for years.
The hallway smelled of dust.
Lily's room remained almost untouched.
A faded unicorn sticker was still on the door.
Daniel entered.
His hand brushed the wall.
He remembered reading bedtime stories there.
Then he saw it.
A small crack beneath the bookshelf.
He moved it.
Behind it was a metal box.
Inside was the original evidence.
But there was one final document.
A birth certificate.
Two names.
Lily Hart.
Mara Hart.
And beneath them, a third line.
Mother: Sarah Hart.
Father: Daniel Hart.
Then, in red ink:
Biological father confirmed.
Daniel stared.
Why would anyone have needed to confirm he was their biological father?
Then Lena noticed something.
“Dad.”
Daniel looked at her.
She pointed to the bottom of the document.
There was a signature.
Adrian Cross.
And beside it:
Father unknown.
Daniel frowned.
“Why would Cross sign a document saying my fatherhood was unknown?”
Mara looked closer.
Then she whispered:
“Because the document isn't about you.”
Daniel stared at her.
Mara pointed to the line again.
The word wasn't Father.
It was Funder.
Funder unknown.
Daniel's blood ran cold.
The girls hadn't simply been bought.
Someone had funded the entire operation.
Someone Cross himself had feared.
Then the phone rang.
Unknown number.
Daniel answered.
A man's voice spoke.
“You've found the truth.”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“I am the man who paid Adrian Cross.”
Daniel stared into the darkness.
May you like
“And I've been waiting twenty-eight years for you to find your daughters.”
The line went dead.
