Chapter 9: The Last Recording of Daniel Cross
The recording device sat on the cold stone table inside the Morgan vault.
A small object.
Almost worthless to anyone else.
But to Lily, it was the first time she had ever heard her father’s voice.
Not through stories.
Not through old photographs.
Not through someone else’s memories.
His actual voice.
The voice of the man she spent her entire life wondering about.
The voice that had been silent for fifteen years.
Nobody spoke.
The only sound inside the vault was the rain hitting the old windows above them.
Lily stared at the recorder.
“Play it again.”
Eleanor looked at her sadly.
“Lily…”
“Please.”
Her voice was not demanding.
It was desperate.
She needed to hear it again.
She needed to know that she had not imagined it.
That somewhere in this world, her father had existed.
That he had thought about her.
That he had loved her.
Eleanor pressed the button.
The old machine struggled.
Static filled the room.
Then Daniel’s voice returned.
“Clara…”
Everyone listened.
“If you are hearing this, then something happened to me.”
A pause.
“Please protect our daughter.”
Lily closed her eyes.
The words hit her harder the second time.
Our daughter.
Not a mistake.
Not a burden.
Not an accident.
A daughter.
Daniel had known about her.
He had loved her before she was even born.
The recording continued.
“Do not trust the people who tell you they are helping.”
Adrian looked at Victor.
Victor’s expression remained unreadable.
“Power makes people believe they own the truth.”
Daniel’s voice became weaker.
“Clara, there is something you need to know.”
The recording suddenly distorted.
A loud crack of static interrupted.
Then silence.
The message ended.
Lily opened her eyes.
“That’s it?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
She picked up the device.
“The recording is damaged.”
“How much is missing?”
“A lot.”
Lily looked frustrated.
“Then fix it.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“I don’t care how long it takes.”
She looked at the recorder.
“My father left a message for my mother.”
A pause.
“I need to know what he said.”
Adrian examined the device carefully.
Despite being a billionaire, he had never been interested in technology for entertainment.
But his entire career had been built around understanding systems.
Finding weaknesses.
Solving problems.
“This can be repaired.”
Victor looked at him.
“You’re sure?”
Adrian nodded.
“The damage is old, but the data might still exist.”
Lily watched him.
“You can do it?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“And I will.”
Something in his voice was different.
Not the voice of a billionaire trying to control a situation.
The voice of a man trying to repair something he had broken.
Lily noticed.
But she said nothing.
Forgiveness was not something that appeared because someone apologized.
Some bridges needed to be rebuilt plank by plank.
Hours passed.
The group remained inside the Morgan Estate.
The world outside continued moving.
News channels were already reporting rumors about the incident at the Vale Grand Hotel.
People were asking questions.
Who was the homeless girl who exposed Adrian Vale?
Why was the billionaire connected to the Morgan family?
What secrets were hidden behind the perfect image?
But inside the old estate, nobody cared about the public.
They were chasing something more important.
The truth.
Adrian connected the recorder to his laptop.
The screen filled with damaged files.
Broken pieces.
Fragments.
Like a shattered memory.
“We need time.”
Lily looked at him.
“How much?”
“Maybe hours.”
“We don’t have hours.”
Everyone looked at her.
Lily pointed upstairs.
“Someone knew we were coming here.”
She looked toward the entrance.
“They are already trying to stop us.”
Eleanor nodded.
“She’s right.”
Victor frowned.
“You think someone followed us?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Nobody answered.
Because everyone had the same thought.
The person who wanted the truth hidden.
Suddenly, the lights went out.
The entire estate became dark.
Lily immediately froze.
The old house disappeared into silence.
Then…
A sound.
Footsteps.
Someone was moving upstairs.
Adrian stood.
“Stay here.”
Lily grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I’m not a child.”
The sentence surprised him.
Because she was right.
She was not the helpless girl who entered his hotel.
She had spent her entire life surviving.
Adrian nodded.
“Stay close.”
Victor looked toward the hallway.
“This is becoming dangerous.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“You sound worried.”
Victor ignored the comment.
They moved through the dark house.
Every step created echoes.
Then Adrian noticed something.
The vault door.
It was slightly open.
His expression changed.
“We locked this.”
Everyone stopped.
Someone had entered.
Someone had been inside the vault.
They rushed back.
The room looked different.
The boxes had been searched.
Documents were scattered.
But one thing was missing.
The recorder.
Lily’s face went pale.
“No.”
Adrian looked around.
Whoever took it had not stolen money.
Not jewelry.
Only the recording.
Only Daniel’s final message.
Victor whispered:
“They know what is inside.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Who?”
Victor did not answer.
Because for the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
Then Lily noticed something.
A small piece of paper lying beneath the table.
She picked it up.
There was only one sentence written on it.
But it made her blood run cold.
Stop searching for the truth.
Your mother died because she searched too far.
Lily’s hands trembled.
Adrian took the paper.
His expression changed.
Because he recognized the handwriting.
“No…”
Lily looked at him.
“What?”
Adrian stared at the note.
“This handwriting…”
He looked terrified.
“I know it.”
“Who wrote it?”
Adrian did not answer immediately.
Because the answer was impossible.
The handwriting belonged to someone who should not have been able to write anything.
Someone who had been dead for fifteen years.
Finally, he whispered:
“Daniel Cross.”
Everyone froze.
“That’s impossible,” Eleanor said.
Adrian shook his head.
“I know.”
Lily looked at the note.
“My father wrote this?”
Adrian looked at her.
“No.”
A pause.
“Someone copied his handwriting.”
The realization changed everything.
Because whoever was behind this was not just hiding the past.
They were recreating it.
Using dead people’s identities.
Using old memories.
Using the pain of everyone involved.
Later that night, Adrian sat alone in the library.
Lily entered quietly.
He looked up.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
A small silence passed.
Then Lily asked:
“Do you really think my father was killed?”
Adrian looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“No.”
She studied him.
“But you suspect someone.”
Adrian remained silent.
That silence answered her.
“Who?”
Adrian looked toward the old photographs on the wall.
“There was someone else involved fifteen years ago.”
“Who?”
“A person who knew Clara.”
“Who knew Daniel.”
“Who knew me.”
Lily waited.
Adrian finally said:
“Someone who disappeared the same night Daniel died.”
The room became quiet.
“Who?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Your mother’s closest friend.”
Lily frowned.
“My mother had a friend?”
“Yes.”
“What was her name?”
Adrian hesitated.
Because saying the name out loud felt like reopening an old wound.
“Isabella Reed.”
Lily searched her memory.
The name meant nothing.
“She disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“Because everyone thought she died.”
Lily froze.
“Everyone thought?”
Adrian nodded.
“But I never believed it.”
“Why?”
His answer was quiet.
“Because the last person Daniel called before he died…”
A pause.
“Was Isabella Reed.”
At that exact moment, miles away from the Morgan Estate, inside a dark apartment overlooking the city…
A woman placed the stolen recorder on a table.
She listened to Daniel’s voice.
She listened to the message she had spent fifteen years trying to erase.
Her hands shook.
Because she knew the truth was no longer buried.
She looked at an old photograph.
A photograph of Clara.
Daniel.
And herself.
Then she whispered:
“I’m sorry, Clara.”
A tear fell.
“But I had no choice.”
The woman turned on the light.
And for the first time, her face was revealed.
Isabella Reed.
The woman everyone believed was dead.
She looked at the recorder.
Then at another document sitting beside it.
A document with Lily’s name.
And beneath it…
May you like
A signature.
The signature of the person who ordered Daniel Cross’s death.
