Chapter 6 - I reached the hospital in eight minutes.It should have taken fifteen.
I didn't remember the drive.
Only the doors.
The fluorescent lights.
The nurse standing outside Tommy's room with tears in her eyes.
“Where's Lily?”
“We don't know.”
My chest tightened.
“Explain.”
“She was with you.”
“No. She stayed in the pediatric waiting area.”
“We had two nurses watching the hallway.”
“Then where is she?”
The nurse looked terrified.
“A woman came in wearing your wife's coat.”
My blood went cold.
“Claire?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“She had a mask.”
Security had already locked down the floor.
I ran through the corridors.
No Lily.
No stranger.
Then one of the security guards called me over.
“We found this.”
He held up a small pink hair clip.
Lily's.
On the floor beside it was a piece of paper.
I opened it.
Three words.
COME ALONE, DADDY.
Claire grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
I turned.
“You're coming with me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they expect you to panic.”
“My daughter is missing.”
“I know.”
“Then help me.”
She looked at the note.
“They want the trust.”
“What do they want?”
“You.”
I stared at her.
Then my phone vibrated.
A video.
I opened it.
Lily appeared on screen.
She was sitting in a dark room.
Her wrists weren't tied.
But someone stood behind her.
A man.
His face remained out of frame.
Lily looked directly into the camera.
“Daddy, I'm okay.”
I could hear the fear in her voice.
The man leaned closer.
“Tell him.”
Lily swallowed.
“Daddy... don't bring Mommy.”
The video ended.
Claire covered her mouth.
“They separated her from us.”
I looked at her.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then why did she say not to bring you?”
Claire went pale.
Because she knew the answer.
“They want me too.”
I opened another message.
An address.
An abandoned warehouse.
And a second line.
BRING THE ORIGINAL TRUST DOCUMENTS.
I looked at Claire.
“I don't have them.”
She whispered,
“I do.”
That shocked me.
She reached inside her coat and pulled out a folder.
The original trust.
I stared at it.
“You had this the whole time?”
“I stole it from your father's safe.”
“Why?”
“To stop them.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know who I could trust.”
I looked at Marcus's name on the beneficiary records.
“Apparently neither did I.”
We drove together.
No police.
No backup.
The note had made one thing clear.
Alone.
When we arrived, the warehouse looked abandoned.
Broken windows.
Rusting doors.
Dark interior.
I stepped inside.
“Lily?”
My voice echoed.
Claire followed.
Then the lights turned on.
Hundreds of photographs were hanging from cables.
Our entire family.
My childhood.
Claire's childhood.
Lily.
Tommy.
Marcus.
My father.
Everything.
In the center of the room stood a table.
On it sat a single glass of water.
Beside the glass was Lily's stuffed rabbit.
I walked toward it.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
“You should have stayed away, Ethan.”
I froze.
The voice was distorted.
“Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“Let me see her.”
“First, the documents.”
I put the folder on the table.
“Release Lily.”
A screen dropped from the ceiling.
Lily appeared.
She was sitting somewhere else now.
Behind her was a door.
Claire stepped closer.
“Please.”
The distorted voice laughed.
“You still think you're the victim.”
The screen changed.
Old footage appeared.
My father.
Claire's father.
And Marcus.
But Marcus wasn't a child.
He was twenty years old.
Standing beside my father.
I stared.
“That footage was taken after my father's death.”
The voice answered,
“Exactly.”
Claire grabbed my arm.
“What does that mean?”
I couldn't speak.
The screen showed a document.
A birth certificate.
Marcus Carter.
Father's name.
Mother's name.
My mother's name.
I stepped backward.
Impossible.
My mother had only ever told me she had one child.
Me.
The voice returned.
“Your brother isn't adopted.”
The screen changed.
A DNA report.
My name.
Marcus's name.
A 99.99% match.
Half-siblings.
My knees almost gave out.
Then another image appeared.
A hospital record.
My birth.
Then Marcus's.
Same date.
Same hospital.
Thirty-seven minutes apart.
Twins.
I stared at the screen.
My entire life had been built on a lie.
The voice whispered,
“And now you know why your father wanted you both separated.”
A gunshot echoed through the warehouse.
The screen went black.
Claire screamed.
And somewhere behind us...
May you like
a man whispered,
“Run.”
Related Stories
