CHAPTER 8: THE DAUGHTER WHO DISAPPEARED
Richard couldn't breathe.
The chamber around him faded.
The walls.
The photographs.
The voices.
Everything disappeared beneath one memory.
A little girl's laughter.
A red coat.
Rain pouring over a bridge.
A tiny hand wrapped around his finger.
Then...
A scream.
A terrible, endless scream.
"Richard!"
Marina's voice pulled him back.
He opened his eyes.
Everyone was staring at him.
Detective Hayes looked concerned.
"Are you okay?"
Richard didn't answer immediately.
His gaze remained fixed on Luna.
"Who are you?"
The little girl lowered her eyes.
"I told you."
"My name is Luna Reyes."
"That's not what I asked."
The room became silent.
For the first time since they met...
Luna looked afraid.
Not of the people around her.
Of the answer.
"I don't know everything."
Richard stepped closer.
"But you know something."
She nodded slowly.
"My mother told me never to tell anyone."
"Where is your mother?"
Luna didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
Everyone understood.
Richard felt a heavy weight settle in his chest.
The missing children.
The secret room.
The journal.
His father's warning.
Somehow...
They were all connected.
Hayes opened his notebook.
"Luna, I need you to tell us what happened eight years ago."
The girl stared at the old photographs.
"Eight years ago..."
"My mother worked at Sterling Manor."
Richard froze.
"My father never told me about any employee named Reyes."
"Because she wasn't an employee."
Luna looked at him.
"She was your father's assistant."
The words hit harder than expected.
"My father's assistant?"
"Yes."
Hayes looked confused.
"Why would Edward Sterling hide that?"
Luna whispered.
"Because she found something."
"What?"
"The children."
Nobody spoke.
The little girl continued.
"Your father discovered a group of people using his company's resources."
"They used the shipyards."
"They moved things at night."
"Things?"
Luna's voice became smaller.
"Children."
Marina covered her mouth.
Richard looked toward the wall of names.
"Those names..."
Luna nodded.
"Your father tried to expose them."
"But he failed."
"Why?"
"Because the people he trusted..."
"...were the same people helping them."
A cold realization spread through the room.
The enemy wasn't outside.
It had been inside Sterling Industries.
For years.
Richard suddenly remembered Samuel Ortiz.
The mechanic.
The man who certified his yacht.
The man who died in the warehouse.
"How many people were involved?"
Luna shook her head.
"I don't know."
"But my mother knew."
"Where is she?"
Again, silence.
Then Luna looked at the floor.
"The last time I saw her..."
"She told me to run."
Richard's voice softened.
"What happened?"
"She locked me inside an old storage room."
"She said someone was coming."
"Someone dangerous."
"Who?"
Luna looked at the journal.
"The Collector."
A strange sound interrupted them.
A phone ringing.
Everyone froze.
The sound wasn't coming from their phones.
It was coming from somewhere inside the hidden chamber.
Slowly...
Richard followed the sound.
Behind one of the stone panels was a small antique telephone.
Impossible.
There were no wires.
No connection.
Yet it kept ringing.
Hayes raised his weapon.
"Don't answer."
Nobody moved.
The phone continued.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then Luna walked forward.
Richard immediately grabbed her shoulder.
"No."
She looked back.
"He wants you to answer."
"How do you know?"
"Because he always calls before something bad happens."
The room went silent.
Richard stared at the phone.
"Who is he?"
Luna whispered:
"The person who made my mother disappear."
The phone rang again.
This time...
The caller ID screen activated.
Everyone saw the name.
EDWARD STERLING
Richard stepped backward.
Impossible.
His father had been dead for years.
The phone kept ringing.
Hayes looked at Richard.
"Your father's number?"
Richard shook his head.
"He never had a phone in this room."
The ringing continued.
Finally...
Richard picked it up.
For several seconds...
Only static answered.
Then a voice.
Old.
Weak.
Familiar.
"Richard..."
His knees almost gave out.
Because that voice...
Was impossible.
"Dad?"
A long pause.
Then:
"My son..."
"You opened the room."
Richard couldn't speak.
Everyone listened.
The voice continued.
"I hoped you never would."
Richard gripped the phone tighter.
"You're dead."
A quiet breath came through the receiver.
"I know."
The entire chamber froze.
Then the voice whispered:
"But the person who killed me..."
"...is standing beside you."
Richard slowly turned around.
Every person in the room stopped moving.
Marina.
Hayes.
The guards.
Luna.
Someone among them.
Someone who had followed him into the darkness.
Someone who had known every secret.
The phone crackled again.
And Edward Sterling's final warning echoed:
"Richard..."
"Do not trust the person wearing my company's ring."
Everyone looked down.
At their hands.
May you like
And one person...
Slowly removed a silver ring from their finger.
