Chapter 5 - Jonathan read the note again.Come alone, Daddy.
The handwriting looked childish.
But there was something wrong with it.
The letters were too precise.
Too deliberate.
Mara looked over his shoulder.
“That wasn't written by Emma.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Obviously.”
He turned toward Margaret.
“Where is Richard?”
She looked terrified.
“He left.”
“When?”
“Five minutes ago.”
“With Celeste?”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Jonathan's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A child's voice spoke.
“Hello, Daddy.”
Jonathan froze.
Emma was standing directly beside him.
He looked down at her.
The voice continued.
“You found the basement.”
Jonathan's heart started pounding.
“Who are you?”
A soft laugh.
“You know who I am.”
Jonathan tightened his grip on the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere you can't reach.”
“Where is Richard?”
Silence.
Then:
“He's with the woman who took me.”
Jonathan closed his eyes.
“Who?”
The voice whispered,
“Celeste.”
Jonathan looked at Mara.
“Put me through to her.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she's scared.”
Jonathan's voice hardened.
“Good.”
The child laughed again.
“You always were brave.”
Jonathan's face went pale.
The voice sounded like Emma.
Exactly like Emma.
Not similar.
Identical.
“Who are you?”
This time the answer came immediately.
“I’m the girl you weren't supposed to find.”
The line went dead.
Jonathan stared at the phone.
Emma tugged on his sleeve.
“Daddy?”
He knelt.
“Did you hear that?”
Emma nodded.
“That was me.”
Jonathan froze.
“What?”
Emma frowned.
“She sounded like me.”
Mara whispered,
“Because she is.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“What are you saying?”
Mara touched Emma's face.
“She may be your daughter.”
Jonathan stared.
“How can she be?”
“Because there were two babies.”
He stepped back.
“No.”
Mara's voice trembled.
“One of them is biologically mine.”
Jonathan looked at Emma.
“And the other?”
Mara shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Jonathan spent the next hour tearing through the basement records.
One clue appeared after another.
Two wristbands.
Two hospital bracelets.
Two newborn photographs.
But only one official birth certificate.
He found a security report from the night Emma was born.
At 2:13 a.m., Nurse Lydia Cross entered room 314.
At 2:16 a.m., she left carrying one baby.
At 2:19 a.m., another nurse entered carrying a different baby.
The report ended there.
Jonathan opened another file.
A payment ledger.
Six entries.
All made to the same account.
Recipient:
R. VALE.
Jonathan stared at the name.
“Richard.”
Mara nodded.
“He bought my silence.”
Margaret appeared in the doorway.
“He bought more than that.”
Jonathan turned.
“What else?”
Margaret handed him another document.
An old legal agreement.
The title read:
PRIVATE GUARDIANSHIP AND ASSET TRANSFER.
Jonathan read it.
His face hardened.
The agreement transferred a trust worth nearly forty million dollars to Emma upon her eighteenth birthday.
But only if she remained under the guardianship of Celeste's family.
Jonathan stared.
“So that's why.”
Mara looked confused.
“Why what?”
“Why they wanted a child.”
Jonathan turned the page.
Another clause.
In the event of the child's death or disappearance, all assets revert to the Vale family.
Mara's eyes widened.
“They weren't protecting Emma.”
“No.”
Jonathan's voice was cold.
“They were protecting the money.”
Then Margaret whispered,
“There was another condition.”
Jonathan looked up.
“What?”
“The trust belonged to the other child.”
Silence.
“Not Emma.”
Jonathan looked down.
He felt sick.
“The other girl?”
Margaret nodded.
“Her real name was Elena Vale.”
Jonathan remembered the photograph.
Same face as Emma.
Same eyes.
The same scar.
He suddenly understood why Richard had been terrified.
“Then Celeste raised Emma because she was supposed to look like Elena.”
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
Jonathan looked at her.
Mara pointed to the photograph.
“She didn't raise Emma because they looked alike.”
“Why, then?”
“Because Elena was never supposed to survive.”
Jonathan's breath caught.
Before he could ask another question, footsteps echoed upstairs.
Then a gunshot.
Margaret screamed.
Jonathan grabbed Mara and ran.
They reached the ballroom.
Emma was gone.
The front doors were open.
A bloodstained shoe lay near the entrance.
It was Emma's.
Jonathan dropped to his knees.
“No.”
Mara cried out.
Then Jonathan heard his phone.
Another unknown number.
He answered.
The child's voice returned.
“Don't panic.”
Jonathan's entire body went rigid.
“Where is my daughter?”
The voice answered,
“I'm not your daughter.”
Jonathan stopped breathing.
“I’m the other one.”
“Where is Emma?”
A pause.
Then:
“With me.”
Jonathan closed his eyes.
“Let me speak to her.”
A second voice came on.
Emma.
“Daddy?”
Jonathan almost collapsed with relief.
“Emma!”
She whispered,
“Daddy, she says you have to choose.”
Jonathan's blood ran cold.
“Choose what?”
May you like
Emma began to cry.
“Which one of us you want to save.”
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