Chapter 5 - Lily’s Birth CertificateMaya returned just after midnight.
Daniel was waiting.
She stood on the porch holding Lily.
Her face looked exhausted.
“I knew you would come back,” Daniel said.
Maya looked at him.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I came back because I ran out of places to run.”
Daniel opened the door.
Maya entered.
Marcus and Elias were inside.
Maya saw them and immediately stiffened.
“Who are they?”
“People trying to keep you alive.”
Maya laughed bitterly.
“Everybody says that.”
Daniel handed her the photograph.
Maya stared at it.
The one of her and Rachel.
Tears filled her eyes.
“She told me not to keep this.”
“Why?”
“She knew people were looking.”
“What happened between you and Rachel?”
Maya looked at Lily.
“Rachel saved my life.”
“How?”
“I worked for NorthStar.”
Daniel waited.
“I discovered money being moved through accounts that didn’t exist.”
She swallowed.
“Then Claire disappeared.”
“Who was Claire?”
“Her accountant.”
Daniel glanced at Marcus.
Maya continued.
“Claire gave me something before she vanished.”
“The second phone?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Maya hesitated.
“I destroyed it.”
Daniel knew she was lying.
“Maya.”
She closed her eyes.
“I don’t have it anymore.”
“Where is Lily’s birth certificate?”
Maya looked up.
“What?”
“Elias told me there was something hidden inside it.”
Her face went white.
“Elias knows too much.”
“What’s in it?”
Maya looked toward Lily.
Then whispered:
“Her father’s name.”
Daniel expected a familiar name.
It wasn’t.
Maya handed him the document.
Daniel read it.
Then read it again.
The father’s name was blank.
Instead, in the notes section, there was one handwritten code.
N-17.
Daniel looked at Maya.
“What is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not true.”
Maya started crying.
“I was told never to say the name.”
“Whose name?”
She whispered.
“Jonathan Hale.”
Marcus froze.
Daniel looked at him.
“You know him.”
Marcus’s face had gone pale.
“Everyone in law enforcement knew him.”
“Who was he?”
Marcus stared at the birth certificate.
“NorthStar’s owner.”
Daniel felt the world tilt.
“The father of Lily is Jonathan Hale?”
“No,” Maya said.
Then she shook her head.
“That’s why the code matters.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
Maya pointed at the name.
“Jonathan Hale was not Lily’s father.”
“Then why is his name connected to her?”
“Because Lily’s father worked for him.”
Silence.
Maya leaned closer.
“He was one of the people who stole the money.”
Daniel thought about the eight million dollars.
“Who?”
Maya whispered the answer.
“Michael Voss.”
Daniel stepped backward.
His wife’s brother.
The man he had believed was dead.
Lily’s biological father was Michael.
And suddenly Daniel understood why everyone was afraid of the baby.
But there was something even worse.
Maya looked at him.
“Michael didn’t die in the accident.”
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
“What?”
“He disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because he took the money.”
Daniel stared at Lily.
Three weeks old.
Tiny.
Helpless.
Connected to a crime worth eight million dollars.
Then Maya said something that made Daniel’s heart stop.
“Daniel…”
She pointed toward the hallway.
“Is Emma upstairs?”
“Yes.”
Maya shook her head.
“I think you need to check.”
Daniel ran.
Emma’s bedroom door was open.
Her bed was empty.
The window was raised.
On the pillow lay a purple knitted hat.
But it wasn’t Emma’s.
It belonged to Lily.
May you like
And beneath it was a note.
BRING US THE BABY.
