Chapter 9 - The SafeMarcus dragged Daniel and Maya toward the back exit.
Dr. Carter collapsed behind the desk.
“Doctor!”
No response.
Daniel wanted to go back.
Marcus stopped him.
“We have to move.”
They escaped through the alley.
Behind them, the clinic burned.
Daniel stood in the rain watching smoke rise.
The only man who could answer his questions was dead.
Marcus touched his shoulder.
“There’s one thing he gave you.”
The envelope.
Daniel opened it again.
A second page had been hidden inside.
A series of numbers.
Coordinates.
Maya stared.
“I know that location.”
“Where?”
“Rachel’s old house.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“She had another house?”
Maya nodded.
“Before she married you.”
They drove there that night.
The house had been abandoned for years.
Inside, everything was covered in dust.
The furniture remained.
The photographs remained.
Rachel’s old piano.
Daniel walked through the rooms feeling like a ghost.
Then he noticed something.
A small scratch beneath the piano bench.
Three letters.
N.
S.
He moved the bench.
A hidden latch appeared.
Inside was a steel box.
No key.
Just a keypad.
Marcus tried the numbers from Dr. Carter.
The box opened.
Inside was a USB drive.
A passport.
A stack of cash.
And a photograph of Lily.
Daniel picked up the passport.
It wasn’t Rachel’s.
It belonged to Maya.
Under a different name.
Claire Bennett.
Daniel stared.
“Maya…”
Maya closed her eyes.
“My real name is Claire.”
Daniel felt betrayed.
“You lied to me.”
“I had to.”
“Rachel knew?”
“Yes.”
“Who is Maya?”
“A name Rachel gave me.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You’re Claire Bennett.”
The missing accountant.
The woman everyone thought was dead.
Maya nodded.
“I disappeared because they tried to kill me.”
“What happened to the real Claire Bennett?”
“I am Claire.”
Daniel looked toward the USB drive.
“What’s on it?”
“Everything.”
They connected it to Marcus’s laptop.
Files appeared.
Names.
Bank accounts.
Payments.
Photographs.
Police officers.
Judges.
Politicians.
And then one folder.
MERCER.
Daniel clicked it.
His hands began shaking.
Inside were photographs of him.
At work.
At home.
With Emma.
With Rachel.
Someone had been monitoring his family for years.
Marcus whispered:
“They were watching you before Rachel died.”
Daniel scrolled.
One photograph stopped him.
Rachel standing outside a hospital.
Pregnant.
Beside her was Michael.
But Michael wasn’t alone.
A second man stood beside him.
Daniel recognized him.
His own father.
Daniel’s father had died when Daniel was twenty.
He had always believed it was a heart attack.
The photograph was dated one week before his father’s death.
Daniel whispered:
“My father knew.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Apparently.”
Then another file opened automatically.
A video.
Daniel clicked.
Michael appeared on screen.
His face was older.
Harder.
But alive.
He leaned toward the camera.
“Daniel, if you’re watching this, then Claire finally told you the truth.”
Daniel’s pulse hammered.
Michael smiled faintly.
“You think Rachel hid Lily to protect you.”
He shook his head.
“She hid Lily because she knew you would never forgive yourself.”
Daniel stared.
Michael continued.
“Your daughter is carrying something that belongs to me.”
The video paused.
A final line appeared.
COME TO THE OLD FACTORY ALONE.
May you like
Then another line appeared beneath it.
OR EMMA DIES.
