Chapter 3 - The Woman OutsideThree knocks.
Slow.
Deliberate.
My mother froze.
Evelyn grabbed my arm.
“Don’t open it.”
Another three knocks.
I looked through the security camera.
A woman stood on the porch.
Mid-forties.
Dark coat.
Rain dripping from her hair.
She was holding a file against her chest.
“Who is that?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Claire.”
My mother staggered backward.
“You said she was dead.”
My head snapped toward her.
“What?”
My mother didn’t answer.
I opened the door.
The woman looked at me.
“Julian Voss?”
“Yes.”
She stared past me.
At my mother.
“You need to know what she did.”
My mother slammed the door from behind me.
“Get out!”
Claire stepped back.
“Still protecting her?”
My mother’s face went white.
I unlocked the door again.
“Come inside.”
Claire entered.
She looked at Evelyn.
“I’m sorry.”
Evelyn whispered:
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“I waited three years.”
Claire handed me the file.
“Everything is in there.”
I opened it.
Medical reports.
Invoices.
Security photographs.
Transfer documents.
One sheet had my name on it.
But I had never signed it.
I turned the page.
A signature.
Mine.
Or something almost identical.
“What is this?”
Claire pointed.
“Authorization for the transfer.”
“I never authorized anything.”
“Exactly.”
She looked at my mother.
“She forged your signature.”
My mother exploded.
“You’re lying!”
Claire opened another folder.
“Then explain the payment.”
A bank transfer.
$2.4 million.
From an account connected to my family company.
Paid to a private adoption agency.
Recipient:
C. Mercer Holdings.
My stomach twisted.
“Who received the money?”
Claire hesitated.
“Her.”
She pointed at my mother.
My mother started crying.
“I did it to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?”
“From Evelyn.”
Evelyn suddenly spoke.
“She’s lying.”
My mother turned.
“You know what happened!”
“Yes.”
“Then tell him!”
Evelyn looked at me.
“I was blackmailed.”
“By who?”
Her eyes moved toward Claire.
Claire shook her head.
“Not me.”
Evelyn whispered:
“There was a doctor.”
My heart hammered.
“What doctor?”
“Dr. Marcus Hale.”
Claire lowered her eyes.
“He ran the clinic.”
“What did he want?”
Evelyn took a breath.
“He knew something about your father.”
My father had died twelve years earlier.
The man who built our family company had always been a closed book to me.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Evelyn whispered:
“The baby wasn't the first thing they took.”
I stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
The entire house plunged into darkness.
Claire screamed.
Something crashed upstairs.
Then Evelyn gasped.
“My phone!”
A shadow moved in the hallway.
I grabbed a flashlight.
Someone had entered through the back door.
The beam swept across the kitchen.
Empty.
Then I noticed the bedroom door.
Open.
I ran.
The crib was still there.
The dresser was untouched.
But Evelyn’s phone was gone.
So was the final note.
And on the crib mattress sat a folded piece of paper.
I opened it.
Six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT HER ALONE.
May you like
Underneath was one final line.
YOUR BABY IS NEXT.
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