Chapter 13 - The Price of Daniel's SacrificeWe hid in an abandoned church outside the city.
Evan sat beneath a stained-glass window.
He hadn't spoken in twenty minutes.
I couldn't blame him.
His entire identity had been shattered by one sentence.
Elias stood by the door.
Gabriel searched through old records.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“The voice recording.”
“What about it?”
“It's Daniel.”
“I know.”
“It was created after your brother disappeared.”
My heart stopped.
“How?”
“It contains a code phrase only Daniel and I knew.”
Elias turned.
“What code phrase?”
Gabriel told him.
Elias stared at the floor.
“So Daniel is alive.”
“Or someone has access to his recordings.”
I looked at Evan.
“My brother isn't Evan.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“That's what they want you to believe.”
“Then why say it?”
“To make you question yourself.”
“Who is he?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“He's Evan Hayes.”
I exhaled.
“But…”
“There is another truth.”
He placed a file on the table.
It contained Evan's original birth certificate.
Then a second one.
Same date.
Different hospital.
Different mother.
My hands shook.
“What is this?”
“The second document was created three years ago.”
“After Daniel disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Who created it?”
Gabriel looked at Elias.
“Arthur.”
Elias's face hardened.
“He fabricated Evan's identity.”
“Why?”
“Because Evan witnessed something.”
I looked at my brother.
“What?”
Gabriel turned toward him.
“Tell her.”
Evan closed his eyes.
“I saw Daniel give the ledger to Mom.”
My heart stopped.
Mom.
Evelyn Hayes.
But she hadn't been the ledger.
She had been the person holding it.
And she'd hidden it.
“Where?”
Evan whispered:
“Inside a church.”
My gaze traveled around the room.
“This church?”
He nodded.
I looked down.
There was a loose stone near the altar.
Elias moved first.
Underneath was a metal box.
Inside was a second notebook.
And a letter.
Adeline,
You will hate me for what I did.
I deserve that.
Daniel
My eyes blurred.
I read.
I used Evan because nobody would search him.
I used you because they would assume you knew nothing.
I made Elias believe I was dead.
And I made Arthur believe I was dead.
But I couldn't fool everyone.
The next line was smeared with blood.
The person I could never fool was you.
I looked at Elias.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
The church doors opened.
Mom entered.
I stood.
“You knew.”
She shook her head.
“I tried to stop him.”
“Stop Daniel from what?”
“Coming home.”
“Why?”
Mom looked at Elias.
“Because Daniel discovered who ordered the original attack.”
“Who?”
She whispered:
“Your father.”
Silence.
My father.
Dead for twelve years.
“How could he have ordered it?”
“He didn't die when you thought.”
My blood froze.
“What?”
Mom's eyes filled with tears.
“Your father survived his supposed death too.”
Elias stared at her.
“That means…”
“Yes.”
Mom's voice broke.
“Your father and my husband were both alive when Daniel vanished.”
I stepped backward.
“My father is alive?”
Mom nodded.
“Somewhere in Boston.”
A gunshot shattered the stained glass.
Mom fell.
I screamed.
Elias caught her before she hit the floor.
Gabriel ran outside.
No one was there.
On the church steps sat an envelope.
I opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Daniel.
Standing beside an older man.
My father.
Both alive.
On the back, one sentence:
Come to Pier 17 alone, Adeline.
Then a second line:
Bring Elias.
I looked up.
Elias was staring at the photograph.
May you like
His voice was barely audible.
“My father is in this too.”
