Chapter 10 - Firefighters arrived before the warehouse burned completely.Most of the evidence was destroyed.
But Daniel managed to save three things.
The photograph.
The file.
And one metal key.
The key had a number engraved on it.
317.
Detective Hayes traced it to a storage facility.
Unit 317.
They arrived before sunrise.
The lock opened easily.
Inside was a room filled with furniture from Daniel's old house.
Calla's old bed.
Emma's dresser.
A broken crib.
Family photographs.
Everything had been removed years ago.
Calla stepped inside.
“This was our house.”
Daniel nodded.
“How?”
“Someone stored it here after we moved.”
But the photographs were wrong.
In one photo, Emma was standing with Calla.
In another, Drea stood beside Daniel.
Someone had scratched Emma's face from every picture.
Except one.
A family portrait.
Daniel, Emma, Calla.
And a fourth person standing behind them.
His father.
On the back:
THE ORIGINAL FAMILY.
Emma stared.
“He wanted us to look perfect.”
Daniel found another folder.
It contained bank transfers.
Payments to Drea.
Payments to Vivian.
Payments to several doctors.
And one recurring transfer to an account under the name:
C. HOLLIS.
Detective Hayes searched the database.
The account belonged to a private investigator.
Hollis had been hired six years earlier.
His assignment?
Locate Emma Hale.
“He was looking for you,” Daniel said.
Emma nodded.
“After I escaped.”
But then another file appeared.
It showed Hollis had been hired before Emma disappeared.
By Daniel.
Daniel stared at the document.
“I didn't hire him.”
The signature said otherwise.
Emma looked at him.
“You did.”
“No.”
“You don't remember?”
Daniel shook his head.
Detective Hayes examined the dates.
The contract was signed two weeks before Emma disappeared.
Daniel had been under heavy medication then after a car accident.
He had lost several days of memory.
Suddenly an old possibility returned.
He had once told Emma that he couldn't remember parts of that period.
What if someone had used his identity?
What if Daniel had been manipulated too?
They searched Hollis's records.
He was still alive.
Living under another name in a coastal town three hours away.
The police found him that afternoon.
He refused to speak.
Until Detective Hayes placed the photograph of Calla and Lila on the table.
Hollis looked at it.
Then his expression changed.
“I told him not to take the third one.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Who?”
Hollis swallowed.
“Your father.”
“My father was dead.”
“No.”
“When did he die?”
Hollis laughed bitterly.
“You still believe that?”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
Hollis reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a tiny envelope.
“I was paid to keep this.”
Inside was a driver's license.
Daniel's father's photograph.
Different name.
Different state.
Same face.
Under the photograph:
EDWARD CROSS.
Emma stared.
“Cross.”
Detective Hayes looked at her.
“Vivian Cross.”
Emma shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
She whispered:
“Edward was Vivian's father.”
Daniel suddenly understood.
His father and Vivian were not just connected professionally.
They were family.
The hospital.
The children.
The foundation.
Everything went deeper.
Then Hollis said the one thing nobody expected.
“Your father didn't start this.”
Daniel stared.
“Who did?”
Hollis looked directly at Calla.
“She did.”
Everyone turned.
Calla froze.
“Me?”
Hollis shook his head.
“Not you.”
May you like
He pointed to her.
“Someone who looks exactly like you.”
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