Chapter 4 - The File That Should Not Exist
My daughter's death had been signed by the man I trusted most
Daniel Price had been in my life since before Cross Capital became an empire.
He had represented my father.
Then me.
Then Claire.
After her death, he had handled everything.
The estate.
The funeral.
Emily's trust.
My company.
My grief.
He had even held my hand at the cemetery.
Now Lena was telling me he had been part of the conspiracy.
I refused to believe it.
Not because I trusted Daniel.
Because if Daniel had betrayed me, then I had spent ten years grieving inside a prison built by the people I loved.
Marcus drove us to a safe location.
Maya sat in the back seat holding a stuffed rabbit.
Lena was in the passenger seat with a bandage around her shoulder.
I sat beside her.
"What did Daniel do?"
"He altered the hospital records."
"Why?"
"Because Emily was transferred."
"Transferred where?"
"To a private medical center."
"Under what name?"
Lena looked at me.
"Claire's maiden name."
I felt the world tilt.
"Claire knew."
"Yes."
"Then why didn't she tell me?"
"Because she believed someone inside your company was watching you."
I remembered the months before the accident.
Claire had become nervous.
She would wake at night.
She changed passwords.
She stopped answering calls from people she used to trust.
I thought she was under stress.
I had been wrong.
She had been afraid.
We reached the safe house at dawn.
Marcus spread documents across the table.
One of them was a hospital transfer order.
Patient: Eleanor Bennett.
Age: 4.
Destination: Blackwood Rehabilitation Center.
Attending physician: Dr. Adrian Vale.
Authorization: Daniel Price.
Date: June 15.
The morning after Emily's supposed death.
My hands began to shake.
"She was transferred the morning after I buried her."
"Yes."
"Why would Daniel authorize it?"
"Because Claire signed a document before the crash."
I looked at her.
"Where is it?"
Lena reached into her coat.
She gave me a small metal key.
"There is a locker at Blackwood."
"What's inside?"
"Everything."
By noon, we were in Massachusetts.
Blackwood had been abandoned for years.
The building stood behind rusted gates surrounded by dead trees.
Marcus cut the chain.
We entered.
Dust covered everything.
The halls smelled of mold.
At the end of a narrow corridor was a steel door.
Locker 19.
The key fit.
Inside was a box.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Medical reports.
A wedding ring.
And a letter addressed to me.
I recognized Claire's handwriting immediately.
Nathaniel,
If you are reading this, then I was right to be afraid.
I stopped.
My vision blurred.
I read the next line.
Emily survived.
The words became difficult to process.
She survived.
She survived.
She survived.
Three simple words that could destroy ten years of grief.
I continued.
The people who caused the accident are not trying to kill Emily because she is your daughter.
They are trying to kill her because of what she saw.
I stared at the page.
A four-year-old girl had seen something?
I turned the letter.
There was more.
Emily was awake for eleven minutes after the crash.
Eleven minutes.
Long enough to tell me something.
Long enough to give a description.
Long enough to identify one person.
I felt sick.
Who?
I read the next line.
She said, "Uncle Vicky."
Victor.
My hands clenched.
But then there was another sentence.
Nathaniel, there is something you must understand.
Victor is not alone.
The handwriting stopped.
The rest of the page had been ripped away.
"Someone tore it," Lena whispered.
Marcus examined the box.
"There's another compartment."
He pushed the false bottom.
A flash drive.
I plugged it into my laptop.
One video appeared.
Date: June 14.
Hospital corridor.
Room 417.
The camera angle was distant.
At first, nothing happened.
Then the door opened.
A nurse pushed Emily's bed into the hallway.
Emily was awake.
Her eyes were open.
She was crying.
A man entered the frame.
He leaned toward her.
Emily stopped crying.
Because she recognized him.
I leaned closer.
The image was grainy.
But there was no mistaking the face.
It was not Victor.
It was Daniel.
My lawyer.
Daniel bent down and said something.
Emily's lips moved.
Then she pointed behind him.
At someone outside the frame.
Daniel turned.
The video ended.
The screen went black.
Marcus looked at me.
"What do you want to do?"
I stared at the frozen frame.
"Find out who Emily saw."
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then a teenage girl's voice whispered,
"Dad?"
I stopped breathing.
"Emily?"
A pause.
Then she said four words.
May you like
"Don't trust Lena."
The line went dead.
