Chapter 4 - I screamed her name.
“EMMA!”
No answer.
I fired the flashlight toward the doorway.
Empty.
The basement was pitch-black.
I dropped to my knees and crawled through the darkness.
“Emma!”
A sound came from the opposite side of the room.
A soft cry.
I ran toward it.
Then a hand grabbed my shoulder.
I swung around.
Marcus.
“Don't!”
“Where is my daughter?”
“She's safe.”
“Where?”
“Daniel, listen.”
“I'll kill you.”
He stared at me.
“You don't understand what your father built.”
“You've been lying to me.”
“Yes.”
“About my mother?”
“Yes.”
“The funeral?”
“Yes.”
“My father's death?”
Marcus went silent.
I froze.
“What about his death?”
Marcus looked away.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Before he could answer, a hidden light flickered on.
The steel door at the far end opened.
My mother stepped inside.
Margaret.
Not a photograph.
Not a woman who looked like her.
My mother.
Older.
Thinner.
A white scar along her neck.
The same eyes.
The same expression.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
I couldn't speak.
She looked at me.
Then at Marcus.
“You were never supposed to bring him here.”
Marcus whispered, “He found the files.”
My mother's eyes returned to me.
“You shouldn't have.”
I almost laughed.
After twelve years, that was what she said.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I had no choice.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me grow up believing my father told me the truth.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“He didn't.”
“Then tell me everything.”
She glanced toward Emma.
“She can't stay here.”
“Where is she?”
“In the next room.”
I ran past my mother.
Emma was sitting on the floor, frightened but unharmed.
I grabbed her and held her tightly.
She whispered:
“Grandma found me.”
My mother appeared in the doorway.
Emma stared at her.
For a moment, her face softened.
Then Emma asked:
“Why did you leave Dad?”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Because I wanted him to live.”
I stood.
“No more lies.”
She looked at me.
“I gave Thomas twelve years to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“What he started.”
My mother walked toward the filing cabinets.
She opened one.
Inside were dozens of videotapes.
“He believed your family carried something valuable.”
“What?”
“An unusual genetic trait.”
She looked at Emma.
“It has been in our blood for generations.”
“And what does it do?”
My mother hesitated.
“It makes certain diseases far less likely to develop.”
I frowned.
“That's why he wanted it?”
“He wanted the gene.”
“For medicine?”
“No.”
Her voice hardened.
“For profit.”
She explained that my father had secretly funded medical research on rare genetic markers.
Companies had offered millions.
Governments had shown interest.
Private laboratories wanted exclusive access.
My mother had discovered the research.
She refused to cooperate.
Thomas responded by making her disappear.
“He threatened you?”
“He threatened everyone.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“My whole life?”
“Yes.”
I turned away.
A terrible realization was forming.
“Did you watch me?”
My mother nodded.
“From a distance.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I came close, people died.”
I stared at her.
“What people?”
She didn't answer.
Then she handed me a photograph.
A young woman stood beside my mother.
I recognized her.
The woman from our house.
The woman who looked like Margaret.
“Who is she?”
“My sister.”
I stared.
“You had a sister?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
My mother looked at Emma.
“She was the reason I disappeared.”
Before I could ask another question, Marcus suddenly rushed toward the filing cabinet.
He grabbed a folder.
My mother shouted.
“Marcus, no!”
He ran.
I chased him.
He reached the basement door.
Then stopped.
A gun was pointed at his chest.
My mother held it.
“Give me the file.”
Marcus slowly raised his hands.
“You should have stayed dead.”
My mother looked at him.
“So should Thomas.”
Marcus smiled.
“You really still believe he died?”
My mother froze.
I felt something cold move through my veins.
“My father is dead.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Then explain who has been sending me orders for the last three years.”
Silence.
My mother lowered the gun.
Marcus smiled.
Then he reached into his pocket.
Pulled out his phone.
On the screen was a message.
Three words.
BRING ME EMMA.
My mother went white.
May you like
Because the sender's name was:
THOMAS REED.
