CHAPTER 6: THE NIGHT ANNA DISAPPEARED
The name echoed inside my head.
Michael.
Not as my brother.
Not as the person who helped me after Anna died.
Not as the man who carried Lily on his shoulders and called himself her uncle.
Michael.
The man Anna was running from.
I stared at Rachel.
Waiting for her to tell me she was wrong.
Waiting for her to laugh and say this had all been a misunderstanding.
She didn't.
Because Rachel knew.
She had seen something.
Something she had carried for two years.
Something that had destroyed her just as much as it destroyed me.
"Tell me what happened that night."
My voice was barely a whisper.
Rachel looked down.
"I've replayed that night thousands of times."
"Then start from the beginning."
She took a shaky breath.
"Anna called me at 10:43 p.m."
I frowned.
"Why didn't she call me?"
Rachel's eyes filled with sadness.
"Because she thought your phone was being monitored."
I felt a chill.
"By Michael?"
She nodded.
"Anna had discovered that Michael had access to some of your accounts."
My hands tightened.
"My accounts?"
"Your emails. Your financial records. Your schedule."
I stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because he wanted to know when you were vulnerable."
The words made my stomach turn.
"He was studying me."
"Yes."
Rachel looked away.
"Michael didn't see you as his brother anymore."
"What did he see me as?"
Rachel answered quietly.
"An obstacle."
I remembered the months before Anna's death.
The strange moments I ignored.
Michael asking where I would be.
Michael offering to pick Lily up from school.
Michael insisting he could help with our finances.
At the time, I thought he was being supportive.
Now every kind gesture looked different.
Every favor had a second meaning.
"What did Anna tell you on the phone?"
Rachel reached into her bag and pulled out another piece of paper.
"I wrote it down after the call because I knew something was wrong."
She handed it to me.
The handwriting was Rachel's.
Not Anna's.
Anna sounded terrified.
She said Michael knew about the evidence.
She said he was coming for Lily.
I looked up.
"Evidence?"
Rachel nodded.
"Anna had proof of everything."
"What proof?"
"Documents. Financial records. Messages."
"Where are they?"
Rachel looked at me.
"Anna hid them."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
I stared at her.
"You don't know?"
"She never told me."
"Then why did she trust you?"
Rachel's expression broke.
"Because Anna knew I would die before betraying her."
The sentence hung between us.
And somehow...
I believed her.
Rachel continued.
"Anna asked me to meet her."
"Where?"
"A parking garage."
I frowned.
"The night she died?"
Rachel nodded.
"She brought Lily's journal."
My heart stopped.
"The pink journal?"
"Yes."
"What was inside?"
Rachel looked at the floor.
"I don't know."
"Rachel."
"I swear, Daniel."
Her voice cracked.
"Anna never showed me."
I believed her.
Because if Rachel had the journal, she wouldn't have spent two years hiding.
"Then what happened?"
Rachel closed her eyes.
"When I arrived, Anna was already there."
"Alone?"
"No."
My body went still.
"Who was with her?"
Rachel swallowed.
"Michael."
The world became quiet.
"He was there?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell the police?"
Rachel looked away.
"Because when I arrived, Michael was holding Anna's phone."
My heart sank.
"What did he say?"
Rachel's voice became smaller.
"He said Anna had fallen."
"Fallen?"
"Yes."
"He told you she fell?"
Rachel nodded.
"But you didn't believe him."
"No."
She looked at me.
"Because Anna was afraid of heights."
I froze.
"What?"
"She wouldn't even stand near the edge of a balcony."
A horrible realization formed.
The official report.
The accident.
The fall.
The story everyone accepted.
It was impossible.
Anna would never have chosen that.
"Then what happened?"
Rachel wiped her eyes.
"I saw Michael arguing with her."
"About what?"
"Lily."
The answer came instantly.
"Lily?"
Rachel nodded.
"Michael told Anna she couldn't keep his daughter away from him forever."
My blood ran cold.
"And Anna?"
"She told him Lily was not a possession."
Rachel paused.
"She told him you were her father."
Those words hurt.
Because Anna had chosen me.
Even knowing the truth.
She had chosen me.
"Then Michael pushed her?"
Rachel looked terrified.
"I don't know."
The answer surprised me.
"You don't know?"
"I saw them arguing."
She shook her head.
"Then the lights went out."
"Lights?"
"In the parking garage."
I frowned.
"Someone cut the power."
The pieces connected.
Someone planned it.
Someone wanted darkness.
Someone wanted no witnesses.
"When the lights came back..."
Rachel's voice trembled.
"Anna was gone."
I stared at her.
"What did you do?"
"I ran downstairs."
"And?"
"I found her."
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
"She was still alive."
The room went silent.
"Anna was alive?"
Rachel nodded.
"For a few minutes."
My chest tightened.
"Did she say anything?"
Rachel looked at me.
And that was the moment I knew.
Whatever Anna said next had stayed with Rachel for two years.
"She said your name."
I closed my eyes.
"Daniel."
Rachel nodded.
"She said, 'Don't let him take Lily.'"
My breath caught.
"Anything else?"
Rachel hesitated.
Then:
"She said, 'The truth is inside the journal.'"
The journal.
Again.
Everything came back to that missing notebook.
The thing someone had broken into my house to find.
The thing Anna had hidden.
The thing that could destroy Michael.
A noise suddenly came from outside.
This time, it was louder.
Footsteps.
Rachel immediately stood.
"Someone is here."
Detective Collins' voice came through my earpiece.
I touched it.
She had secretly followed us.
"Daniel, get away from the door."
Too late.
The warehouse door opened.
A man stepped inside.
I recognized him instantly.
Michael.
He looked exactly the same.
Same calm expression.
Same controlled voice.
Same face I had trusted for years.
Except now I saw something different.
The emptiness behind his eyes.
"Daniel."
I stared at him.
"You came."
Michael looked at Rachel.
Then back at me.
"I knew you would eventually find her."
I felt anger rising.
"You killed Anna."
Michael sighed.
"That's what Rachel told you?"
I stepped forward.
"You were there."
"Yes."
"She was afraid of you."
"She was confused."
"She said you wanted Lily."
Michael's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
A crack.
"Because Lily is mine."
The words came quietly.
But they destroyed the last piece of doubt I had.
Michael stepped closer.
"You have spent eight years pretending."
"Pretending what?"
"That you are her father."
My fists clenched.
Michael smiled sadly.
"You love her. I know that."
Then he whispered:
"But love doesn't change blood."
Before I could answer, Detective Collins and officers rushed inside.
"Michael Hart!"
He didn't run.
He didn't fight.
He simply smiled.
Because he knew something we didn't.
As officers placed handcuffs on him, he looked directly at me.
"Daniel."
I stared.
"What?"
His smile disappeared.
"The journal you are looking for..."
A pause.
"Anna never hid it from me."
My heart stopped.
"She hid it from you."
The officers pulled him away.
But his final words followed me.
"Because if you read it..."
"You'll learn why Anna chose you."
The warehouse door closed.
And for the first time...
I wondered if the truth I was chasing would save me.
May you like
Or destroy everything I had left.
End of Chapter 6
