Chapter 5 - Noah's RoomLily woke before sunrise.

She looked at me from her hospital bed.

“Dad?”

“I need to ask you something.”

Her eyes moved toward Marcus.

“Who is Noah?”

Her face went white.

That reaction told me more than any answer.

“Lily.”

She began crying.

“I didn't know how to tell you.”

“Tell me now.”

She shook her head.

“He isn't my son.”

Marcus stepped forward.

“Whose son is he?”

Lily stared at the floor.

“Daniel's.”

I felt something tighten in my chest.

“Daniel has a child?”

“Not with me.”

She wiped her eyes.

“His name is Noah. He's seven.”

“Where is he?”

“I don't know.”

Marcus and I exchanged a look.

“Lily.”

She swallowed.

“Daniel said Noah didn't exist.”

“That makes no sense.”

“I know.”

“Start from the beginning.”

Lily explained.

Six months after her marriage, Daniel began disappearing for entire weekends.

He told her he was handling business.

Then she found photographs of a little boy.

Daniel holding him.

Daniel taking him to school.

Daniel buying him toys.

She confronted him.

He denied everything.

Until one night he admitted Noah was his biological son.

The child's mother had disappeared.

Daniel said his family had arranged everything.

“What did they do with her?” I asked.

Lily looked at me.

“I don't know.”

“Did you meet Noah?”

She nodded.

“Once.”

“When?”

“Three months ago.”

Lily described a private estate outside the city.

A boy sitting alone in a room filled with expensive toys.

He had a bruise on his cheek.

She asked Daniel why.

He told her Noah had fallen.

Lily didn't believe him.

She secretly photographed the bruise.

Then she found something worse.

A locked cabinet.

Inside were documents about Noah's identity.

Adoption papers.

Medical records.

Birth certificate copies.

And something else.

A list of names.

“These documents contained names of children connected to the Vance family,” Lily said.

“Children?”

She nodded.

“Fourteen names.”

My blood ran cold.

Marcus asked,

“Do you remember any of them?”

“No.”

“Did you photograph the list?”

“Yes.”

“Where are the photographs?”

Lily closed her eyes.

“On my old phone.”

“Where is it?”

“In Daniel's house.”

I stood.

“We're going back.”

Marcus shook his head.

“No.”

I looked at him.

“He has evidence about children.”

“Which means the Vances will be watching the house.”

“Then we go carefully.”

Marcus studied me.

“Thomas, there are fourteen children in those records. We don't know why they're listed.”

“But we know they matter.”

He nodded reluctantly.

That evening, Marcus arranged surveillance around Vance Manor.

I entered through the servants' corridor.

The house was strangely quiet.

Lily's bedroom was untouched.

Daniel's office was locked.

I used a small bypass tool Marcus had given me.

Inside, everything was neat.

Too neat.

I searched drawers.

Nothing.

Then I noticed a painting.

A landscape.

I moved it.

A wall safe appeared.

The keypad required six digits.

I entered Lily's birthday.

Denied.

Daniel's birthday.

Denied.

Victor's.

Denied.

Then I remembered something Lily had told me years earlier.

Daniel's favorite number was 1117.

I entered it.

The safe opened.

Inside was her phone.

I grabbed it.

There was also a USB drive.

And a key.

A child's key.

Marcus whispered through my earpiece.

“Thomas.”

“I have the phone.”

“Get out.”

“Why?”

“Because someone just entered the house.”

Footsteps echoed outside the office.

I took the phone.

The door handle moved.

I froze.

A man's voice came through the door.

“Mr. Carter.”

Daniel.

“I know you're in there.”

I looked toward the window.

Daniel laughed softly.

“You always thought your silence made you invisible.”

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

The door lock clicked.

“Tonight,” he said, “we're going to find out exactly what your silence was hiding.”