Chapter 9 - The Hospital RecordMichael refused to speak in front of Jonathan.
He asked to talk privately.
I refused.
“Not anymore.”
His face fell.
“You have to believe me.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved your father.”
“Then why were you at the hospital?”
He looked down.
“I was there because he asked me to come.”
“Why?”
Michael swallowed.
“He gave me something.”
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
The room went silent.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
Michael didn't answer.
I felt my stomach twist.
“Where is it, Michael?”
“In a safe.”
“Whose safe?”
“Mine.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father told me if Margaret ever discovered it existed, Lily would be in danger.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I said:
“Open it.”
We drove to the apartment Michael had kept secret from me.
I had never seen it.
Never knew it existed.
That alone felt like another betrayal.
The safe was behind a painting.
Inside was the flash drive.
Daniel connected it to a laptop.
There were hundreds of files.
Bank transfers.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
Videos.
Then one folder.
PROJECT LILY.
I stared at the screen.
“What is Project Lily?”
Michael looked sick.
“I don't know.”
Daniel opened it.
The first document was dated seven years ago.
Three days before Lily was born.
It contained a payment.
$250,000.
Recipient:
Margaret Carter.
Reason:
Birth suppression arrangement.
I couldn't breathe.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel scrolled.
Another document.
Then another.
There were payments to doctors.
Lawyers.
A private investigator.
A hospital administrator.
All surrounding Lily's birth.
“They were trying to erase her,” Daniel said.
I felt the room tilt.
Michael grabbed my arm.
“I didn't know about that.”
I pulled away.
“Did you know Margaret paid you?”
His silence answered.
“What?”
“She gave me money.”
“For what?”
“To leave.”
The room went silent.
“You were supposed to leave me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After Lily was born.”
“Why didn't you?”
Michael's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I held her.”
His voice broke.
“And I couldn't do it.”
I didn't know what to feel.
Anger.
Pain.
Love.
Betrayal.
All of it collided.
Then Daniel opened an audio file.
Margaret's voice filled the room.
The child must never know who her father is.
Another voice answered.
Jonathan.
You won't get away with this.
Margaret laughed.
By the time she is old enough to understand, nobody will believe her.
I looked at Lily's name on the screen.
She had been planned.
Not to be loved.
To be erased.
Then another file appeared.
A video.
A hospital corridor.
Timestamped the night my father died.
Michael was there.
He walked into the room.
My father was alive.
Michael stood beside his bed.
My father handed him a small envelope.
Then Margaret entered.
She said something.
Michael stepped back.
My father took a sip from a glass.
Then he collapsed.
Margaret remained calm.
Michael ran.
I stared at him.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You saw her poison him.”
“I didn't know.”
“You didn't stop her.”
“I froze.”
I wanted to hate him.
But then the video changed.
After my father collapsed, Michael turned around.
He wasn't running away.
He was recording.
He had hidden a phone behind the curtain.
The footage captured Margaret leaning over my father.
She whispered:
“You should never have trusted your daughter.”
Then she pressed something into his hand.
A piece of paper.
My father's final words were barely audible.
“Emma…”
I covered my mouth.
He knew.
He knew I would one day discover the truth.
The video ended.
Then the laptop screen went black.
A message appeared.
YOU HAVE 72 HOURS.
Below it:
RETURN THE TRUST DOCUMENTS OR LILY DISAPPEARS.
The threat came with a location.
An old train station.
And a photograph of Lily sleeping in her room.
Taken ten minutes earlier.
I turned toward the window.
May you like
Someone had been outside.
Watching us.
