Chapter 14 - THE FIFTEEN DOLLARS AGAINWe went back to the kitchen.
The original house.
The place where everything began.
Derek had been arrested.
Richard was being hunted.
Samuel had agreed to cooperate.
And my mother had returned.
But there was one thing I still couldn't understand.
The fifteen dollars.
Daniel brought the original photograph from the evidence file.
Derek's wallet.
The money.
The ring.
Everything had been cataloged.
He placed the fifteen-dollar bill on the table.
“Look closely.”
I did.
At first, nothing.
Then I saw faint writing on the corner.
A number.
Same as the vault.
I stared at Daniel.
“It wasn't cash.”
“No.”
“It was a code.”
“Yes.”
The bill had been marked years earlier.
Derek had carried it for a long time.
He didn't give it to me randomly.
He had been telling me where to look.
Maybe he had known I would leave.
Maybe he had wanted me to.
Rachel stared at the money.
“So he expected you to escape.”
“Not exactly,” Daniel said.
He pulled out a second piece of evidence.
A note found inside Derek's wallet.
Three words.
GET HER OUT.
No signature.
But the handwriting matched my father.
My breath caught.
My father had instructed Derek to protect me.
The fifteen dollars were a signal.
The ring was a symbol.
The night I left hadn't been the moment everything fell apart.
It had been the moment the final protection protocol activated.
Derek had pretended to abandon me.
Because if Richard believed Derek no longer cared about me, he would stop watching Derek.
Derek could then work against him.
I didn't know whether to hate him or forgive him.
Maybe both.
Derek was brought to the house under police guard.
He entered the kitchen.
The same kitchen.
The same counter.
I stood where I had stood that night.
He looked at the ring.
“You kept it.”
“No.”
I pointed to the evidence bag.
“They did.”
He nodded.
“I never expected you to understand.”
“You could have told me.”
“I couldn't.”
“You could have stopped hurting me.”
His face broke.
“I know.”
“You controlled me.”
“I know.”
“You made me think I was nothing.”
“I know.”
“Then what do you want me to do with that?”
“Nothing.”
He looked at Emily.
“I don't deserve forgiveness.”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“I just need you alive.”
“You should have remembered that when I was in labor.”
He closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Silence.
Then an officer entered.
“Richard Mercer has been located.”
Derek looked up.
“Where?”
The officer hesitated.
“Riverside.”
My stomach dropped.
The hospital where Derek had refused to take me.
The place he had insisted I go.
Richard was waiting there.
For years, I had thought Riverside represented everything Derek had taken from me.
Now I understood.
It had been the place where the old system expected me to end up.
The place where my identity was already prepared.
The place where someone would have intercepted Emily.
I looked at Derek.
“You knew.”
He nodded.
“I knew.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know if I could trust anyone.”
“And now?”
He looked at me.
“I trust you.”
The officer received another call.
His face changed.
“We have confirmation.”
“What?”
“Richard is inside the maternity wing.”
I felt cold.
“That hospital closed the maternity ward years ago.”
The officer nodded.
“Exactly.”
A hidden floor.
A sealed wing.
A place designed for people whose names were never supposed to appear on official records.
Richard had built it.
And he had taken someone there.
My mother stepped forward.
“Anna.”
“What?”
She whispered:
“Your father wasn't his only victim.”
The officer looked at us.
“We found a room.”
“What was inside?”
The officer swallowed.
“Medical records.”
“How many?”
“Thirty-seven.”
I looked at my mother.
“Whose records?”
She closed her eyes.
“Women.”
“What women?”
Her voice broke.
“Women who gave birth to children the Mercer family wanted to control.”
My stomach turned.
Emily.
The trust.
The inheritance.
The secret identities.
It wasn't only about me.
Richard had been doing this for decades.
And my daughter was the latest target.
I reached for Emily.
“We end this tonight.”
Daniel nodded.
“Then we go to Riverside.”
I looked at the fifteen dollars on the counter.
The same money that had bought me freedom.
May you like
This time, I wasn't running away.
I was going back.
