Chapter 10 - THE GIRL WHO HEARD EVERYTHINGSophie didn't scream.
She simply stared at the men.
One of them lowered his gun.
“Where is it?”
Sophie hugged the key to her chest.
Michael lunged toward her.
The gunman blocked him.
“What do you want from my daughter?”
“The key.”
“Take me instead.”
“No.”
The man smiled.
“We need the girl.”
Sophie backed away.
Michael looked at her.
“Baby, run.”
She shook her head.
Then she whispered:
“Mom said not to.”
Michael stared.
“What?”
“She said if bad men ever came, I should stay where Daddy could see me.”
The gunman cursed.
Kane fired.
Chaos erupted.
Michael grabbed Sophie and ran.
Thomas tackled one of the men.
Emily pulled the fire alarm.
The basement filled with sirens.
The attackers fled through a rear exit.
One dropped a black folder.
Michael picked it up.
Inside was a photo of Sophie.
Taken six months earlier.
Another.
Three months earlier.
Another.
Two weeks earlier.
Michael's hands shook.
“They've been watching her.”
Thomas looked at the folder.
“Not just watching.”
He opened the final page.
A financial trust statement.
Beneficiary:
Sophie Rachel Hayes.
Trust value:
$214,000,000.
Michael stared.
“What the hell is this?”
Thomas answered:
“The original family trust.”
Daniel had been right.
Sophie controlled it.
But there was another clause.
Michael read it aloud.
“Upon the death of the named guardian, control transfers…”
He stopped.
Thomas took the paper.
“Keep reading.”
Michael continued.
“Control transfers to the surviving biological heir who was legally recognized before the child's tenth birthday.”
Michael stared.
“Biological heir.”
Thomas's eyes narrowed.
“There may be another child.”
Michael turned.
Rachel had never told him.
Daniel walked into the room.
“I knew this day would come.”
Michael stared at him.
“Another child?”
Daniel nodded.
“Rachel had a son before she met you.”
Michael's world tilted.
“What?”
“He was taken from her.”
“By whom?”
Daniel looked at Victoria.
Victoria began crying.
“Please.”
Michael turned toward her.
“You knew.”
She whispered:
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don't know anymore.”
Daniel spoke.
“Elliot does.”
Michael looked at Thomas.
“Find him.”
Thomas nodded.
Then a police officer rushed into the basement.
“Mr. Hayes!”
“What?”
“We found the black SUV.”
“Where?”
The officer hesitated.
“At your house.”
Michael's face went cold.
The SUV had been empty.
Except for one thing.
A child's bloodstained shoe.
Sophie looked down.
May you like
“That’s Lucas's.”
Michael stopped breathing.
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