CHAPTER 7 The Daughter Who Never Existed
The words left Elena's mouth like a confession.
"Claire's daughter is still alive."
Detective Brooks stared at her.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
The machines beside Elena's bed continued their steady rhythm.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
But inside the room, everything had changed.
"You knew?"
Brooks finally asked.
"You knew Claire had a child?"
Elena looked down at her hands.
"I knew she was pregnant."
"That night she came to my apartment..."
"She didn't only give me the box."
"She gave me a name."
Brooks stepped closer.
"What name?"
Elena swallowed.
"Hope."
Three years earlier...
The rain had been violent.
The kind of storm that made the entire city disappear behind sheets of water.
Elena remembered every detail.
The frightened expression on Claire's face.
The shaking hands.
The way she kept looking over her shoulder.
Claire placed the steel box on Elena's table.
"If something happens to me..."
Elena interrupted her.
"Don't say that."
But Claire wasn't listening.
"Richard has a daughter."
Elena froze.
"What?"
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
"She's alive."
"Vanessa tried to erase her."
"She wanted everyone to believe the baby never existed."
Elena looked at the box.
"Where is she?"
Claire shook her head.
"I don't know."
"That's the problem."
She reached into her coat and pulled out a small hospital bracelet.
A newborn bracelet.
Written on it was one word.
Hope.
"Someone took her."
Claire whispered.
"And I think I know who."
Present Day.
Brooks looked horrified.
"Why didn't you tell Richard?"
Elena closed her eyes.
"Because Claire begged me not to."
"She said Richard wasn't safe."
Brooks frowned.
"Richard?"
"He was the baby's father."
"Why wouldn't he be safe?"
Elena looked toward the window.
"Because someone had already started changing him."
At the Howard mansion...
Richard sat alone in the library.
The house felt unfamiliar.
A place he'd lived in for years suddenly felt like a stranger.
Every wall held a secret.
Every room contained a hidden story.
Ruiz entered carrying a file.
"You need to see this."
Richard looked up.
"What now?"
Ruiz placed the file down.
"Your medical records."
Richard frowned.
"My medical records?"
"From five years ago."
Richard opened the folder.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then he saw the diagnosis.
Memory impairment.
Drug interaction suspected.
Neurological symptoms.
He looked up.
"I don't remember this."
Ruiz nodded.
"That's the point."
The doctor who treated Richard five years earlier was located within hours.
Dr. Samuel Ward.
Now retired.
Living alone outside the city.
Ruiz and Richard found him sitting on his porch.
The old doctor looked terrified when he saw Richard.
"I wondered when you'd come."
Richard stopped.
"You know me?"
Dr. Ward laughed sadly.
"I knew you before they took pieces of you away."
Richard stepped closer.
"What are you talking about?"
The doctor looked at Ruiz.
"You should hear this inside."
Inside the old house...
Dr. Ward opened a locked cabinet.
He removed a patient file.
The name on it:
Richard Howard
"I treated you after a car accident."
Richard frowned.
"I was never in a car accident."
Dr. Ward nodded.
"Exactly."
"You were told you weren't."
He opened the file.
"Five years ago, you were found unconscious near an abandoned road."
"Someone had beaten you."
"Someone had injected you with a drug that affected memory formation."
Richard's face went pale.
"Who?"
Dr. Ward hesitated.
Then said:
"Your brother."
Silence.
Richard stepped backward.
"No."
"Daniel died."
Dr. Ward looked at him sadly.
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
At that moment...
Vanessa sat in the interrogation room.
She had been silent for hours.
Then her phone was placed on the table.
The officer frowned.
"This was found hidden in your jacket."
Vanessa looked at the device.
She hadn't seen it before.
Impossible.
Someone had planted it.
She knew immediately.
Because there was only one person who could do that.
The phone turned on automatically.
A video began playing.
A man's voice filled the room.
"Vanessa."
She froze.
The voice.
She knew it.
The screen showed darkness.
Only a silhouette.
"You failed."
Vanessa's expression changed.
"I did everything you asked."
The man laughed softly.
"No."
"You did what you wanted."
A pause.
"That's why you're useful."
Vanessa gripped the table.
"Who are you?"
The voice became colder.
"You know exactly who I am."
The video ended.
One final image appeared.
A black compass symbol.
Back at Dr. Ward's house...
Richard stared at the old doctor.
"My brother tried to kill me?"
Dr. Ward nodded slowly.
"But not because he hated you."
"Because he needed you to forget."
"Forget what?"
The doctor opened another file.
Inside was a photograph.
A family photograph.
Richard.
Daniel.
Their parents.
And a little girl.
Richard stared.
"Who is she?"
Dr. Ward looked at him.
"Your sister."
Richard's breathing stopped.
"I don't have a sister."
Dr. Ward whispered:
"You did."
"Her name was Amelia."
Ruiz looked confused.
"Another sibling?"
Dr. Ward nodded.
"The Howard family had three children."
"Richard."
"Daniel."
"And Amelia."
"What happened to her?"
The doctor looked toward the window.
"She discovered what the family was hiding."
"And disappeared."
Richard touched the photograph.
His fingers trembled.
"What was she hiding?"
Dr. Ward opened one final document.
A classified report.
The title was faded.
But still readable.
PROJECT BLACK COMPASS
Richard stared at the page.
Then suddenly...
A memory returned.
Not a dream.
Not a fragment.
A real memory.
A basement.
A locked door.
His sister crying.
Daniel shouting.
And a voice saying:
"If Richard remembers, we all go to prison."
Richard dropped the file.
Ruiz caught him.
"What did you see?"
Richard's face had lost all color.
"I remember."
"What?"
He looked at Ruiz.
Then whispered:
"The night Claire disappeared..."
"I was there."
At the hospital...
Elena received a message.
Unknown number.
One photograph.
She opened it.
Her entire body froze.
The picture showed a young woman holding a baby.
The young woman was Claire.
The baby was Hope.
And standing beside them...
Was Elena herself.
But Elena had never seen the photograph before.
Underneath the image was a message.
You were never protecting Claire's daughter.
You were protecting your own secret.
Elena stared at the screen.
Her hands began shaking.
Because beneath the message...
Was another line.
A name.
A name she had spent three years trying to forget.
May you like
Amelia Howard.
End of Chapter 7
