CHAPTER 4 – The Daughter Who Was Never Supposed To Return
Rain fell over the city that night.
Not the gentle kind.
The kind that turned streets into mirrors and made every shadow look like it was hiding something.
Inside the hospital room, Elena had not slept for hours.
Every time she closed her eyes...
She saw the same image.
A photograph of herself as a child.
A photograph that should not exist.
Because the man watching her from the parking lot had been holding something impossible.
A picture of Elena.
Taken fifteen years ago.
But there was something else.
Someone else.
A woman who looked exactly like her.
Detective Ruiz placed the photograph on the table.
"Where did you get this?"
Elena looked at him.
"I didn't."
Ruiz frowned.
"The police found it in the man's abandoned vehicle."
"Abandoned?"
"He disappeared before we arrived."
Elena picked up the photo carefully.
The edges were old.
Worn.
Someone had kept it for years.
She stared at the woman beside her younger self.
The resemblance was disturbing.
Same eyes.
Same expression.
Even the same small scar near the eyebrow.
Elena touched her own face.
"I've never seen her before."
Ruiz remained quiet.
Then he opened another folder.
"That's what worries me."
Inside were documents.
Birth records.
Adoption papers.
Medical reports.
Elena's face slowly changed.
"Why are you showing me this?"
Ruiz looked uncomfortable.
"Because your birth certificate isn't the first one."
The room seemed to become colder.
"What?"
Ruiz slid the papers forward.
"The records say Elena Carter was born twenty-eight years ago."
He tapped the document.
"But there is another birth record."
A pause.
"Same date."
"Same hospital."
"Different parents."
Elena stared.
Her fingers tightened around the paper.
"No."
Ruiz didn't argue.
He simply said:
"Someone erased your original identity."
Back at Howard Manor...
Vanessa sat across from Mrs. Howard.
For the first time in years...
There was no fake politeness between them.
No smiles.
No pretending.
"You knew."
Mrs. Howard looked away.
"Vanessa..."
"You knew who Elena really was."
The older woman remained silent.
That silence was enough.
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"All this time."
She stood.
"I thought you hired me because you trusted me."
Mrs. Howard's eyes filled with guilt.
"I hired you because I needed someone close to Thomas."
Vanessa froze.
"What?"
Mrs. Howard looked exhausted.
"Thomas wasn't dead."
"Then why did everyone think he was?"
"Because I made sure they did."
The answer hung in the room.
Heavy.
Ugly.
Twenty-five years earlier...
A young Mrs. Howard stood outside a hospital room.
Inside...
A newborn baby cried.
A nurse approached.
"Mrs. Howard?"
She looked through the glass.
The baby was tiny.
Fragile.
Perfect.
But behind her stood Alexander Howard.
His face was cold.
"If the world knows this child exists..."
He didn't finish.
He didn't have to.
Mrs. Howard understood.
The Howard name had always been more important than people.
More important than truth.
More important than love.
Present day.
Vanessa stared at Mrs. Howard.
"So Elena..."
"Is connected to Thomas."
Mrs. Howard whispered.
"Yes."
"How?"
The old woman closed her eyes.
"Because Elena is his daughter."
Silence.
A thunderclap shook the mansion.
Vanessa stepped backward.
"No."
Mrs. Howard looked at her.
"Thomas spent years searching for her."
"But why?"
"Because someone took her away."
Vanessa's voice became quieter.
"Who?"
Mrs. Howard didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
Vanessa already knew.
At the hospital...
Elena stood near the window.
Her entire life felt like a book someone else had written.
Every page.
Every memory.
Every person she trusted.
Suddenly...
Everything had question marks.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She hesitated.
Then answered.
A man's voice spoke.
"Hello, Elena."
Her blood froze.
She knew that voice.
Not because she remembered it.
Because she had heard it before.
In nightmares.
"You know who I am?"
The voice laughed softly.
"You don't remember me."
A pause.
"But you will."
Elena gripped the phone.
"Who are you?"
The man answered:
"The first person who loved you."
Her breathing stopped.
Then he continued:
"And the first person who lost you."
The call ended.
Minutes later...
Ruiz entered the room.
Elena turned.
"Someone called me."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Ruiz noticed her expression.
"What did he say?"
Elena hesitated.
Then:
"He said he was my father."
Ruiz froze.
Before he could respond...
The hospital lights went out.
Everything became dark.
Emergency alarms started ringing.
Patients shouted in the hallway.
A few seconds later...
The lights returned.
But something had changed.
On the wall opposite Elena's bed...
A message had appeared.
Written in red.
Three words.
WELCOME HOME, DAUGHTER.
Ruiz immediately drew his weapon.
"Stay behind me."
Elena looked around.
The room was empty.
No one.
No attacker.
Only the message.
Then her phone vibrated.
Another unknown message.
A picture appeared.
It was a photo taken moments ago.
Of Elena standing inside the hospital room.
But she wasn't alone.
Behind her...
Standing in the reflection of the window...
Was a man.
Watching her.
The timestamp showed:
Five seconds earlier.
Elena slowly turned around.
The window was empty.
Ruiz checked the security cameras.
His face changed.
"What?"
Elena looked at him.
"What did you see?"
Ruiz swallowed.
"The cameras recorded someone entering this room."
"Who?"
He turned the monitor toward her.
A figure appeared.
A man walking through the locked hospital door.
Elena stared.
Because she recognized the face.
Not from memory.
Not from photographs.
From the old family portrait hanging inside Howard Manor.
The portrait of a man everyone believed had died twenty-five years ago.
Thomas Vale.
And then...
The hospital monitor beside Elena suddenly switched on.
A video began playing.
Thomas appeared on screen.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
His eyes looked directly into the camera.
"Elena."
She couldn't move.
"I know you're confused."
A pause.
"But before you hate me..."
His expression broke.
"Please remember one thing."
The video glitched.
Then his final words appeared:
"I never abandoned you. I was forced to lose you."
The screen went black.
And in the darkness...
Elena heard footsteps outside her door.
Slow.
Calm.
May you like
Coming closer.
End of Chapter 4
