Chapter 15 - Daniel's SecretDaniel disappeared that night.
His phone went straight to voicemail.
The police said they would locate him.
I didn't wait.
I went through his office.
I found his passport.
Bank statements.
And a key.
Inside his desk was an envelope.
On it:
Rachel, read this only after they find me.
I opened it.
Daniel had written everything.
He had been working with my father for years.
Not willingly.
At first, he said.
Then willingly.
He had helped install the cameras.
He had helped monitor my family.
He had even helped move records.
But there was one thing he insisted on.
He never knew about the baby.
Until the night Emma was born.
He described the hospital.
A nurse taking a newborn.
A transfer form.
A signature.
His signature.
I nearly tore the paper apart.
Then I found a second document.
A payment record.
$75,000.
Recipient: Daniel Carter.
My blood ran cold.
I called the police.
They traced the account.
It had been opened in Daniel's name.
But the money had been deposited by Vanessa.
There was a date.
Five years ago.
Three days before Emma was born.
Then another transaction.
$100,000.
Recipient: Margaret Carter.
The same day my missing baby disappeared.
Money had changed hands.
My children had been turned into transactions.
I began crying.
Then I found one final photograph.
Daniel standing beside Vanessa.
Both smiling.
And between them was a baby.
The baby was mine.
Five years ago.
Alive.
I flipped the photograph.
Written on the back:
Operation Homecoming.
I searched the term.
Nothing.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A message:
Come to the train station. Alone.
I went.
Daniel was waiting.
He looked exhausted.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“You sold my daughter.”
“No.”
“You took money.”
“To keep you alive.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone says that.”
He stepped closer.
“Your father threatened to kill Emma.”
“You should have called the police.”
“I tried.”
“What?”
He handed me another photograph.
My father standing beside a police officer.
The officer was dead.
The photograph was dated one week after Daniel supposedly attempted to report the operation.
I stared.
“Your father had people everywhere.”
“Why come clean now?”
Daniel looked behind me.
“Because they found me.”
I turned.
Nobody.
Then a gunshot cracked through the station.
Daniel shoved me down.
The lights went out.
People screamed.
Another shot.
Daniel grabbed my hand.
“Run!”
We ran into the tunnel.
Behind us, footsteps followed.
Daniel pushed open a maintenance door.
We entered darkness.
He leaned against the wall.
Blood soaked his shirt.
I grabbed him.
“You're shot.”
He shook his head.
“Not mine.”
“What?”
He pointed behind us.
Someone was lying on the floor.
Vanessa.
Alive.
Barely.
And in her hand was a note.
May you like
Three words.
THE BABY KNOWS.
