Chapter 12 - THE TRUTH ABOUT ZOEMy mother was taken into custody.
I couldn't understand it.
“Why would you sign an order against Zoe?”
She looked at me through tears.
“I didn't.”
“Dad said you did.”
“He's lying.”
“Then prove it.”
She looked at Margaret.
Margaret had arrived with the police.
She opened a folder.
“There is an emergency guardianship petition.”
My heart stopped.
It named my mother.
But the signature was wrong.
My mother's eyes widened.
“That's not my signature.”
Margaret nodded.
“I know.”
“Then who signed it?”
She looked at me.
“You.”
I stared.
“What?”
“A digital authorization using your identity.”
I felt sick.
Someone had been using my name again.
Margaret opened another document.
“There's more.”
A DNA test had been filed.
It claimed Daniel Mercer was not Zoe's grandfather.
Instead, it named another man.
Judge Richard Hale.
I laughed in disbelief.
“No.”
Margaret looked grim.
“Someone wants custody of Zoe.”
“Why?”
“Because if you are discredited and Daniel is removed, Zoe becomes the primary beneficiary.”
“And whoever controls her controls the money.”
“Yes.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“That was always the plan.”
I looked at her.
“Whose plan?”
She whispered:
“Hale's.”
The police searched my parents' house.
They found hidden computers.
Fake identities.
Bank accounts.
Recordings.
Then they found something else.
A room I had never seen.
Behind a bookcase.
Inside was a crib.
A child's clothes.
Photographs of Zoe.
Dozens of them.
From infancy.
From the hospital.
From daycare.
From the park.
Someone had been watching her for years.
I couldn't breathe.
There was a folder labeled:
PROJECT HEIR.
Inside was a timeline.
Pregnancy.
Birth.
DNA.
Custody.
Transfer.
Every detail of Zoe's life.
My mother looked at the folder.
“I didn't know about this.”
My father had been planning to take Zoe.
But why?
We found the answer in a handwritten note.
Once Clara is declared deceased, Zoe can be transferred under emergency guardianship.
Guardian recommendation: Richard Hale.
I felt rage rising.
Then another note appeared.
Secondary guardian:
Elena Mercer.
I looked at my aunt.
She went pale.
“I swear I didn't know.”
Before anyone could say more, Daniel entered the room.
He was alive.
A bullet had grazed his shoulder.
He looked at the paperwork.
Then at me.
“I know why my name is there.”
“Why?”
“Because Hale wants me framed as the mastermind.”
“Why?”
Daniel stared at the folder.
“Because years ago, I discovered his involvement.”
I waited.
“He killed your mother.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You faked your death because he threatened Clara.”
She nodded.
“He knew about Zoe.”
Daniel turned to me.
“He wanted her before she was born.”
I stared at the photographs.
Then one photograph caught my eye.
It showed Zoe at the hospital on the day she was born.
Standing in the corner was a man.
I recognized him immediately.
Judge Richard Hale.
He had been there from the beginning.
And suddenly, my phone rang.
A text appeared.
May you like
YOU FOUND THE ROOM.
NOW FIND THE BODY.
