Chapter 2 - The Child Beneath the House
Daniel heard the words.
He understood each one separately.
Our.
Daughter.
Together, they refused to make sense.
He stared at Elena as if the force of his attention might change what she had said.
“What?”
The handgun remained pointed at his chest.
Gavin’s face had gone rigid.
The child’s voice floated up the dark staircase again.
“Mommy?”
Elena moved before anyone could stop her.
She stepped around Daniel and started down.
Gavin raised the weapon.
“Don’t.”
Daniel lunged sideways and slammed his forearm into Gavin’s wrist.
The gun fired.
The blast was deafening inside the kitchen.
A bullet tore through a hanging copper pan, sending it spinning violently against the wall. Kitchen workers screamed and dropped behind counters. Gavin struck Daniel across the jaw with the gun, but Daniel held on, driving him backward into the stainless-steel cabinet.
Elena disappeared into the darkness below.
Daniel heard her bare feet striking the concrete steps.
“Ellie!” she cried.
Gavin twisted free and brought the gun up again.
Daniel caught his wrist with both hands. They crashed into a prep table covered in crystal dessert glasses. The table overturned. Glass shattered beneath them.
“You have no idea what she is,” Gavin hissed.
Daniel drove his shoulder into the man’s chest.
“I know exactly who she is.”
Gavin laughed through clenched teeth.
“No. You don’t.”
The kitchen door burst open.
“Drop the weapon!”
Three police officers entered with guns raised.
Gavin froze.
Daniel ripped the handgun from his grip and threw it across the floor.
The officers dragged Gavin down, forcing his face against the broken glass and tile. One secured his wrists while another kicked the weapon away.
Daniel did not wait.
He ran toward the hidden staircase.
“Elena!”
The air changed as he descended. The warmth and music of the gala vanished behind him, replaced by damp cold and the smell of bleach, mildew, and human confinement.
A single exposed bulb swung overhead.
The staircase ended in a narrow corridor with concrete walls painted a sickly shade of beige. Several metal doors lined both sides. Each had a small square window at eye level.
Daniel heard crying.
Not one child.
Several.
His chest tightened.
“Elena!”
“Here!”
Her voice came from the end of the corridor.
Daniel ran toward it.
The nearest room contained two thin mattresses, a plastic water jug, and a rusted sink. A teenage girl pressed both hands against the glass, watching him with terrified eyes.
The next room held a young woman sitting beside a boy who could not have been older than four. She wrapped herself around him protectively when Daniel passed.
At the end of the corridor, Elena knelt in front of a locked door.
A little girl stood on the other side.
She was five years old, perhaps six. Her dark brown hair had been cut unevenly near her shoulders. She wore an oversized pink sweater and gray leggings. Her face was pale and small, but her eyes—
Daniel stopped.
They were Elena’s eyes.
The shape was unmistakable.
But beneath them, in the line of her brows and the slight dimple in her left cheek, he saw himself.
The girl pressed both palms against the window.
“Mommy.”
Elena sobbed.
“I’m here, baby.”
Daniel could not breathe.
The child looked at him.
Her expression changed immediately. She stepped away from the door.
“Who is he?”
Elena turned.
Her face was soaked with tears.
Daniel looked from her to the girl.
“How old is she?”
Elena opened her mouth, but no sound came.
“How old?”
“Five.”
The floor seemed to shift.
Daniel calculated automatically, cruelly.
Elena had disappeared three years and eight months earlier.
A five-year-old child would have been—
“No,” he whispered.
Elena stood slowly.
“I found out I was pregnant two weeks before the crash.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You never told me.”
“I was going to.”
His voice broke.
“When?”
“The night I disappeared.”
A thousand memories rushed through him.
Elena standing at the kitchen counter that morning, smiling strangely.
A gift bag hidden beneath her coat.
The dinner reservation she had insisted they keep.
The message she sent him at six thirteen in the evening.
Don’t be late. I have something important to tell you.
Daniel had arrived at the restaurant.
Elena never did.
Her car was found near the river before midnight.
He had spent years believing her last message contained the beginning of goodbye.
Now he understood it had contained the beginning of their child’s life.
The girl watched him through the window.
“Mommy, is he bad?”
Daniel flinched.
Elena turned to the door and pressed her forehead against the metal.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Is he one of Mr. Richard’s men?”
“No.”
The child’s gaze remained suspicious.
“Then why is he crying?”
Daniel lifted one hand to his face.
He had not realized he was.
Police officers rushed into the corridor behind him.
A woman in a dark jacket pushed past them, silver-streaked hair pulled into a tight knot.
Detective Ava Brooks.
Daniel recognized her before she spoke.
She had been the only investigator who continued calling him after the official search ended. She had questioned discrepancies in the accident report. She had asked why there were traces of Elena’s blood in the car but no body in the river.
Richard had called her obsessive.
The department had reassigned her.
Now she stood in the underground corridor beneath his father’s mansion, staring at the locked doors.
“My God.”
Daniel grabbed the key ring.
“Which one opens this?”
Ava snapped out of her shock.
“Try them all.”
Daniel forced his shaking hands to work.
The first key did not fit.
Neither did the second.
The little girl watched every movement.
The third key entered but would not turn.
Daniel cursed.
Elena took the ring.
“Let me.”
Her hands were steadier than his.
She selected a narrow silver key near the back.
The lock clicked.
Elena pulled the door open.
The child ran into her arms.
Elena collapsed to her knees, holding her so tightly the girl squeaked.
“Mommy.”
“I’m here.”
“You came back.”
“I promised you.”
“I thought he made you disappear.”
Elena buried her face in the child’s hair.
“No one is taking me from you again.”
Daniel stood three feet away, unable to move.
His daughter.
The words existed now, but they felt too large to enter him.
The girl looked over Elena’s shoulder.
“Is he staying?”
Elena wiped her cheeks.
“His name is Daniel.”
The child frowned.
“That’s the name you say when you’re asleep.”
Daniel lowered himself slowly to one knee.
The girl tightened her arms around Elena’s neck.
He stopped at a respectful distance.
“My name is Daniel,” he said softly.
“I know.”
Her voice was guarded.
“What’s your name?”
“Eliana.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Elena had once told him that if they ever had a daughter, she wanted to name her after both of them.
Eliana.
Elena and Daniel.
He opened his eyes again.
“That’s beautiful.”
“Mommy picked it.”
“She always had better taste than me.”
Elena made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob.
Eliana studied him.
“Are you my father?”
The question entered the corridor like another gunshot.
Several officers turned away, giving them what little privacy they could.
Daniel looked at Elena.
She nodded.
He faced the child again.
“Yes.”
Eliana did not smile.
“Why didn’t you come before?”
Daniel’s heart broke so completely that the pain felt physical.
“I didn’t know where you were.”
“Mr. Richard said you didn’t want me.”
Daniel’s head snapped toward Elena.
She closed her eyes.
“He told her that every week.”
Daniel looked back at his daughter.
“That was a lie.”
“He said you knew I was here.”
“I didn’t.”
“He said you had another family.”
“I don’t.”
Eliana leaned back in Elena’s arms.
“People lie when they want you to stop asking questions.”
Daniel swallowed.
“You’re right.”
“How do I know you aren’t lying?”
He had no answer that could erase five years of fear.
So he did not make promises.
“You don’t know yet,” he said. “But I’ll tell you the truth every day until you do.”
Eliana stared at him for a long moment.
Then she looked at his bruised cheek.
“Did Mr. Gavin hit you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t like him.”
“Neither do I.”
That earned the faintest change in her expression.
Not a smile.
But almost.
Ava crouched beside them.
“Elena, I need to know how many people are down here.”
Elena held Eliana close.
“There were twelve when I was brought in.”
“How many now?”
“Seven.”
Ava’s face hardened.
“What happened to the others?”
Elena looked toward the corridor.
“They were moved.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were any killed?”
Eliana stiffened.
Elena covered the child’s ear with one hand.
“Not here.”
Ava understood.
She rose and began issuing orders.
“Open every room. Medical teams downstairs now. Photograph everything before it’s touched. No one from the Mercer Foundation enters this level. I want federal agents contacted immediately.”
An officer hesitated.
“Detective, your captain is upstairs.”
“I don’t care.”
“He says Mr. Mercer claims this was a private rehabilitation center.”
Ava’s expression turned cold.
“Private rehabilitation centers don’t lock five-year-old children behind steel doors.”
The officer nodded and moved away.
Daniel looked down the corridor.
Doors opened one by one.
A woman in her twenties emerged carrying a toddler. A teenage boy refused to leave until an officer promised not to separate him from his younger sister. Two girls clung to each other beneath a gray blanket.
Every face carried the same mixture of fear and disbelief.
Freedom did not look like joy yet.
It looked like confusion.
Daniel’s gaze returned to Elena.
She was whispering into Eliana’s hair.
He wanted to touch them.
He wanted to wrap both of them in his arms and promise that the worst was over.
But he had already learned promises were dangerous when made too early.
He stood beside them instead.
Footsteps echoed down the staircase.
Richard Mercer appeared at the entrance to the corridor.
Two uniformed officers walked beside him, but neither had restrained him.
Daniel felt rage rise from somewhere so deep it almost blinded him.
Richard surveyed the scene with controlled disgust.
“This is precisely why I requested discretion.”
Ava turned toward him.
“You’re under arrest.”
Richard did not even look at her.
“On what charge?”
“Unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, child endangerment, trafficking, conspiracy, and anything else we find before sunrise.”
Richard smiled faintly.
“You have misunderstood the nature of this facility.”
Daniel walked toward him.
“Facility?”
Richard’s gaze shifted to Eliana.
For the first time, his composure faltered.
Not with guilt.
With annoyance.
Daniel saw it and understood something terrible.
Richard did not see a child.
He saw a complication.
“You knew she was mine,” Daniel said.
Richard remained silent.
“You knew I had a daughter.”
“I knew Elena gave birth while suffering from severe delusions.”
Daniel took another step.
“You kept my child underground.”
“Eliana was cared for.”
“She was locked in a room.”
“For her safety.”
Daniel struck him.
His fist connected with Richard’s mouth.
The impact sent the older man into the concrete wall.
Officers seized Daniel immediately.
He struggled against them.
“You kept them under my feet!”
Richard touched his split lip.
A line of blood appeared on his thumb.
“Daniel.”
“You let me mourn them.”
“I saved you from a woman who would have destroyed your life.”
Elena stood, holding Eliana behind her.
“You destroyed it.”
Richard looked at her.
His voice softened with practiced patience.
“You were unstable long before the accident.”
“No.”
“You became paranoid.”
“I found the ledgers.”
“You misread financial records.”
“I saw the transfer lists.”
“You stole confidential material and threatened to release it publicly.”
“Because children were disappearing.”
Richard glanced toward Ava.
“This woman fabricated these allegations after suffering a breakdown. She kidnapped her own daughter from medical supervision and encouraged vulnerable patients to resist treatment.”
Elena’s face drained of color.
Daniel saw the effect immediately.
Richard knew exactly which words to use.
He had repeated them for years.
Ava stepped between them.
“Save it for your lawyer.”
Richard finally looked at her.
“Detective Brooks, you were removed from this case because of professional misconduct.”
“I was removed because your donations paid my captain’s mortgage.”
An officer near the staircase looked uncomfortable.
Richard smiled.
“That is a serious accusation.”
“I have serious evidence.”
His smile weakened.
Ava continued.
“The emergency call recorded your son identifying Elena. It recorded you ordering your security chief to lock the cellar. We have victims, locked rooms, passports, restraints, and a five-year-old child who says you kept her underground.”
Richard’s expression remained controlled.
But Daniel noticed his right hand.
It had begun to tremble.
“Then charge me,” Richard said.
Ava stepped closer.
“I just did.”
She reached for handcuffs.
Richard lifted one hand.
“My attorney is already on his way.”
Ava secured one wrist.
“I hope he brings a sleeping bag.”
Before she could fasten the other cuff, the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the corridor.
Someone screamed.
Daniel tore free of the officers and turned toward Elena.
“Elena!”
“I’m here!”
A child cried.
Then came the unmistakable sound of running footsteps.
Ava shouted, “Nobody move!”
Emergency lights flickered red along the floor.
Daniel saw a dark figure moving toward the staircase.
Richard.
The handcuff hung from one wrist.
He had slipped away during the blackout.
“Stop him!”
Officers rushed after him.
A second figure appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Gavin.
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
He had been restrained upstairs.
Someone had released him.
Gavin grabbed Eliana by the arm.
She screamed.
Elena lunged, clawing at his face.
“Let her go!”
Gavin shoved her into the wall.
Daniel charged.
Gavin pulled a knife from his sleeve and pressed it against Eliana’s throat.
Everyone froze.
The child’s eyes widened.
“Daddy.”
It was the first time she called him that.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Gavin backed toward a steel service door.
“Tell the police to drop their weapons.”
Ava raised her hands.
“Gavin, she’s five years old.”
“She’s the only reason Richard stayed quiet this long.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Gavin tightened his grip on Eliana.
“She’s not just your daughter.”
Elena’s face changed.
“Don’t.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What is he talking about?”
Gavin smiled.
“Ask your wife why Richard needed the child alive.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Take me instead.”
“Elena, stop,” Daniel said.
Gavin’s blade pressed closer to Eliana’s skin.
A tiny red line appeared.
Daniel’s vision narrowed.
“You hurt her, you won’t leave this house.”
“I’m not trying to leave.”
A metallic alarm began sounding above them.
Gavin glanced toward the ceiling.
Smoke curled from beneath the staircase door.
Richard had started a fire.
Ava shouted into her radio, but static answered.
The emergency system had been cut.
Gavin pulled Eliana toward the service exit.
Elena followed.
“Please.”
“Stay back.”
Daniel watched the knife.
Watched Gavin’s feet.
Watched his daughter trying not to cry.
Then Eliana looked directly at him.
She moved one hand slowly.
Daniel saw something silver between her fingers.
A small key.
She had taken it from Elena’s key ring.
Eliana dropped it.
The key struck the concrete.
Gavin’s eyes flicked downward.
Daniel moved.
He slammed into Gavin with his full weight.
The knife sliced across Daniel’s shoulder as they hit the floor. Eliana rolled away. Elena pulled her close.
Gavin drove his fist into Daniel’s wound.
Pain exploded down Daniel’s arm.
Daniel struck back, once, twice, then wrapped both hands around Gavin’s wrist as the knife rose between them.
Gavin was stronger than he looked.
The blade descended inch by inch.
Daniel’s arms shook.
“You should have accepted the funeral,” Gavin whispered.
Daniel twisted suddenly.
The knife clattered away.
Ava kicked it down the corridor.
Two officers dragged Gavin off him and pinned him to the floor.
Smoke thickened.
“Everyone upstairs!” Ava shouted.
Officers began carrying children toward the staircase.
Daniel pushed himself up, one hand clamped over his bleeding shoulder.
Elena reached for him.
“You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Where’s Eliana?”
“I have her.”
The girl clung to Elena’s waist, coughing.
Daniel crouched despite the pain.
“Are you hurt?”
Eliana shook her head.
Her eyes dropped to the blood soaking his shirt.
“You are.”
“It looks worse than it is.”
“That’s what Mommy says when she’s hurt.”
Daniel glanced at Elena.
She gave him a broken smile.
The corridor filled with smoke.
They moved toward the staircase with the other survivors.
At the top, flames had spread across the pantry wall. Sprinklers sputtered but did not release water.
Someone had disabled them.
Officers smashed a side window and began passing children through to firefighters outside.
The gala had dissolved into chaos.
Guests crowded the lawn in evening gowns and tuxedos. Red and blue lights flashed across the mansion’s white stone walls. Smoke poured from a shattered kitchen window.
Daniel helped Elena climb out.
A paramedic took Eliana, but the child fought until Elena climbed after her.
Daniel followed last.
The moment his feet touched the grass, two paramedics rushed toward him.
He pushed them away.
“Find Richard.”
Ava emerged from the window behind him.
“He’s gone.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“We found the open handcuff near the east garage. A black sedan left the property three minutes ago.”
“Who was driving?”
“Unknown.”
Daniel looked toward the long driveway.
Police vehicles blocked the main gate.
“He couldn’t get past them.”
“He didn’t use the main gate.”
Ava’s mouth tightened.
“There’s a private service road through the south woods. Your father funded its construction ten years ago.”
Daniel knew the road.
Richard had called it an emergency exit for charity events.
Of course he had.
A paramedic cut Daniel’s jacket away from his shoulder. The knife had left a deep but clean wound.
Elena sat on the back step of an ambulance with Eliana wrapped in a thermal blanket.
Daniel watched them.
His wife.
His daughter.
Alive.
For one brief moment, relief entered him so powerfully he almost collapsed.
Then Eliana looked toward the burning house and began to shake.
“He’ll come back.”
Elena pulled her closer.
“No.”
“He always comes back.”
Daniel walked toward them despite the paramedic’s protest.
Eliana looked at him.
“Mr. Richard never lets anyone leave.”
“He doesn’t control you anymore.”
“You don’t know him.”
Daniel knelt in front of her.
“You’re right. I didn’t know him.”
Elena looked away.
Daniel continued.
“But I know you. And I know your mother. I’m not letting him take either of you again.”
Eliana’s gaze searched his face.
“Promise?”
Daniel remembered his earlier thought.
Promises were dangerous.
But some were necessary.
“I promise I’ll keep trying every day.”
It was not the answer a child usually wanted.
Eliana seemed to understand it anyway.
She reached one small hand from beneath the blanket.
Daniel took it.
Her fingers were cold.
An FBI agent approached Ava near the ambulance. They spoke quietly. Ava’s expression darkened.
Daniel stood.
“What happened?”
Ava hesitated.
“Richard’s attorney filed emergency paperwork twenty minutes before the gala began.”
“What paperwork?”
“A petition claiming Elena is legally incompetent and poses a danger to herself and her child.”
Elena went still.
Ava continued.
“He included psychiatric evaluations signed by three doctors, court orders granting temporary guardianship of Eliana to the Mercer Family Trust, and documents naming Richard as Elena’s medical conservator.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“The paperwork appears authentic.”
“It’s forged.”
“Probably. But until we prove that, his attorney is demanding that child services remove Eliana from Elena’s custody.”
Elena stood so quickly the blanket fell from her lap.
“No.”
Eliana clung to her.
“No one is taking her.”
Ava lowered her voice.
“I’m not saying they will. I’m saying Richard prepared for this.”
Daniel felt the shape of the trap closing around them.
Richard had not simply hidden Elena.
He had built a legal cage around her.
Years of medical records.
Signed evaluations.
Court orders.
Guardianship papers.
Evidence designed to make the truth look like madness.
A black SUV stopped near the police line.
Two child protection officers stepped out with a woman in a navy suit.
Richard’s attorney.
Daniel recognized her from foundation events.
Claire Voss.
She crossed the lawn with a leather folder tucked beneath one arm, untouched by the panic around her.
Elena began backing toward the ambulance.
Daniel stepped in front of her.
Claire stopped several feet away.
“Daniel, I’m relieved you’re alive.”
“Don’t say my name.”
She sighed.
“I know tonight has been traumatic.”
“You knew Elena was here.”
“I knew Richard was funding private treatment for a woman he believed to be dangerous.”
“She was imprisoned.”
“That is one interpretation.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Claire opened the folder.
“I have a court order.”
Ava moved beside him.
“This is an active crime scene.”
“And that order predates your investigation.”
Elena’s arms tightened around Eliana.
Claire glanced at the child.
“Eliana Mercer is under the temporary guardianship of the Mercer Family Trust.”
“She is my daughter,” Daniel said.
Claire looked at him with professional sympathy.
“Paternity has never been legally established.”
The words stunned him.
Claire continued.
“You were not listed on her birth certificate.”
Daniel looked at Elena.
Her face crumpled.
“They wouldn’t let me.”
Claire turned to the child protection officers.
“You are required to take custody.”
Eliana began crying.
“No.”
Elena backed against the ambulance.
“No!”
Daniel stepped between the officers and his family.
“Anyone touches that child, they’ll have to arrest me first.”
Claire’s expression remained calm.
“I would prefer not to do this publicly.”
“You helped keep them in a basement.”
“I helped manage a legally complex medical situation.”
Ava took the folder from her and studied the documents.
“This judge signed the order?”
“Yes.”
Ava looked up sharply.
“Judge Warren died six months ago.”
Claire did not react.
“The order was issued eight months ago.”
Ava examined the date again.
Then her expression changed.
The document had been notarized three days ago.
After the judge’s death.
Claire saw the realization.
She turned.
“Take the child now.”
The protection officers hesitated.
Daniel moved toward Claire.
“You forged it.”
She stepped backward.
Ava reached for her weapon.
“Claire Voss, don’t move.”
Claire spun and ran.
She made it six steps before an officer caught her.
The folder fell open across the wet grass.
Documents scattered beneath the flashing emergency lights.
One page landed near Daniel’s shoe.
It was a trust amendment.
His name appeared at the top.
Daniel picked it up.
The Mercer Family Trust transferred controlling ownership of Richard’s companies under one condition:
Daniel must have a legally recognized biological heir.
He read the sentence twice.
Then a second paragraph.
If the heir died, disappeared, or was declared medically incompetent before Daniel assumed control, the assets reverted permanently to Richard Mercer.
Daniel looked toward Elena.
That was why Richard had kept Eliana alive.
She was not merely leverage.
She was the key to a fortune.
Ava took the page from him.
“This is motive.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. It’s more than that.”
He scanned the remaining papers scattered over the grass.
A medical consent form.
A guardianship order.
A sealed adoption petition.
His stomach turned.
The petition named prospective adoptive parents for Eliana.
Gavin Rusk and his wife.
The hearing was scheduled for the next morning.
Richard had planned to remove Eliana legally before Daniel ever arrived.
Daniel looked up at the burning mansion.
“He knew I was coming.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
“I never told him about my flight.”
“Then how—”
Daniel’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Ava motioned for him to answer on speaker.
Daniel accepted the call.
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then Richard’s voice.
Calm.
Controlled.
Almost affectionate.
“You always were late to understand the important things.”
Daniel’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Where are you?”
“That no longer matters.”
“You’re finished.”
Richard gave a quiet laugh.
“No, Daniel. Tonight was merely an inconvenience.”
“The FBI has your victims.”
“They have frightened people who will contradict one another under questioning.”
“They have the rooms.”
“A private care facility.”
“They have forged court orders.”
“Claire became careless.”
Daniel looked at Elena and Eliana.
“You will never touch them again.”
Richard’s voice changed.
The warmth vanished.
“Eliana belongs to the trust.”
“She is a human being.”
“She is the last legal obstacle between me and everything I built.”
Daniel felt Elena’s hand close around his uninjured arm.
Richard continued.
“You have until noon tomorrow to sign away your claim.”
“Or what?”
A pause.
Then the sound of a woman crying came through the phone.
Daniel looked at Ava.
She immediately began signaling an agent to trace the call.
Richard spoke again.
“If you refuse, the five people Elena believes were transferred from the house will never be found.”
Elena went white.
“Amara,” she whispered.
Richard heard her.
“Hello, Elena.”
She stepped toward the phone.
“Where are they?”
“Alive. For now.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“You’re threatening witnesses.”
“I’m offering an exchange.”
“The trust for the prisoners?”
“The trust, your silence, and your agreement that Elena receives permanent psychiatric care.”
Daniel nearly crushed the phone in his hand.
“You think I’ll send her back?”
“I think you will do what frightened husbands always do when forced to choose.”
“And what is that?”
“Sacrifice the damaged wife to save the innocent child.”
Elena recoiled as if he had struck her.
Daniel saw it.
Richard had not chosen those words by accident.
He knew every wound he had created.
Daniel looked at his wife.
Then his daughter.
“No.”
Richard was silent.
Daniel continued.
“You spent years separating us because you knew what would happen if we stood together.”
“You are sentimental.”
“You are afraid.”
For the first time, Richard’s breathing changed.
Daniel pressed harder.
“You’re running. Your attorney is in custody. Gavin is in handcuffs. Your house is burning, your victims are talking, and the son you trained to obey you finally sees you.”
Richard’s voice became quiet.
“You are not my son.”
Daniel felt the words land, but they did not hurt as Richard intended.
“Good.”
The line went dead.
Ava looked at the agent tracing the call.
He shook his head.
Too short.
Elena sat down heavily on the ambulance step.
“The others are alive.”
“We’ll find them,” Ava said.
“You don’t understand. Richard moves people through different properties. Some are overseas. Some are hidden in medical centers.”
Ava crouched in front of her.
“Then help us map everything you remember.”
Elena looked at Eliana.
Daniel saw exhaustion settle over her.
Not ordinary tiredness.
Years of survival finally demanding payment.
“She needs a hospital,” Daniel said.
Elena shook her head.
“No hospitals connected to the foundation.”
“We’ll use a federal medical center.”
“No one takes Eliana out of my sight.”
“No one will,” Ava promised.
A paramedic approached with a stretcher.
Elena refused it.
Daniel climbed into the ambulance with them.
Eliana sat between her parents, wrapped in silver foil, one hand holding Elena’s and the other resting cautiously near Daniel’s.
Not touching him.
But close.
As the ambulance doors began closing, Margaret Hensley appeared outside.
The retired judge held a small black ledger.
“I found this in Richard’s study before the fire reached the second floor.”
Ava took it.
“What is it?”
Margaret looked toward Elena.
“I believe it’s what she was searching for the night she disappeared.”
Elena stared at the book.
Her face changed.
“That’s not the original ledger.”
Margaret frowned.
“How do you know?”
“The original was red.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Where is it?”
Elena looked at him.
“I gave it to someone before Richard caught me.”
“Who?”
She swallowed.
“Your mother.”
Daniel stared at her.
“My mother died twelve years ago.”
Elena shook her head.
“No, Daniel.”
The ambulance doors stopped halfway closed.
May you like
Elena’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Richard lied about that too.”
