Chapter 6 - The Sister Who Was Supposed to Be Gone
Rebecca stood between me and the locked door.
Marcus moved slightly forward.
She raised both hands.
“I’m not armed.”
“Then unlock it.”
“Not until you listen.”
I stared at her.
“You sent the photograph?”
“Yes.”
“The envelope?”
“Yes.”
“The messages?”
“Some.”
“Who sent the others?”
“Adrian.”
“Where is he?”
“Safe for now.”
“Thomas?”
Her expression tightened.
“I don't know.”
I held up Claire's recent photograph.
“Where is my wife?”
Rebecca looked at me for a long moment.
“Alive.”
One word.
Four years of grief collapsed under it.
I sat without intending to.
Rebecca continued.
“Claire didn't plan to leave you.”
“Then why did she?”
“She believed staying would put Lily in danger.”
“From Michael Voss?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Voss had spent years moving money from our father's trust through shell organizations. Claire discovered it.”
“For himself?”
“No.”
“For whom?”
Rebecca looked toward my father's portrait.
“Richard Mercer.”
I shook my head.
“My father was dead.”
“The scheme began before he died. Your father and mine had business dealings neither family knew about. When Vale Medical was sold, millions were diverted through consulting agreements.”
“And Rebecca's trust?”
“Collateral damage.”
She smiled bitterly.
“I discovered it when I was nineteen. I threatened to expose everyone.”
“So they called you unstable.”
“They made me look unstable.”
My stomach turned.
“Claire moved money to help you escape.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian thought she was stealing.”
“Until the night of the crash.”
Rebecca walked toward the desk.
“Claire finally showed him everything.”
“What happened?”
“Voss followed her.”
“And sabotaged her brakes?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he kill Adrian too?”
“He tried.”
She looked at the flash drive.
“Watch it.”
Marcus inserted it into the office computer.
Claire appeared.
This recording was complete.
“Daniel,” she said, “if you're seeing this, then Rebecca found a way back.”
I gripped the desk.
Claire explained everything.
She had discovered the financial scheme after Rebecca contacted her secretly.
Voss had been monitoring Rebecca.
Claire tried to fire him from my security team.
Thomas, believing my mother had authorized Voss's continued employment, unknowingly restored his access using Evelyn's credentials.
My mother hadn't betrayed us.
Thomas had made a catastrophic mistake.
Claire hid Rebecca.
Then Adrian filed suit because he misunderstood the missing trust funds.
The night of the crash, Claire finally showed Adrian the proof.
Voss arrived.
Claire fled.
Adrian followed.
Voss pursued both.
Claire's brakes failed.
Her car went off the road.
Adrian's vehicle crashed trying to avoid it.
He pulled Claire from the wreck before collapsing from his own injuries.
Voss found Claire first.
But he didn't kill her.
He needed to know where Rebecca was.
Claire escaped him days later with Thomas's help.
She stayed hidden because Voss had access to my home.
To my travel.
To Lily.
“If I come home,” Claire said on the recording, “he will know Rebecca is alive. And if he knows that, he'll use Lily to make me talk.”
I couldn't look away.
“I know what this will do to you. I know you may never forgive me. But I need Lily alive more than I need her to know I'm alive.”
The recording ended.
I sat motionless.
Then Rebecca placed a phone on the desk.
“One hour ago, Claire contacted me.”
I looked up.
“Where?”
“She said Voss had found Adrian and Thomas.”
“Where is she?”
“Trying to reach them.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“Address.”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Address.”
She gave it to me.
An abandoned private rehabilitation property outside Bedford.
Marcus called Nathan and law enforcement contacts he trusted.
This time, we had evidence.
Real evidence.
Financial records.
The recording.
Voss's identity.
We drove.
Police units stayed several minutes behind us at my insistence.
I didn't want sirens warning Voss.
The property consisted of an old main building and several cottages.
One light was on.
Rebecca grabbed my arm.
“That's Thomas's car.”
We approached quietly.
A door stood open.
Inside, Thomas lay against a wall.
Alive.
Bleeding from his forehead.
Marcus rushed to him.
“Adrian?”
Thomas pointed upstairs.
“Voss.”
“And Claire?”
Thomas looked at me.
“She came.”
I ran.
Upstairs.
A corridor.
Voices.
Then I heard her.
Claire.
After four years.
“Michael, it's over.”
Voss laughed.
“It's never over while Rebecca can testify.”
“She already has.”
Silence.
Then movement.
I reached the room.
Claire stood near the window.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
For one second, we simply stared at each other.
Everything else disappeared.
Then Voss stepped from behind the door.
He had no gun.
But he held a heavy metal bar.
Marcus came up behind me.
Voss realized he was trapped.
He moved toward Claire.
I stepped between them.
“Don't.”
He smiled.
“You still don't understand your own family.”
Police sirens sounded outside.
Voss looked toward the window.
His confidence broke.
He dropped the bar.
Marcus moved in.
Minutes later, officers took him downstairs.
Adrian was found in another room, shaken but unharmed.
Thomas was taken to the hospital.
Rebecca sat beside her brother.
And I remained upstairs with Claire.
Four years.
I had imagined what I would say if I could see her again.
I had begged the universe for five more minutes.
Now I had them.
And I couldn't speak.
Claire did.
“Daniel.”
My eyes burned.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I told Lily her mother was dead.”
Tears rolled down her face.
“I know.”
“You watched us grieve.”
“I watched from farther away than you think.”
“That's supposed to help?”
“No.”
She didn't defend herself.
Maybe that made it worse.
“Why didn't you trust me?”
“I trusted you.”
“No. You trusted your plan.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I was terrified.”
“So was I. For four years.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to say that.”
She nodded.
“You're right.”
Downstairs, voices moved through the building.
The danger was ending.
But ours wasn't.
“Lily thinks you're dead.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“I know.”
“She remembers you.”
Claire began crying harder.
“I know.”
I wanted to hate her.
Part of me did.
Another part remembered her asleep beside me.
Laughing in our kitchen.
Holding Lily.
Living.
Alive.
My phone rang.
My mother.
I answered.
“Daniel?”
“We found them.”
“Adrian?”
“Alive.”
“Thomas?”
“Alive.”
A pause.
“And Claire?”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
My mother sobbed.
Then another voice came through the phone.
Lily.
“Dad?”
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Did you find the secret?”
I looked at Claire.
She heard Lily's voice.
Her knees almost gave way.
“Yes.”
“Is it bad?”
I couldn't answer immediately.
“No, sweetheart.”
Claire stared at me.
“It's complicated.”
“Are you coming home?”
“Yes.”
“Can Grandma stay?”
I looked toward the window.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Then Lily said the one thing none of us was prepared for.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“There’s a lady downstairs.”
My blood went cold.
“What lady?”
“She said she knows Mommy.”
Claire stepped closer to the phone.
My mother shouted in the background.
A door slammed.
Then Lily whispered:
May you like
“She says Mommy sent her to get me.”
The line went dead.
