Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Closet
Marcus drew his weapon.
"Come out."
A woman stepped slowly from Lily's closet.
Mid-fifties.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
Hands raised.
Mrs. Herrera gasped.
"Ana."
The woman looked at Ethan.
"My name is Ana Morales."
Ethan's voice hardened.
"You have ten seconds."
"I was Lily's nurse after the crash."
Everything stopped.
Ana had worked at Westbridge.
She explained that Lily arrived unconscious under a false name.
Grace Miller.
Within days, Ana realized the child's identity had been deliberately hidden.
"She woke up after nine days."
Ethan gripped the back of a chair.
"She woke up?"
"Yes."
"Did she remember me?"
Ana's eyes softened.
"Your name was the first word she said."
Ethan turned away.
His shoulders shook once.
Elena quietly moved beside him.
Not touching.
Just there.
"What happened?" Ethan asked.
"Someone came for her."
"Who?"
"A woman."
"Name."
"Claire Bennett."
Daniel reacted.
Ethan noticed.
"You know her."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"She worked for Father."
"As what?"
"Private investigator."
Ana continued.
"Claire had documents proving Lily was in danger. She said taking Lily back to the Carter family would get her killed."
"So you handed my daughter to a stranger?"
"I handed her to the only person who seemed willing to die protecting her."
"Where is Claire?"
"I don't know."
"Where is Lily?"
"I don't know."
Ethan's restraint broke.
"You people keep telling me you saved my daughter and then lost her!"
Elena stepped closer.
"Ethan."
He looked at her.
The anger disappeared as quickly as it came.
He sat.
Ana took something from her pocket.
A child's bracelet.
Pink beads.
Silver letter L.
Ethan recognized it.
He had bought it at an airport because Lily had been angry he missed her school play.
He closed his fist around it.
"She wore this every day."
"Claire left it with me," Ana said. "She said if you ever learned the truth, I should give it to you."
"Why?"
"Because Lily left you something."
Inside one bead was a tightly rolled piece of paper.
Ethan unfolded it.
Childish handwriting.
DADDY I WAITED.
He closed his eyes.
Elena couldn't bear the look on his face.
Three years of mourning suddenly transformed into three years of imagined waiting.
"There's more," Ana said.
Claire had contacted her six months earlier.
Lily was alive.
Safe.
But Claire believed Victor Shaw was still looking for her.
"Where?"
"Claire wouldn't tell me."
"How do we find her?"
Ana handed Marcus a number.
Disconnected.
Marcus began tracing it.
Meanwhile Elena returned home to check on Carmen.
Ethan insisted she take security.
She hated it.
Then she saw her apartment door.
Open.
"Grandma?"
Elena ran inside.
Carmen sat in her chair.
Alive.
A man stood beside the window.
Victor Shaw.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
Calm.
"Ms. Salgado."
Elena froze.
Her security guard lay unconscious in the hallway.
"What do you want?"
"To correct a misunderstanding."
Carmen looked frightened.
Victor smiled.
"Ethan Carter is a grieving man. Grief makes people believe impossible things."
"Get away from my grandmother."
Victor stepped aside.
"I would never hurt Carmen."
Elena's blood chilled.
He knew her name.
"How?"
"I know a great deal about you."
He placed an envelope on the table.
Inside were photographs.
Elena at the hospital three years earlier.
Elena leaving nursing school.
Elena caring for Carmen.
Someone had watched her for years.
"Why me?"
"Because you saw something you weren't supposed to see."
"Lily."
Victor smiled faintly.
"Not Lily."
Elena stared.
"The other girl."
He walked toward the door.
Elena blocked him.
"Who was she?"
Victor stopped.
"Ask your grandmother."
Elena turned.
Carmen had gone white.
"Grandma?"
Victor left.
Elena stared at Carmen.
"You know?"
Carmen began crying.
"I wanted to protect you."
"From what?"
"Not what."
Her grandmother looked toward the photograph Elena had brought from Ethan's mansion.
"From whom."
Elena's phone rang.
Ethan.
She ignored it.
"Grandma, tell me."
Carmen reached beneath her blanket and removed an old envelope.
"I hoped you would never see this."
Inside was a birth certificate.
Elena read the mother's name.
Then read it again.
May you like
Her knees weakened.
The document said Elena's mother was Rachel Carter.
