Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Knew My Father’s Secret
The diner door opened behind me.
For a second, nobody moved.
Not Derek.
Not his bodyguards.
Not even Oliver.
The note was still in my hand.
"Ask her what happened the night Michael disappeared."
The words burned into my mind.
I turned slowly.
And then I saw her.
An older woman stood in the doorway.
She looked like she had walked a long distance.
Her silver hair was pulled back neatly.
Her coat was worn.
Her hands trembled slightly as she held onto the doorframe.
But her eyes were sharp.
Focused.
And the moment she saw Derek Cannon standing inside Henley’s Diner, her face changed.
Not surprise.
Fear.
"June," she whispered.
I froze.
She knew my name.
Derek immediately stepped between us.
The movement was so quick that I barely noticed it.
One second he was beside me.
The next, he was standing in front of me.
Protecting me.
Or protecting himself.
I couldn’t tell.
"Who are you?" Derek asked.
The woman looked at him.
Then at Oliver.
Then back at me.
"My name is Eleanor."
She swallowed.
"I knew your father."
My heart sank.
Another person who knew my father.
Another secret.
Another piece of a life I thought I understood.
"My father never mentioned you."
Her expression tightened.
"I know."
The answer bothered me more than anything else.
Because she didn’t sound offended.
She sounded guilty.
Derek’s voice became colder.
"You were the one who sent the note."
Eleanor looked away.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then she nodded.
"Yes."
One of Derek’s men stepped forward.
"Boss, we need to leave."
Derek ignored him.
"Why?"
Eleanor looked at him.
"Because Michael wasn’t missing."
The room changed.
It felt like the air disappeared.
Derek’s face went completely still.
"What did you say?"
Eleanor looked at me.
Then at the photograph still sitting on the counter.
"Michael didn’t disappear."
She paused.
"He was taken."
I felt my stomach drop.
My father had always told me Michael was just an old friend.
A person from his past.
Someone who left town.
That was all.
But now this woman was standing in front of me, telling me the story I had believed my entire life was a lie.
"Taken by who?" Derek asked.
Eleanor looked at him.
And for the first time, I saw anger in her eyes.
"People who wanted what Michael knew."
Derek’s expression hardened.
"What did he know?"
She didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she walked farther into the diner.
Her eyes moved around the place.
The counter.
The tables.
The walls.
Like she was remembering something.
Then she looked at me.
"Your father protected you."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Yes."
"He never kept secrets from me."
Eleanor’s expression softened.
"That is exactly why he kept them."
I didn’t understand.
And I hated that.
I hated standing in my own diner feeling like everyone knew something except me.
I looked at Derek.
"Tell me what is happening."
For the first time since he entered my diner, Derek looked uncertain.
Not weak.
Never weak.
But uncertain.
"Michael was not just a friend," he said.
I waited.
"He was my mentor."
The words surprised me.
"He taught me how to survive."
Derek looked down.
"Before I became who I am now, Michael was the person who gave me a chance."
I looked at Eleanor.
"And my father?"
She answered quietly.
"Your father was the person who helped Michael hide."
My heartbeat increased.
"Hide from who?"
Nobody answered.
That silence told me enough.
There was someone.
Someone powerful.
Someone dangerous.
Oliver suddenly jumped onto the counter.
He walked toward Eleanor.
The older woman stared at him.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You kept him."
I frowned.
"What?"
She touched Oliver’s head gently.
"Michael loved this cat."
Derek looked shocked.
"Oliver belonged to Michael?"
Eleanor nodded.
"Yes."
The room went quiet again.
I stared at the cat.
The same cat I had found injured behind my diner.
The same cat that refused to leave me.
The same cat that somehow connected every secret in this room.
"What happened to him?" I whispered.
Eleanor looked at me.
"I don't know everything."
Her voice cracked.
"But I know Michael trusted your father with one thing."
"What?"
She reached into her coat.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Then she pulled out a small envelope.
My entire body went cold.
Because I recognized it.
It was the same kind of envelope my father used for important documents.
"Your father gave this to me the night before he died."
I stared at it.
"Why didn't you give it to me?"
Eleanor looked away.
"Because I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
She looked at Derek.
Then at the windows.
Then back at me.
"Afraid that whoever came for Michael would come for you too."
Nobody spoke.
I looked at the envelope.
My name was written on the front.
Not my father’s handwriting.
Michael’s.
June Alcott.
My hands shook.
I reached for it.
But Derek stopped me.
"Wait."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His eyes were fixed on the envelope.
"Because if Michael wrote that before he disappeared, there is a reason it was hidden."
I pulled my hand back.
"What are you saying?"
Derek looked at me seriously.
"I’m saying opening that could change everything."
I almost laughed.
Everything had already changed.
Five minutes ago, I was serving coffee.
Now I was standing in my diner surrounded by a crime lord, his bodyguards, a woman who knew my father’s secrets, and a cat connected to a man who supposedly vanished years ago.
There was no going back.
"I want to know the truth," I said.
Derek watched me carefully.
"You don't understand what you're asking for."
"Then explain it."
He was silent.
And that scared me.
Because Derek Cannon always had an answer.
Except now.
Now he looked like a man who was afraid of what would happen next.
Eleanor slowly placed the envelope on the counter.
"Your father told me one thing."
"What?"
She looked directly at me.
"If the day ever came when Derek Cannon found Oliver..."
She stopped.
My heart raced.
"What did he say?"
Eleanor whispered:
"That meant the people who wanted Michael were finally looking again."
A cold feeling moved through me.
I looked toward the front windows.
A black vehicle was parked across the street.
I hadn’t noticed it before.
Neither had anyone else.
Derek noticed now.
His entire body changed.
The softness disappeared.
The businessman disappeared.
The dangerous man returned.
"Everyone step away from the windows."
The command was immediate.
His bodyguards moved.
I grabbed Oliver.
"What is happening?"
Derek didn’t answer.
He was staring at the vehicle outside.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face went pale.
"What is it?" I asked.
He turned the phone toward me.
There was a picture.
A picture taken inside my diner.
A picture of me.
Holding Oliver.
Taken only minutes ago.
Under it was one sentence.
Derek read it quietly.
May you like
"They know she has him."
The lights in the diner suddenly went out.
