Chapter 4 - The Secret in Daniel's Safe
Adrian reached the door first.
He opened it.
No one stood outside.
Only a black box rested on the floor.
Vanessa whispered, “Don't touch it.”
Hospital security arrived.
The box contained no weapon.
Only a key.
Daniel's private safe key.
By morning, Sophia had slept less than an hour.
The twins were stable.
That was all that mattered.
Daniel still hadn't appeared.
Adrian had.
He returned with coffee for Vanessa and tea for Sophia.
“You should go home,” Sophia said.
“No.”
“You have a company.”
“I hired people.”
“You've been here all night.”
“So have you.”
She almost smiled.
Vanessa arranged for Daniel's safe to be opened legally in the presence of counsel.
Inside were photographs.
Letters.
Medical records.
And a second phone.
The messages on it went back eighteen months.
They appeared to be from Sophia.
I never loved you.
Once the twins are born, I'm leaving.
You'll never see them.
Sophia stared in horror.
“I didn't send these.”
Adrian examined the metadata.
“They were spoofed.”
But one message mattered more.
A photograph of Sophia entering a hotel with Adrian.
Sophia remembered the day.
A charity planning meeting.
Dozens of people had attended.
The photograph had been cropped to show only the two of them.
Someone had built an affair that never happened.
Daniel had believed it.
Sophia felt rage replace heartbreak.
“He thought the twins were yours.”
Adrian's eyes met hers.
“Yes.”
“And that's why he left.”
“No.”
She frowned.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Don't excuse him.”
“I'm not.”
“He had questions. He could have asked you. He had doubts. He could have requested a DNA test. Instead, he abandoned a pregnant woman during a medical emergency.”
Sophia looked down.
He was right.
Understanding Daniel's fear did not erase Daniel's choice.
Vanessa's phone rang.
Daniel.
She answered.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“What?”
Her face changed.
She put the phone on speaker.
Daniel's voice filled the room.
“Sophia?”
She froze.
“I know about the messages,” he said.
Sophia said nothing.
“I know they were fake.”
Still nothing.
“I need to see you.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“You left me bleeding on the floor.”
Silence.
“I know.”
“No, Daniel. You don't.”
His breathing sounded ragged.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“My mother's death certificate.”
Vanessa frowned.
“And?”
“It isn't real.”
Sophia looked at Adrian.
Daniel continued.
“My mother didn't die three years ago.”
The room became silent.
“Where is she?” Sophia whispered.
Daniel answered.
“I think she's been inside our lives the entire time.”
Then someone shouted on Daniel's end of the call.
Glass shattered.
Daniel swore.
The connection broke.
Sophia stared at the phone.
A second later, a text arrived from Daniel.
One photograph.
A woman standing outside his office.
Older.
Elegant.
Alive.
May you like
Eleanor Whitmore was looking directly into the security camera.
And beside her stood the last person Sophia expected to see...
