Chapter 2 - The Sister Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Jessica read the messages twice.
Mike reached the doorway.
"Claire!"
No answer.
"Stop," Jessica said.
Mike turned.
"She knows where Emily is."
"Or she's running from whoever took Emily."
"You're defending her?"
"I'm protecting Lily."
That ended the argument.
The little girl stood beside the bed clutching her mother's purse.
Jessica crouched.
"Lily, did anyone come into this room before you left?"
Lily nodded.
"A man."
"What did he look like?"
"Gray hair."
"Did you know him?"
"No."
"What did your mom do?"
"She told me to hide."
Jessica's chest tightened.
"Where?"
Lily pointed toward the closet.
"Then what?"
"They argued."
"About what?"
Lily looked toward Mike.
"About him."
Mike froze.
"Me?"
Lily nodded.
Jessica stood slowly.
"What did they say?"
"I couldn't hear everything."
"Anything you remember could help."
Lily thought.
"The man said Uncle Mike couldn't know."
Jessica looked at Mike.
"Uncle Mike?"
Mike stared at Lily.
"I've never seen this child."
Jessica believed him.
She didn't want to.
But she did.
Mike was many things.
His face when Lily called him Uncle Mike wasn't acting.
Jessica picked up Emily's phone.
It required a passcode.
She tried Emily's birthday.
Wrong.
Their mother's birthday.
Wrong.
Then Jessica remembered something from childhood.
Their father's old house number.
Unlocked.
Mike stared.
"How did you—"
"Emily used that number for everything when we were kids."
Jessica opened the messages.
Most had been deleted.
One conversation remained.
The contact had no name.
Only initials.
C.W.
Jessica looked toward the empty doorway.
Claire Whitmore.
The messages were recent.
C.W.: You promised Jessica would never be involved.
Emily: That stopped being possible when you chose Mike.
C.W.: I didn't choose him.
Emily: Then tell him the truth.
C.W.: I can't.
Emily: Lily deserves to know who her father is.
Jessica stopped reading.
Mike had read over her shoulder.
His breathing changed.
"No."
Jessica turned.
Mike looked at Lily.
Lily stared back.
"No," he repeated.
Jessica understood what he was thinking.
"So help me God, Mike, if Lily is your daughter—"
"She isn't."
"How would you know?"
"Because I never slept with Emily."
Jessica stared at him.
"I didn't."
"Five years ago, you were sleeping with somebody."
Mike looked toward the door.
Jessica's anger sharpened.
"Claire?"
Mike didn't answer.
"Mike."
"Yes."
Lily watched them.
Jessica lowered her voice.
"You told me the affair started after we separated."
Mike looked ashamed.
"It didn't."
There it was.
Even after five years, betrayal could find a new edge.
"When?"
"Three months before."
Jessica laughed once.
No humor.
"Three months?"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't."
"Jess—"
"Don't call me that."
Mike fell silent.
Jessica returned to the messages.
Emily: Lily deserves to know who her father is.
C.W.: If Mike learns what happened, everything collapses.
Emily: Maybe it should.
The next message had been sent that morning.
C.W.: The wedding is today. Don't come.
Emily: Jessica will be there.
C.W.: That's exactly why you can't.
Emily: Lily needs her.
Jessica stared.
Mike leaned closer.
"Keep going."
Emily: I'm done hiding.
C.W.: Emily, please.
Emily: Tell Mike yourself or I will.
Then nothing.
Jessica felt cold.
"Claire knew Emily was alive."
"Apparently."
"For four years."
Mike ran a hand through his hair.
"I swear to you, Jessica, I didn't know."
"Then what happened the night we signed the divorce papers?"
Mike looked away.
Emily's video had specifically told Jessica to ask.
"Mike."
He walked toward the window.
"The night we finalized the divorce, Emily came to my apartment."
Jessica stared.
"Why?"
"She was furious."
"About Claire?"
"About something she'd discovered."
"What?"
"She wouldn't tell me. She kept asking questions about my family."
Jessica frowned.
"Your family?"
"Especially my father."
Richard Bennett.
Mike's father had died three years earlier.
A respected attorney.
Powerful connections.
The kind of man who could make a problem disappear without raising his voice.
"What did Emily want with Richard?"
"She said he'd been paying somebody."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Mike turned.
"Because the next morning Emily called me and said she'd made a mistake. She told me to forget everything."
"And you did?"
"We were divorced, Jessica. You hated me. Emily wouldn't speak to me again."
Jessica looked at the phone.
Her sister had died less than a year later.
Except she hadn't.
Lily tugged Jessica's dress.
"Can we find Mommy?"
Jessica immediately softened.
"Yes."
She knelt.
"We're going to find her."
Lily handed her something from the purse.
A keycard.
Room 1812.
One floor above.
"Mom said if she wasn't here, I should give you this."
Jessica took it.
Mike headed for the door.
Jessica stopped him.
"Wait."
"What?"
"Someone knew we were coming here."
She showed him the anonymous messages.
Mike read them.
"Who sent these?"
"I don't know."
"Could be Emily."
"Then why wouldn't she just call?"
Mike had no answer.
Jessica looked toward Lily.
Taking her through the hotel while someone might be searching for her was dangerous.
Leaving her was worse.
Mike seemed to reach the same conclusion.
"She stays between us."
Jessica nodded.
It was the first thing they'd agreed on all day.
They stepped into the hallway.
Empty.
The elevator was too obvious.
Jessica chose the stairs.
They climbed one floor.
Room 1812 was near the end of the corridor.
Jessica used the keycard.
Green light.
Inside, the room looked untouched.
No luggage.
No clothing.
Only a large envelope on the desk.
JESSICA BENNETT.
Her name.
Jessica opened it.
Inside were copies of legal documents.
Birth records.
Bank statements.
And a DNA test.
She read the first page.
Lily Grace Bennett.
Jessica's eyes stopped on the surname.
Bennett.
Mike took the document.
"What the hell?"
Jessica found the DNA report.
PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 99.99%.
Mike Bennett.
Mike dropped the paper.
"No."
Jessica looked at Lily.
The child had wandered toward the window.
She hadn't seen.
Mike whispered, "This is impossible."
Jessica felt anger rising.
"You keep saying that."
"Because it is."
"The paper says otherwise."
"I never touched Emily."
"Then explain it."
"I can't."
Jessica searched the envelope.
Another page.
This one was handwritten.
Jess,
Mike is Lily's biological father.
But he never slept with me.
Jessica read that line three times.
Mike took the letter.
His face drained.
Emily's handwriting continued.
If you're reading this, you've reached the part where everything sounds impossible. I need you to trust me long enough to understand why.
Five years ago, before your divorce was final, I discovered Richard Bennett had been using Mike's fertility samples without his knowledge.
Mike stared at Jessica.
"My what?"
Jessica continued.
Years earlier, Mike had frozen sperm before undergoing surgery for a medical condition.
Jessica remembered.
They had been married only a year.
The samples were supposed to remain stored unless they jointly authorized their use.
Emily's letter explained that Richard Bennett had secretly transferred access to a private clinic.
Why?
The next page was missing.
Jessica searched the envelope.
Nothing.
"Where is it?"
Mike grabbed the papers.
"There has to be more."
Lily suddenly said, "Mom had another envelope."
Jessica turned.
"Where?"
"The man took it."
Gray-haired man.
Jessica's phone vibrated.
Unknown number again.
LEAVE ROOM 1812.
Jessica showed Mike.
A second message appeared.
NOW.
Mike moved toward the window.
"Someone's watching."
Jessica pulled Lily closer.
"Who?"
Mike looked across the street.
Another hotel tower faced them.
Hundreds of windows.
Impossible to tell.
Jessica's phone rang.
Unknown.
She answered.
"Hello?"
Breathing.
Then a woman's voice.
"Jessica?"
Her knees nearly failed.
"Emily?"
Mike stared.
"Jess, listen carefully."
Jessica began crying before she could stop herself.
"Emily, where are you?"
"I don't have much time."
"You're alive."
"I know."
"Where are you?"
"Don't trust the DNA report."
Jessica looked at Mike.
"What?"
"It's real," Emily said. "But it doesn't mean what you think."
"Then tell me."
"I will. But you need to get Lily out."
"Out where?"
"Go downstairs. Service elevator. Parking level three."
"Are you there?"
"No."
"Emily—"
"Jessica."
Her sister's voice cracked.
"I am so sorry."
"For what?"
"For letting you bury me."
Jessica closed her eyes.
Four years of grief surged through her.
"Why?"
"Because Richard Bennett gave me a choice."
Mike moved closer.
"What choice?"
Emily heard him.
"Mike's there?"
"Yes."
Silence.
Then Emily said something Jessica didn't expect.
"Good."
Mike took the phone.
"Emily, what did my father do?"
"He wasn't working alone."
"Who?"
"Find Claire."
"She ran."
"No," Emily said.
Jessica felt the warning before Emily spoke.
"Claire didn't run from you."
"Then who?"
"She saw the man who took me."
Jessica looked toward the door.
"Who is he?"
A loud noise came through Emily's side of the call.
"Emily?"
"Go."
"Tell me where you are!"
"Protect Lily."
The call ended.
Jessica stared at the phone.
Mike cursed.
They gathered the documents.
Jessica slipped them into her purse.
Then she took Lily's hand.
"Service elevator."
They moved quickly.
At the corridor intersection, Mike stopped.
"What?"
Jessica followed his gaze.
Claire stood at the far end.
Her red dress was unmistakable.
She was barefoot now.
One strap had torn.
Blood ran from a cut above her eyebrow.
"Claire?"
She stumbled toward them.
Mike rushed forward.
"What happened?"
Claire grabbed him.
"We have to leave."
"Who did this?"
Claire looked at Lily.
Then Jessica.
"He knows she's here."
"Who?"
Claire's eyes filled with terror.
"Your father."
Mike stared.
"My father is dead."
Claire shook her head.
"No, Mike."
Jessica felt Lily press against her.
Claire whispered:
"Richard Bennett is alive."
Behind Claire, the service elevator chimed.
The doors opened.
Claire turned.
Her face collapsed in terror.
A man's voice came from inside.
"Hello, Jessica."
Mike went completely still.
Jessica recognized that voice.
She hadn't heard it in three years.
May you like
But she remembered it perfectly.
Richard Bennett stepped out of the elevator.
