Chapter 4 - The Fourth Person
Daniel ran through the hospital doors.
“Lily!”
Security was already searching.
Cameras showed her leaving Elena's floor beside a man wearing a baseball cap.
He never showed his face clearly.
But Lily wasn't struggling.
That meant she knew him.
Daniel stared at the footage.
“Back up.”
The guard replayed it.
Lily looked up at the man.
She said something.
“Can you enhance the audio?”
“No.”
Daniel watched her lips.
Two syllables.
Uncle?
No.
Maybe a name.
Elena woke twenty minutes later.
When Daniel told her Lily was missing, she tried getting out of bed.
He stopped her.
“Who would Lily willingly leave with?”
“Nobody.”
“Think.”
“Her teacher. Mrs. Grant. Our neighbor Mr. Ellis. Your mother—”
Daniel froze.
“My mother?”
“Vivian visited her.”
“What?”
Elena stared.
“She came twice.”
Daniel felt another secret opening beneath his feet.
“When?”
“Last year.”
He called Vivian.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Daniel drove to her townhouse.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, a lamp had been knocked over.
“Mom?”
No response.
He found Vivian in the library.
She was conscious, sitting against the wall.
A bruise marked her forehead.
“Daniel.”
“Where is Lily?”
“I don't know.”
He helped her up.
“What happened?”
“Someone came for Richard's files.”
“Who?”
“They wore a mask.”
Daniel didn't believe in coincidences anymore.
“What did they take?”
“The succession documents.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because Lily's identity is now provable.”
Vivian gripped his arm.
“Daniel, once her birth certificate and DNA establish she is your child, the trust changes.”
“How?”
“If something happens to you before forty, your shares don't return to the board.”
“They go to Lily.”
“Yes.”
Now Daniel understood.
Lily wasn't merely evidence.
She was an obstacle.
He called Charles.
No answer.
Rebecca arrived ten minutes later.
She had traced the photograph sent to Daniel's phone.
“Burner device.”
“Location?”
“Last signal was near Long Island City.”
They drove there.
The address belonged to an abandoned Mercer Capital records warehouse.
Daniel recognized it.
His father had closed the facility years ago.
Police were called.
Daniel refused to wait outside.
Inside, rows of dusty shelves stretched into darkness.
“Lily!”
A sound came from upstairs.
Daniel ran.
He found Lily sitting inside an office.
Alone.
Unhurt.
“Dad?”
The word hit him even before he reached her.
Daniel dropped to his knees.
She threw her arms around him.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“The man told me Mom needed me.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You went with him.”
“He said Grandma sent him.”
Daniel looked around.
“Then why did he leave you here?”
Lily pointed toward the desk.
“He said you had to read that.”
A folder waited.
Inside was another photograph.
Richard Mercer.
Charles Voss.
Vivian.
And a fourth person.
Rebecca Sloan.
Daniel stared.
Rebecca stood behind him.
Her face went white.
“Daniel, I can explain.”
He turned slowly.
“You knew my father when Elena was pregnant?”
“No.”
“The picture says otherwise.”
Rebecca looked at it.
“That isn't me.”
Daniel studied the date.
Seven years earlier.
The woman beside Richard looked remarkably like Rebecca.
But older.
Rebecca whispered:
“That's my mother.”
Daniel's anger paused.
“Your mother?”
“Margaret Sloan.”
The name meant nothing to him.
Rebecca took the photograph.
“She worked for your father.”
“Doing what?”
“Compliance.”
Daniel understood immediately.
Fraud.
Richard's missing records.
“The fourth person.”
Rebecca nodded.
“My mother knew Elena was pregnant because Richard asked her to investigate the trust implications.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she disappeared seven years ago.”
Daniel stared.
“When?”
“Two weeks after Elena left New York.”
The room became silent.
Rebecca opened the folder further.
There was one final page.
A handwritten note.
RICHARD CHOSE THE WRONG WOMAN TO TRUST.
Below it:
ASK CHARLES WHAT HAPPENED TO MARGARET.
Daniel took Lily home with police protection.
Elena cried when she saw her.
Daniel watched mother and daughter hold each other.
For the first time, he understood what Elena had carried alone.
Fear didn't excuse every choice.
But it explained why some choices had seemed impossible.
Later, Daniel confronted Charles.
“Margaret Sloan.”
Charles's face changed.
“You found the photograph.”
“What happened to her?”
“She discovered the theft.”
“Who was responsible?”
“She never told me.”
“Why?”
“Because she disappeared before she could.”
Daniel slammed the folder onto the desk.
“Stop protecting dead men's secrets.”
Charles's voice sharpened.
“I have spent seven years trying to keep that child alive.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
Charles opened a drawer.
He removed a second photograph.
Margaret Sloan standing beside a car.
In the background was Elena.
Pregnant.
“Margaret helped Elena disappear.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“Because Margaret knew Richard's methods. She knew he would monitor Elena.”
“And then Margaret vanished.”
“Yes.”
“Was she killed?”
Charles looked away.
“I thought so.”
“Thought?”
Charles opened another document.
A bank withdrawal had occurred six days earlier.
The account belonged to Margaret Sloan.
Rebecca's supposedly missing mother.
Daniel stared at the date.
“She is alive.”
Charles nodded.
“Apparently.”
Daniel's phone rang.
Rebecca.
He answered.
No greeting.
Her voice trembled.
“Daniel, someone is in my apartment.”
“Get out.”
“I can't.”
“Rebecca—”
“I found my mother.”
Daniel went still.
“What?”
“She is sitting in my living room.”
A woman's voice came faintly through the phone.
“Tell Daniel to come alone.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
May you like
Then Rebecca whispered:
“She says she knows who took Lily.”
