Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
“No.”
Ethan’s answer came before Lena spoke.
Lena looked at the message again.
BRING LENA ALONE.
“My father could be alive.”
“And whoever sent that knows you’ll think exactly that.”
“You don’t know it’s a trap.”
“I know enough.”
“You don’t get to lock me inside your house.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“It sounds remarkably similar.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“If Daniel Mercer is alive, we find him intelligently.”
“He’s my father.”
“And Sophie is your daughter.”
That stopped her.
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Think like her mother before you think like his daughter.”
Lena hated him for being right.
They left Sophie with Marcus’s wife, Julia, who arrived an hour later.
Sophie objected.
“I want to come.”
“No,” Lena and Ethan said simultaneously.
Sophie crossed her arms.
“You sound alike.”
Neither adult responded.
Julia smiled.
“I have pancake mix.”
Sophie immediately became less resistant.
Ethan crouched beside her.
“I’ll be back.”
Sophie looked at him.
“You promise?”
The question hit him harder than Lena expected.
“I promise.”
“People shouldn’t promise if they don’t know.”
Ethan blinked.
Lena had taught Sophie that.
He nodded.
“You’re right. Then I’ll say this: I’m going to do everything I can to come back.”
Sophie considered him.
“Okay.”
Then she surprised everyone by hugging him.
Ethan froze.
His hands remained suspended for one heartbeat.
Then he gently wrapped his arms around her.
Lena looked away.
The motel sat beside an old highway west of Chicago.
Ethan refused to let Lena enter alone.
They compromised.
She went inside.
He remained twenty feet behind.
Room 18.
Lena knocked.
Nothing.
She knocked again.
“Dad?”
Silence.
Her heart pounded.
“Daniel?”
The door opened.
An elderly man stood inside.
For one terrible second, Lena did not recognize him.
Then he smiled.
The room tilted.
“Lena.”
She covered her mouth.
His hair was almost white.
His face thinner.
A scar crossed one cheek.
But it was him.
“Dad?”
He reached toward her.
She stepped back.
His hand fell.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead for eleven years.”
“I know.”
Lena struck him.
The sound cracked through the small room.
Daniel did not defend himself.
“Lena,” Ethan warned quietly from behind her.
Daniel looked past her.
“Ethan Caldwell.”
Ethan stepped inside.
“You know me.”
“I’ve known you since you were sixteen.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Explain.”
Daniel locked the door.
“Victor believes I’m dead.”
“Apparently he’s bad at that.”
“He stopped looking years ago.”
Lena stared at her father.
“Why did you leave me?”
Daniel looked at her.
“To keep you alive.”
“That sentence does not fix eleven years.”
“No.”
“Then don’t say it like it should.”
His eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
Lena had imagined hearing those words from the dead.
They gave her no comfort.
Daniel sat.
“Margaret Caldwell hired me twenty-nine years ago.”
“To investigate Victor?”
“No.”
He looked at Ethan.
“To investigate Ethan’s father.”
Ethan remained silent.
“Richard Caldwell had built an organization that reached into unions, construction, city contracts. Margaret discovered he was moving deeper into things she couldn’t tolerate.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“What does that have to do with Lena?”
Daniel looked down.
“Margaret and I became close.”
Lena stopped breathing.
Ethan stared at him.
Daniel continued.
“Too close.”
“No,” Lena whispered.
Daniel looked at her.
“Thomas Hart was not your biological father.”
Her knees weakened.
“He raised you. Loved you. He was your father in every way that mattered.”
“Then who—”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I am.”
Lena stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“But you were Thomas.”
“No. Thomas Hart was my closest friend. When Victor discovered Margaret and I were working together, Thomas helped us disappear from his surveillance.”
Lena shook her head.
“Margaret?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with grief.
“She was your mother.”
Silence.
Ethan stepped backward as though someone had struck him.
Lena looked from Daniel to Ethan.
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“You and Ethan are not blood relatives.”
“How?”
“Margaret had Ethan before I met her. Richard Caldwell was Ethan’s father. Years later, Margaret and I had you.”
Lena covered her mouth.
Ethan stared at Daniel.
“My mother had another child.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody told me.”
“Victor knew.”
Lena felt sick.
“Why would Victor care about Sophie?”
Daniel stood.
“Because Margaret created a trust.”
Ethan frowned.
“What trust?”
“She knew the family business might destroy itself. She placed legitimate Caldwell assets into a protected structure.”
“How much?”
“Hundreds of millions.”
Lena stared.
Daniel continued.
“The trust passes through Margaret’s descendants.”
Ethan’s face changed.
“Me.”
“And Lena.”
Lena shook her head.
“I don’t want money.”
“This isn’t about wanting it.”
Daniel looked at Sophie’s photograph Lena carried in her wallet.
“If one branch dies or disappears, control shifts.”
Ethan understood first.
“Victor wanted Lena gone.”
Daniel nodded.
“And now Sophie.”
Lena went cold.
“He can’t touch her.”
“He already has.”
“What?”
Daniel opened a drawer.
Inside were photographs.
Sophie leaving school.
Sophie at the park.
Sophie asleep in the back seat of Lena’s car.
Lena nearly vomited.
“These were sent to me over the past year.”
“By Victor?”
“I believe so.”
Ethan picked up one photograph.
His entire body changed.
Cold.
Controlled.
Terrifying.
“He was close enough to photograph her sleeping.”
Daniel nodded.
“He wants the trust before his financial crimes are exposed.”
“What crimes?”
Daniel handed Ethan a flash drive.
“Everything Margaret and I collected.”
Ethan took it.
“Why come back now?”
“Because Victor knows Lena is in Chicago.”
“He’s known for years.”
“Not like this.”
Daniel looked at Lena.
“He knows Ethan found you.”
A car door slammed outside.
Daniel’s face changed.
“Did anyone follow you?”
Ethan walked toward the window.
“No.”
Another vehicle arrived.
Then another.
Daniel killed the lamp.
“Victor.”
Lena’s pulse jumped.
Ethan checked the hallway through the curtain.
“No. Police.”
Daniel looked frightened.
“Worse.”
“Why?”
“Victor controls the detective leading Margaret’s old case.”
A knock hit the door.
“Chicago Police.”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
Daniel whispered, “If they find me, Victor knows everything.”
Another knock.
“Open the door.”
Lena backed toward the bathroom.
Ethan stepped beside her.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message from Julia.
He opened it.
His face went white.
Lena grabbed his wrist.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward her.
A photograph showed the front door of Ethan’s house standing open.
May you like
Julia’s message contained four words.
SOPHIE IS NOT HERE.
