Chapter 4 - The Secret Behind the Locked Door
Paige Bennett stood frozen inside the elevator.
Her hand remained pressed against the phone.
Her mother's voice was gone.
The call had ended.
But the final sentence remained inside her mind.
"He was the reason Patrick had to hide my daughter..."
For several seconds, Paige could not move.
The elevator doors slowly began closing.
She reached out and stopped them.
Her thoughts were moving too quickly.
Arthur Gallagher.
Patrick Doyle.
Emily Doyle.
Her mother.
A hidden daughter.
And now a sentence that made no sense.
Because if Patrick had a daughter...
And Emily Doyle was that daughter...
Then who was her mother talking about?
Paige stepped out of the elevator.
She walked back toward Arthur's office.
She needed answers.
Not rumors.
Not hidden messages.
Not half-truths.
Answers.
When she entered the executive floor, she noticed something immediately.
Nobody was there.
Usually, security guards stood near Arthur's office.
Usually, employees lowered their voices when they walked past.
But now the entire floor felt abandoned.
Like everyone had been told to disappear.
Paige approached Arthur's office.
The door was slightly open.
She pushed it.
Inside, Arthur stood alone.
No Leo.
No security.
Just him.
And the photograph of Patrick and Emily sitting on his desk.
Arthur did not look surprised to see her.
"You heard something."
It was not a question.
Paige closed the door behind her.
"My mother called me."
Arthur's expression changed slightly.
"What did she say?"
Paige looked at him.
"She told me not to trust you."
Arthur remained silent.
Then:
"Anything else?"
Paige hesitated.
She didn't know why.
Maybe because the sentence sounded impossible.
Maybe because saying it aloud would make it real.
Finally, she spoke.
"She said you were the reason Patrick had to hide his daughter."
Arthur's face became completely still.
Too still.
Paige had learned something about him.
His anger was obvious.
His fear was hidden.
And right now, she saw fear.
"Arthur?"
He walked toward the window.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he spoke quietly.
"Patrick had a daughter."
Paige waited.
"I didn't know."
"Why?"
Arthur turned.
"Because Patrick made sure nobody knew."
Paige crossed her arms.
"And you believed everything he told you?"
Arthur looked at her.
The question hit harder than she expected.
Because there was guilt behind his eyes.
Not anger.
Guilt.
"Patrick was the only person I trusted."
Paige softened slightly.
"What happened between you two?"
Arthur looked back at the city.
"The night he betrayed me, he told me something."
"What?"
Arthur's jaw tightened.
"He said I had been protecting the wrong person."
Paige frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
The answer surprised her.
Arthur Gallagher admitting he did not know something felt impossible.
But he continued.
"Before he died, Patrick tried to explain."
"Why didn't he?"
Arthur looked down.
"Because someone shot him before he could."
Silence filled the room.
Paige looked at the photograph.
"Maybe Patrick wasn't trying to hurt you."
Arthur gave a cold laugh.
"You don't know him."
"No."
Paige looked at him.
"But you don't either."
That sentence landed.
Arthur stared at her.
Because somewhere deep down, he knew she was right.
He knew Patrick.
But maybe he only knew the version Patrick allowed him to see.
A knock interrupted them.
Leo entered.
His expression was serious.
"We found Emily."
Arthur immediately turned.
"Where?"
"She left the building twenty minutes ago."
"Follow her."
"We did."
Leo placed a file on the desk.
"She went somewhere unexpected."
Arthur opened the file.
Inside were photographs.
An old neighborhood.
A small house.
And a woman standing outside.
Paige looked at the picture.
Her heart stopped.
Because she recognized the woman.
"That's my mother."
Arthur looked at her.
"What?"
Paige picked up the photograph.
The image showed Margaret Bennett.
Years younger.
Standing beside Patrick Doyle.
And between them...
A little girl.
Arthur stared.
The room went silent.
Because the child was not Emily.
Leo slowly spoke.
"Arthur..."
Arthur looked at the picture.
"Who is the girl?"
Nobody answered.
Paige felt something inside her break.
Because she knew.
She knew before anyone said it.
The child in the photograph had her eyes.
Her hair.
Her face.
It was impossible.
But impossible had become normal in Arthur Gallagher's world.
"That's me."
The words left her mouth quietly.
Arthur looked at her.
"What?"
Paige's hands shook.
"That's me."
Leo looked between them.
"Paige..."
She couldn't hear him.
Her entire life suddenly felt like a story someone else had written.
Her mother's illness.
The missing memories.
The strange warnings.
Patrick Doyle.
Arthur Gallagher.
All connected.
But why?
Arthur stepped closer.
Not too close.
Never too close.
But closer than he had ever stood.
"Are you sure?"
Paige looked at him.
"I know my own face."
Arthur looked back at the photograph.
A child.
Patrick.
Margaret.
And now Paige.
The person he thought was a stranger.
The woman who had walked into his office and fixed his tie.
The woman who somehow connected every secret buried in his past.
Leo picked up another document.
"There is more."
Arthur looked at him.
"What?"
Leo opened the folder.
"We checked Paige's background."
Paige immediately looked at him.
"My background?"
Leo nodded.
"Something doesn't add up."
Arthur's eyes hardened.
"Explain."
Leo placed the document down.
"Paige Bennett's birth records were changed."
The room became silent.
Paige stared.
"What?"
"Your original birth certificate was replaced twelve years ago."
Arthur looked at Leo.
"Who changed it?"
Leo hesitated.
Then answered.
"Patrick Doyle."
Paige felt the floor disappear beneath her.
"No."
Leo continued.
"There is more."
Arthur looked at him.
"Say it."
Leo looked at Paige.
"Your legal name wasn't always Paige Bennett."
The silence became unbearable.
Paige shook her head.
"Stop."
But Leo continued.
"Before the records were changed..."
He placed another document on the desk.
"...you were registered as Patrick Doyle's daughter."
Arthur looked at Paige.
For the first time in years, he had no idea who was standing in front of him.
The woman he thought was a stranger.
The assistant who crossed his three-foot rule.
The person who touched him when everyone else was afraid.
She was connected to the one betrayal that destroyed him.
Paige backed away.
"No."
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"My mother would have told me."
Arthur watched her.
And something inside him changed.
Because suddenly, he understood something terrifying.
Patrick had not hidden his daughter from him.
Patrick had hidden her from everyone.
Including Paige herself.
The office lights flickered.
Then Paige's phone buzzed.
One new message.
She looked down.
Unknown number.
A single sentence.
YOU FINALLY KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
Another message appeared.
A photo.
Paige opened it.
Her breath stopped.
It was a picture taken moments earlier.
Inside Arthur's office.
Showing Paige, Arthur, and Leo standing together.
Someone had been watching them.
From inside the building.
Then the final message arrived.
TURN AROUND.
Paige slowly lifted her eyes.
Arthur noticed her expression.
"Paige?"
She didn't answer.
Because behind Arthur's desk...
May you like
The locked door to his private archive was slowly opening.
And someone inside whispered her real name...
