Chapter 4 - The Friend at My Table
"Sarah, Arthur can never know the baby wasn't alone."
Daniel's recorded voice filled the room.
Arthur stared at the phone.
Nick said nothing.
Daniel's face lost all color.
Arthur replayed the sentence.
Again.
"Sarah, Arthur can never know the baby wasn't alone."
Arthur looked at his brother.
"What baby?"
Daniel lowered his gun.
"Arthur—"
"What baby?"
"Leo."
"There was another child?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Arthur felt the walls narrowing.
"Mine?"
"Yes."
Arthur moved toward him.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"Sarah gave birth to twins."
Arthur's body went rigid.
One word.
Twins.
Every memory of that night returned broken and incomplete.
Sarah had gone into labor early.
Arthur had been two hours away.
Nick drove him to the hospital.
By the time Arthur arrived, Leo was in neonatal care.
Sarah was exhausted.
Doctors spoke about complications.
Blood loss.
Emergency surgery.
Arthur remembered asking whether the baby was okay.
The doctor said, "Your son is stable."
Son.
Singular.
Arthur stared at Daniel.
"Where is my other child?"
"I never saw the baby after that night."
"Boy or girl?"
Daniel looked at him.
"A girl."
Arthur stepped backward.
A daughter.
For five years, Arthur had had a daughter.
Somewhere.
Alive?
Dead?
He didn't know.
Nick spoke quietly.
"Her name was Lily."
Arthur turned toward him.
"How do you know?"
Nick looked at Daniel.
"Because I was there."
Arthur raised the gun.
"Start talking."
Nick leaned against the desk.
"Sarah discovered late in the pregnancy that someone had accessed her medical records."
"Who?"
"At first, we thought it was one of your enemies."
"And?"
"It wasn't."
"Nick."
Nick looked at him.
"Your father."
Arthur went silent.
Patrick Callahan had died six years ago.
Cancer.
A hard man.
A cruel father.
A ruthless leader.
Arthur had inherited the organization after his death.
Daniel's face hardened.
"Don't turn this into another lie."
Nick ignored him.
"Patrick believed twins would create a succession problem."
Arthur stared in disbelief.
"Succession?"
"Your father was old-world. Sick. Paranoid."
"So he wanted one child?"
"He wanted one heir."
Arthur's voice turned dangerous.
"He ordered someone to take my daughter?"
Nick nodded.
"Sarah found out."
"How?"
"She caught a nurse trying to move the baby."
Arthur's gun trembled.
"And Daniel?"
Daniel answered.
"Sarah called me."
"Why not me?"
"Because you were with Dad."
Arthur remembered.
He had stopped at Patrick's home on the way to the hospital.
His father insisted they toast the Callahan heir.
Arthur suddenly felt sick.
Sarah had known.
His wife had been protecting their newborn daughter while Arthur drank whiskey with the man threatening her.
Daniel continued.
"We moved Lily."
"Where?"
"Sarah arranged it."
"With whom?"
"Someone outside the family."
Arthur grabbed his brother.
"WHERE?"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
Daniel shoved him back.
"That was the point!"
Arthur stood breathing hard.
Nick said, "Sarah told me later."
Arthur looked at him.
"You knew for five years?"
"Yes."
"And you said nothing."
"She made me promise."
Arthur laughed.
"Interesting. Everyone seems very loyal to Sarah now that she's dead."
Nick's expression tightened.
"I loved her."
The room changed.
Arthur stared at him.
Daniel looked away.
Arthur stepped toward Nick.
"What did you say?"
Nick met his eyes.
"I loved her."
Arthur hit him.
Nick crashed into a chair.
Daniel stepped between them.
"Arthur!"
Arthur shoved him aside.
Nick wiped blood from his mouth.
"I never touched her."
"That supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
"You loved my wife."
"Yes."
"And she trusted you with my daughter."
"At first."
Arthur paused.
"At first?"
Nick stood slowly.
"Then she discovered what I was doing through Callahan Freight."
Arthur's expression hardened.
"So we're back to you being a traitor."
Nick laughed bitterly.
"I did things you wouldn't approve of."
"You used my company."
"To move people your father would've killed."
Elena had said some disappeared voluntarily.
Others didn't.
Arthur remembered.
"What about the forced disappearances?"
Nick's face changed.
"Not mine."
"Convenient."
"Someone took over part of the network."
"Who?"
"I've spent six years trying to find out."
Daniel laughed once.
"You're lying."
Nick looked at him.
"You disappeared, Daniel. I thought you were dead until three years ago."
Arthur turned.
"Three years?"
Daniel stared at Nick.
Nick continued.
"I saw footage of you at a train station in Montreal."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"You never told Arthur."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I thought you were behind the network."
Arthur rubbed his face.
Three people.
Three versions.
Sarah had trusted all of them at different points.
Then stopped trusting all of them.
Arthur picked up her letter.
He continued reading.
Arthur, Lily is alive.
His knees almost failed.
Alive.
He read again.
Lily is alive.
He held the paper tighter.
I cannot tell you where. Not because I don't trust you, but because your father created a system that survived him. Someone inside our family kept it alive.
Arthur looked at Nick.
Then Daniel.
The letter continued.
Daniel believes Nick betrayed us.
Nick believes Daniel did.
Neither knows the whole truth.
I made sure of that.
Arthur stopped.
Sarah had divided information intentionally.
She had created suspicion.
Why?
He read.
If one of them is compromised, Leo and Lily still have a chance.
Arthur looked toward the flash drive.
The pendant key.
He inserted the tiny chip from Elena's pendant into the side of the drive.
A light blinked.
Encrypted folders appeared.
Photographs.
Accounts.
Names.
Arthur scrolled.
Then stopped.
A folder marked LILY.
Inside was one picture.
A little girl.
Dark hair.
Blue eyes.
Around five years old.
Arthur sat down.
His daughter.
He touched the screen.
The girl was smiling at someone outside the frame.
Sarah's smile.
Arthur couldn't breathe.
"When was this taken?"
Daniel looked.
"I don't know."
Metadata.
Three months earlier.
Arthur looked at him.
"She's alive."
Daniel's eyes filled.
Nick stepped closer but kept distance.
Arthur opened another file.
A school registration document.
Name redacted.
Location hidden.
Then a video.
Sarah appeared.
Older than the hospital footage.
Recorded two weeks before her death.
"Arthur, if you find this, then I didn't make it."
Arthur's face changed.
Sarah continued.
"Lily is safe. Leo is not."
Arthur leaned closer.
"The danger is someone who has been sitting at our table for years."
Nick looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked at Nick.
Sarah continued.
"He knows about both children."
Arthur's heart pounded.
"He knows about Daniel."
Nick's expression changed.
"He knows about Nick's network."
Daniel lowered his gun slightly.
"And he knows exactly what Arthur will do when he learns the truth."
Sarah leaned closer.
"So I need you to do something you will hate."
A pause.
"Trust Elena."
Arthur looked toward the empty doorway.
Elena wasn't there.
She was back with Leo.
Sarah continued.
"She has no loyalty to the Callahan name. That's why I chose her."
Arthur almost smiled.
That sounded like Sarah.
Then the screen flickered.
The rest of the video corrupted.
Arthur slammed his fist against the desk.
"No."
Nick moved closer.
"Can it be recovered?"
Arthur looked at him.
"You don't get to help."
"Arthur—"
"You knew I had a daughter."
"I knew Sarah moved her."
"You let me mourn one child while raising another."
"I was trying to protect both."
"From me?"
"From Patrick."
"He's dead."
Nick's face darkened.
"His system isn't."
Daniel walked toward the window.
"Who controlled it after Patrick?"
Nick shook his head.
"I don't know."
Arthur looked again at the photograph.
Lily.
Alive.
The world had changed.
Nothing mattered now except finding her and keeping Leo safe.
Arthur's phone rang.
Elena.
He answered immediately.
"Leo?"
"Safe."
Her voice was tense.
"Where are you?"
"At the gym."
"Stay there."
"Arthur, someone came."
His blood went cold.
"Who?"
"They didn't enter."
"Then what happened?"
"A package was left outside."
Arthur stood.
"Don't touch it."
"Too late."
"Elena."
"It's not a bomb."
"How do you know?"
"Because it's for you."
Arthur looked at Daniel.
"What is it?"
"A children's music box."
He froze.
Sarah had bought identical music boxes when she was pregnant.
One blue.
One white.
The blue one sat in Leo's nursery.
The white one had disappeared after the birth.
Arthur whispered, "What color?"
"White."
No one spoke.
Elena continued.
"There's a note."
"Read it."
She hesitated.
"Elena."
Her voice became quieter.
"It says, 'He finally knows about Lily.'"
Arthur gripped the phone.
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"There's blood on the bottom."
Arthur closed his eyes.
Then Elena said the words that made every man in Sarah's room go still.
"Arthur, there's someone inside the music box."
He stared ahead.
"What do you mean?"
"A photograph."
"Of who?"
Elena stopped breathing for a second.
Then whispered:
"Your daughter."
Arthur's heart slammed against his chest.
"And it was taken tonight."
A second sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
Elena abruptly whispered:
"Leo, get behind me."
The call went silent.
Then a man's voice came through Arthur's phone.
"Hello, Mr. Callahan."
May you like
Arthur knew that voice.
And this time, the person speaking wasn't supposed to be alive either.
