Chapter 4 - The Secret Daniel Tried To Bury
The message remained on my screen.
“Ask Daniel why he helped bury the truth about Lily.”
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
Not me.
Not Daniel.
Not even Ranger.
The storage room felt smaller.
Like the walls were closing around us.
I looked at Daniel.
His face had changed.
The confidence was gone.
The calm expression disappeared.
That scared me more than anything.
Because a man who had been hiding something had just been exposed.
And he knew it.
I lowered my phone slowly.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked away.
“Ethan…”
“No.”
My voice became harder.
“You don’t get to say my name like you know me.”
I stepped closer.
“You walked into my life.”
“You watched my house.”
“You had a picture of my daughter.”
“You knew my dog.”
“And now someone sends me a message saying you buried the truth about Lily.”
I pointed at him.
“Start explaining.”
Daniel stayed silent.
That silence was an answer.
I grabbed his jacket.
“Where is my daughter?”
He looked at Ranger.
Then back at me.
“She’s alive.”
Those two words almost knocked the air out of me.
Alive.
I had imagined every terrible possibility.
But hearing those words from a stranger made my anger mix with something else.
Hope.
“Where is she?”
“I can’t tell you yet.”
My anger returned instantly.
“You can’t tell me?”
“My daughter is gone.”
“My wife took her.”
“And you’re standing here telling me you know where she is?”
Daniel looked serious.
“Because if you go to her now, you will lead them straight to her.”
I froze.
“Who?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
He looked toward the broken camera on the shelf.
“They’re watching.”
I looked around.
The abandoned storage room suddenly felt different.
Not empty.
Observed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to understand that your wife wasn’t running from you.”
He took a breath.
“She was running from the people who have been watching your family for years.”
I stared at him.
Years.
That word stayed in my head.
“What people?”
Daniel looked at the photograph in my hand.
The one showing Marissa with him.
“You need to know what happened before you came home.”
I didn’t lower my weapon.
“Talk.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Eight months ago, Marissa found something.”
“What?”
“Something connected to your last deployment.”
My eyes narrowed.
“My deployment?”
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“She didn’t tell you because she was trying to protect you.”
“My wife left with my daughter.”
“She emptied our safe.”
“She told me not to involve the police.”
Daniel’s voice became quiet.
“Because she knew the police wouldn’t help.”
I stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
He looked at the phone in my hand.
“The message you received?”
“Yes.”
“It didn’t come from a random person.”
“Who sent it?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then said:
“Someone who knew your family better than anyone.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Before Daniel could answer, the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then died.
The room went completely dark.
Ranger immediately moved.
I heard his growl.
Daniel whispered:
“Get down.”
I didn’t ask why.
I trusted Ranger.
I dropped behind the nearest shelf.
A second later—
Glass shattered.
A bullet hit the wall.
Someone was outside.
I grabbed Daniel and pulled him down.
“You brought someone here?”
“No.”
Another shot.
The sound echoed through the building.
Ranger stayed low.
Waiting.
Listening.
I looked toward the entrance.
A shadow moved.
Someone was coming inside.
Daniel whispered:
“There’s another exit.”
“Where?”
“Behind the shelves.”
I didn’t move.
“Why should I trust you?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because whoever is out there doesn’t want you alive.”
Another bullet struck the metal shelf.
That was enough.
We moved.
Daniel pushed aside the shelves.
A hidden door appeared behind them.
I stared.
“How many secrets does this place have?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
We escaped through the back passage.
Ranger led.
We reached the outside.
Cold air hit my face.
I turned back.
The storage building looked empty again.
Like nothing happened.
But I knew better.
Someone had tried to kill me.
Someone was protecting a secret.
And that secret involved my daughter.
Daniel stopped near his vehicle.
I kept my weapon raised.
“You’re going to tell me everything.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
“Now.”
“Not here.”
I stepped closer.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Daniel looked past me.
At the road.
Then he said:
“Because they already know you found me.”
My phone vibrated.
I looked down.
Another unknown message.
This time there was a picture.
A live picture.
Taken from far away.
It showed me standing beside Daniel outside the storage facility.
But the person who took it wasn’t hiding.
The camera angle was clear.
They wanted me to know they were there.
I zoomed in.
A figure stood beside a black SUV.
Watching.
I recognized the vehicle.
My heart stopped.
Because I had seen that SUV before.
At my house.
The day I came home.
Daniel looked at my face.
“You know who that is.”
I didn’t answer.
Because I did.
I knew the car.
But I didn’t know why the person inside it had been following my family.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Ethan, there’s something you need to understand.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He swallowed.
“The person who took Lily…”
He paused.
“It wasn’t Marissa.”
My phone vibrated again.
A new message appeared.
One sentence.
One name.
May you like
And the name was the last person I expected to see.
“Ask your wife’s mother why she wanted Lily gone.”
