Chapter 4 - The Person Inside My House
The message remained on my phone screen.
"You should have stayed in Chicago."
I read it again.
Then again.
The words were simple.
But they carried something worse than a threat.
They carried certainty.
Whoever sent that message knew my plan.
They knew I had canceled the flight.
They knew I was not supposed to be there.
And most importantly...
They knew exactly where I was.
My hand tightened around the phone.
"Daniel."
Ethan's voice pulled me back.
I looked at him.
"How long?"
He understood what I meant.
"How long have they been watching me?"
He didn't answer.
That was the answer.
I turned toward Wendy.
She looked like she wanted to speak.
But for the first time since I had known her, she seemed afraid of saying the wrong thing.
"You knew someone was watching us."
It wasn't a question.
Wendy looked down.
"I suspected."
I laughed quietly.
A painful laugh.
"You suspected?"
I stepped closer.
"My daughter was manipulated. My wife disappeared. A man who was declared dead is standing in front of me. Someone broke into my bedroom."
My voice became louder.
"And you suspected?"
Wendy's eyes filled with tears.
"I was trying to keep Fiona safe."
I shook my head.
"No."
I pointed toward the phone.
"You were trying to keep a secret safe."
Silence filled the room.
Fiona sat in the chair, watching all of us.
She looked small.
Too small for everything happening around her.
I immediately softened.
I walked toward her and knelt down.
"Fiona."
She looked at me.
"I'm sorry you had to be part of this."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I didn't want to take it, Daddy."
"I know."
"Grandma said Mommy would disappear."
I felt anger rise again.
But I controlled it.
Because Fiona didn't need to see me angry.
She needed to see me stable.
"You did the right thing by telling me."
She nodded.
Then she whispered:
"Is Mommy really alive?"
The question hit harder than anything else.
I looked at Ethan.
Then at the screen.
Then back at my daughter.
"I don't know."
It was the hardest truth I had ever spoken.
"I want to believe she is."
Fiona wiped her face.
"I remember her voice."
My throat tightened.
"So do I."
For eight years, I had trained myself not to think about Jessi's voice.
Because remembering hurt.
Now hearing it again made all the pain return at once.
But mixed with something else.
Hope.
And hope was dangerous.
Because hope gave you something to lose again.
Ethan walked toward the computer.
"We can't stay here."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because whoever sent that message knows you found me."
He looked at the monitors.
"And they know Fiona is here."
That was enough.
I picked up my daughter.
"We leave now."
Wendy stepped forward.
"Daniel, wait."
I stopped.
"What?"
Her face was full of guilt.
"There is something you need to know before we go."
I stared at her.
Another secret.
Another hidden truth.
I almost didn't want to hear it.
But I needed to.
"Tell me."
Wendy took a deep breath.
"The night Ethan disappeared..."
She looked at him.
"He wasn't supposed to disappear."
Ethan looked away.
Wendy continued.
"Jessi found documents that connected someone close to your company to illegal financial activity."
I frowned.
"Someone close to my company?"
Wendy nodded.
"Someone who had access to everything."
A thought entered my mind.
Someone who knew my schedules.
Someone who knew my business.
Someone who knew my house.
Someone who knew my family.
"Who?"
Wendy hesitated.
That hesitation made my stomach drop.
Because I already knew it was someone important.
"Daniel..."
She whispered.
"The person helping you build your company..."
She stopped.
Then said:
"It was your closest friend."
I froze.
My closest friend.
The name appeared in my mind immediately.
Someone who had stood beside me during every difficult moment.
Someone who had helped me after Jessi disappeared.
Someone who had comforted me when I thought my marriage was over.
"No."
The word came out automatically.
Wendy looked at me sadly.
"I wish I was wrong."
Ethan opened another file on the computer.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Jessi.
Ethan.
And another man.
Standing together.
I stepped closer.
The blood drained from my face.
Because I recognized him.
The man in the picture was not a stranger.
He was someone who had been sitting at my dinner table.
Someone who had watched Fiona grow up.
Someone who had called himself family.
"Mark..."
I whispered.
My best friend.
My business partner.
The man who had been the first person to arrive after Jessi's disappearance.
The man who told me:
"Daniel, you need to accept that she's gone."
My hands started shaking.
Because suddenly every memory felt different.
Every conversation.
Every comforting word.
Every moment he had been there.
I saw it differently.
"Why would he do this?"
Ethan looked at me.
"Because Jessi found out something."
"What?"
He opened another document.
"The first investment that saved your company wasn't random."
I stared at the screen.
"What are you saying?"
Ethan turned the monitor toward me.
The document showed a financial transfer.
A company name.
A hidden account.
And one signature.
Mark's.
My chest tightened.
"No..."
Ethan looked serious.
"He wasn't helping you build your company."
The room became silent.
"He was building control over it."
I stepped back.
Everything I believed about my life was changing.
My success.
My struggles.
My losses.
All connected to someone I trusted.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone looked at me.
I answered.
No one spoke.
At first, there was only silence.
Then breathing.
A woman's breathing.
My heart stopped.
Because I knew that breathing.
I knew that silence.
"Jessi?"
Nothing.
Then a whisper.
"Daniel..."
My entire body froze.
I couldn't speak.
Fiona stood up.
"Daddy?"
I held the phone tighter.
"Jessi?"
A pause.
Then her voice came again.
Weak.
Afraid.
But real.
"You found Ethan."
My eyes closed.
Eight years.
Eight years of believing I would never hear that voice again.
"Where are you?"
Another pause.
Then she whispered:
"I don't have much time."
My heart raced.
"Tell me where you are."
"I need you to listen carefully."
Her voice became urgent.
"Do not trust anyone who comes to you after this call."
I looked around the room.
At Wendy.
At Ethan.
At the phone.
"What are you talking about?"
A sound came from her side.
A door opening.
Jessi became quiet.
"Daniel..."
"Jessi?"
Her breathing changed.
Someone was near her.
Someone else was there.
Then she whispered the words that made my blood run cold.
"He's already there."
The call suddenly ended.
I stared at the screen.
Then my phone received another message.
A picture.
My hands went cold.
Because the photo showed Jessi.
Alive.
Standing inside a room.
May you like
And behind her...
was the person holding the camera.
