Chapter 4 - The Friend Who Had Been Taking the Money
Nathan did not run.
That made it worse.
He entered Sarah’s hospital room and closed the door behind him.
Lily remained outside with a nurse.
Daniel held the phone in one hand.
Sarah stared at Nathan.
“Tell me she’s wrong.”
Nathan looked at Rachel's name on the screen.
Then at Sarah.
“She’s not.”
The silence that followed felt heavier than shouting.
Sarah whispered, “You took money meant for Lily?”
Nathan pulled a chair closer but did not sit.
“It wasn't that simple.”
Daniel stood.
“It usually becomes simple when someone steals two million dollars from a child.”
“Daniel.”
“No, Sarah.”
Nathan held up a hand.
“Let me explain.”
“You have thirty seconds.”
Nathan ignored Daniel.
“Sarah, when Lily was six months old, an anonymous trust appeared.”
“You told me nothing.”
“I thought it was Victor.”
“So you stole it?”
“I moved it.”
“Where?”
Nathan looked at Daniel.
“Somewhere Victor couldn’t reach it.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Nathan reached into his coat and removed a flash drive.
“Every dollar is accounted for.”
Sarah stared at it.
“You lied to me for seven years.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me choose between rent and medication.”
Nathan flinched.
“I couldn't let you use money that would reveal where you were.”
“You let Lily sing in the rain!”
“I didn't know she was doing that.”
Sarah’s voice broke.
“You knew we were broke.”
Nathan lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You better have a very good reason.”
Nathan finally looked at him.
“If Sarah suddenly began paying hospital bills with money from a Whitmore trust, Victor would trace her within hours.”
“He found her anyway.”
“Because the video went viral.”
Daniel understood.
Lily’s face had been broadcast everywhere.
Sarah whispered, “Where is the money?”
Nathan looked at the flash drive.
“Eleven accounts. Different names. Different states.”
“How much?”
“Two point one million.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
Daniel stared at Nathan.
“You could have told her.”
“I promised her years ago that if anyone connected to your family tried to reach Lily, I would block it.”
Sarah opened her eyes.
“I meant Victor.”
“You didn't know who to trust.”
“I trusted you.”
Nathan looked hurt.
“That’s why I did it.”
“No. That's why it hurts.”
Daniel sat slowly.
“What else are you hiding?”
Nathan did not answer.
Daniel noticed.
“There’s more.”
Sarah did too.
“Nathan.”
He took a breath.
“The birth certificate.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Victor said there was a reason my name wasn't on it.”
Sarah looked away.
“I left it blank.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
Sarah stared.
“What?”
Nathan reached into his case.
“I thought you knew.”
He produced a certified copy.
Sarah took it.
Her eyes moved down the page.
She gasped.
Father: MICHAEL PARKER.
Sarah looked at Nathan.
“Who is Michael Parker?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel snatched the certificate.
“Someone altered this.”
Nathan nodded.
“The original application had the father blank.”
“When?”
“Within forty-eight hours of filing.”
Sarah whispered, “Victor.”
“Maybe.”
Daniel read the document again.
Michael Parker.
A nonexistent man using Sarah’s middle name as a surname.
Someone had manufactured a father for Lily.
Daniel called Rachel.
“Find Michael Parker.”
“I already started.”
“Everything.”
“I’ll call.”
Sarah stared at Nathan.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I discovered it three years ago.”
“Three years?”
“I was afraid correcting it would trigger review.”
Sarah laughed through tears.
“You keep protecting me by lying.”
Nathan sat.
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
A nurse entered.
“Ms. Parker needs rest.”
Daniel almost objected.
Sarah pointed at the door.
“All of you.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Sarah.”
“Out.”
Nathan left first.
Daniel followed.
Lily sat in the hallway with crayons spread across a table.
She held up a drawing.
“Mama and me.”
Daniel saw two stick figures.
One in a wheelchair.
One under a giant yellow sun.
There was a third figure far away.
“Who's that?”
Lily shrugged.
“Nobody yet.”
Daniel's throat tightened.
He sat beside her.
“You hungry?”
“A little.”
“What do you like?”
“Chicken nuggets.”
“I can get those.”
“Hospital ones taste weird.”
Daniel took out his phone.
“What kind?”
“The dinosaur ones.”
Daniel called his assistant.
“I need dinosaur chicken nuggets.”
A pause.
“Sir?”
“You heard me.”
Lily smiled for the first time.
It changed her whole face.
Daniel stared.
“You’re staring again.”
“Sorry.”
She colored.
“Do you have kids?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Maybe.”
Lily stopped.
He winced.
“Bad answer.”
“Very bad.”
He nodded.
“I'm learning.”
“Are you married?”
“No.”
“Girlfriend?”
Daniel laughed.
“You ask difficult questions.”
“Mama says that too.”
“No girlfriend.”
“Do you live alone?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds boring.”
“It is.”
Lily considered him.
“If you’re my dad, do I have to live with you?”
The question hit him unexpectedly.
“No one is taking you away from your mother.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“That's a better promise.”
Daniel nodded.
“It is.”
The food arrived twenty minutes later.
Far too much food.
Lily stared at six bags.
“I said nuggets.”
“My assistant panicked.”
She laughed.
Daniel gave bags to nurses and families in the waiting room.
Lily watched.
“You helped sick people.”
He looked back at her.
“You told me I should.”
“I didn't think you listened.”
“I’m trying.”
The door opened.
Sarah’s doctor emerged.
“She’s sleeping.”
Lily climbed down.
“Can I sit with her?”
“Yes.”
Lily entered quietly.
Daniel stood alone in the hallway.
Nathan approached.
“You hate me.”
“I don't know you well enough.”
“You should.”
Daniel leaned against the wall.
“Why did you help Sarah?”
Nathan sighed.
“I loved her.”
Daniel stiffened.
Nathan smiled tiredly.
“Not the way you're thinking.”
“You don't know what I’m thinking.”
“I do.”
Nathan looked through the glass.
“She was my best friend.”
Daniel watched Sarah sleeping.
“You delivered Lily?”
“I was there.”
“Why?”
“Sarah went into labor early. She had nobody else.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
He had been in New York that night closing an acquisition.
Drinking champagne.
He had missed the birth of his child.
Not knowingly.
But grief did not care about technicalities.
Nathan continued.
“She almost died.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What?”
“Postpartum hemorrhage.”
Daniel stared through the window.
“Why didn't you call me?”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“We believed you were the reason she was hiding.”
Daniel looked away.
“I would have come.”
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“Because I’ve watched you look at Lily for four hours.”
Daniel swallowed.
His phone rang.
Rachel.
He answered.
“Tell me.”
“I found Michael Parker.”
“He exists?”
“Sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“The Social Security number belongs to a man named Michael Andrew Parker.”
Daniel waited.
“He died eleven years before Lily was born.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then how—”
“His identity was used.”
“By Victor?”
“I don't know.”
“Rachel.”
“There’s something else.”
Daniel stepped away from Nathan.
“What?”
“The dead Michael Parker was an employee.”
“Of Whitmore?”
“No.”
“Whose?”
Rachel paused.
“Sarah’s father.”
Daniel looked through the glass at Sarah.
“She told me her father died when she was a kid.”
“He did.”
“What did he do?”
“Accountant.”
“For who?”
Rachel lowered her voice.
“Victor Whitmore.”
Daniel felt a chill.
Sarah’s father had worked for Victor.
Before Daniel even met her.
The connection was older than their relationship.
“How long?”
“Seven years.”
“Why didn't I know?”
“His employment records were deleted.”
Daniel’s mind raced.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Sarah meeting you might not have been random.”
Daniel stared at the sleeping woman he had once loved.
“No.”
“I found an old payroll archive. Her father was terminated after accusing Victor of embezzlement.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Two months before he died.”
“How did he die?”
Rachel was silent too long.
“Car accident.”
Daniel looked at Nathan.
Nathan saw his face.
“What?”
Daniel whispered, “Sarah’s father worked for Victor.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
“He accused Victor of stealing.”
Nathan went pale.
Daniel continued listening.
Rachel said, “There’s one more thing.”
“Of course there is.”
“Sarah’s father left a sealed deposition with an attorney.”
“Where?”
“The attorney died last year.”
“Rachel.”
“The files were transferred to county archives.”
Daniel glanced toward Lily.
“Can you get it?”
“I already did.”
“What does it say?”
“I haven’t opened it.”
“Why?”
“Because the envelope says it can only be opened by Sarah Bell or her biological child.”
Daniel looked at the room.
Sarah slept.
Lily sat beside her holding her hand.
“Bring it.”
“I’m twenty minutes away.”
Daniel ended the call.
Nathan stared.
“What deposition?”
Daniel told him.
Nathan sat down hard.
“This isn't about Lily's trust.”
“No.”
“This started before she was born.”
“Yes.”
They waited.
Twenty-three minutes later, Rachel arrived carrying a large sealed envelope.
Lily had fallen asleep curled beside Sarah.
Sarah had awakened.
Daniel explained everything.
Sarah stared at the envelope.
“My father never told me.”
“Maybe he wanted to protect you.”
She almost laughed.
“Apparently that runs in my life.”
She broke the seal.
Inside were three pages.
And a key.
Sarah read the first paragraph.
Her face changed.
Daniel leaned closer.
“What?”
Sarah kept reading.
Then she covered her mouth.
“What does it say?”
She handed him the page.
Daniel read.
If anything happens to me, the records proving Victor Whitmore’s theft can be found in safe-deposit box 314 at Memphis Union Bank. The second key is with the person I trust most.
Daniel looked at the small key in Sarah’s hand.
“One key.”
Sarah nodded.
“Where’s the second?”
Nathan whispered, “Maybe your mother had it.”
Sarah shook her head.
“She died years ago.”
Lily stirred in the bed.
Her baseball cap tipped from the chair.
Coins spilled onto the floor.
Sarah bent slowly to pick it up.
Something inside the fabric made a metallic sound.
Not a coin.
Daniel took the cap.
A tear in the inner lining had opened.
Something silver slid into his palm.
A tiny key.
Stamped with three numbers.
Sarah stared.
“My father gave me that cap when I was sixteen.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You've carried the second key all these years.”
Sarah touched the worn fabric.
“I gave it to Lily.”
Daniel closed his fist around the key.
Nathan stood.
“Then we go to the bank.”
Rachel checked the time.
“It opens at nine.”
Daniel looked at Sarah.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“You can barely stand.”
“My father left that box for me.”
“Sarah—”
“I’m going.”
At 8:57 the next morning, Daniel, Sarah, Lily, Nathan, and Rachel entered Memphis Union Bank through a private entrance.
The manager led them downstairs.
Safe-deposit box 314 was larger than expected.
Sarah inserted one key.
Daniel inserted the other.
Together, they turned.
The lock clicked.
The manager withdrew the long metal box and placed it on a table.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
He looked at Daniel.
“Sir?”
“What?”
“There’s someone upstairs demanding access to this vault.”
Daniel already knew.
“Victor?”
The manager swallowed.
“No.”
May you like
He looked directly at Sarah.
“She says she's your mother.”
