Chapter 2 - The Name on the Security Footage
Jason reached the office door before Daniel could open it.
He locked it.
There was a brief silence.
“Jason?”
Daniel sounded confused.
Jason looked toward Claire.
She understood immediately.
She guided Noah and the still-sleepy Eli toward the private conference room connected to Jason’s office.
Jason crouched.
“I need you boys to stay with Claire for a minute.”
Noah looked worried.
“Are you leaving?”
“No.”
“You promise?”
The word struck harder than Jason expected.
“I promise.”
Noah studied him as if deciding whether promises from strangers meant anything.
Then he nodded.
Claire closed the conference-room door.
Jason waited several seconds before unlocking the office.
Daniel entered.
He was forty, polished, expensive, and perfectly composed.
Navy suit.
Silver tie.
Calm smile.
“Everything all right?”
Jason watched him.
For the first time in fourteen years, he examined Daniel not as a friend but as a stranger.
“What happened in the garage this morning?”
Daniel’s smile disappeared.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Jason saw it.
“I’m sorry?”
“You were here at six.”
“I come in early sometimes.”
“You were with Sarah Bennett.”
Daniel went still.
There it was.
Recognition.
Fear.
Then calculation.
Jason’s stomach turned.
Daniel closed the door behind him.
“Where did you hear that name?”
Jason said nothing.
Daniel looked around the office.
His eyes moved toward the leather chair.
Then toward the conference-room door.
That tiny glance told Jason everything.
“You knew.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Jason.”
“You knew about the boys.”
“This is more complicated than—”
Jason grabbed Daniel’s jacket and drove him backward against the wall.
Claire would later tell him she had never seen him lose control like that.
Jason barely remembered doing it.
“Five years.”
His voice came out low.
“You knew for five years?”
Daniel raised both hands.
“Listen to me.”
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
Jason’s grip tightened.
Daniel winced.
“Yes. I knew.”
Jason released him as though touching him had become disgusting.
Daniel straightened his jacket.
“You need to understand what was happening back then.”
“No. You need to tell me where Sarah is.”
“I don’t know.”
“You were with her three hours ago.”
“She contacted me.”
“Why?”
Daniel hesitated.
“She wanted money.”
Jason stared.
“Careful.”
“I’m serious. Sarah has been unstable for years.”
Jason stepped closer.
“Careful.”
“She showed up claiming those children were yours.”
“She didn’t claim it. She wrote it.”
Daniel looked toward the conference room again.
Jason blocked his view.
“She was desperate,” Daniel continued. “She wanted five million dollars.”
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know Sarah.”
Daniel gave a humorless laugh.
“You knew Sarah six years ago.”
Jason’s jaw clenched.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“She disappeared because she wanted to disappear.”
“That’s not what her note says.”
That landed.
Daniel’s face changed.
“What note?”
Jason almost smiled.
Daniel had just told him something useful.
He did not know what Sarah had written.
Jason said, “Get out.”
“Jason—”
“Get out of my office.”
“If those children are here, you need counsel before you do anything. You don’t know if they’re yours.”
“Get out.”
Daniel moved toward the door.
Then stopped.
“If Sarah comes back, call me before you speak to her.”
Jason’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Because you are too close to this.”
“No, Daniel.”
Jason opened the door.
“You were too close to it.”
Daniel left.
Jason locked the door again.
Claire emerged.
“So?”
“He admitted he knew.”
“About the twins?”
“Yes.”
Claire whispered something under her breath.
Noah walked past her.
“Was that Daniel?”
Jason looked down.
His chest tightened.
“You know him?”
Noah nodded.
“He came to our apartment once.”
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“How long?”
Noah shrugged.
“Before Christmas.”
“What did he do?”
“He made Mom cry.”
Jason crouched.
“What did he say?”
“I was in my room.”
“Did you hear anything?”
Noah thought.
“He said she needed to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“I don’t know.”
Eli appeared behind him holding the rabbit.
“He said Daddy didn’t want us.”
The room became silent.
Jason looked at Eli.
Until now the second twin had barely spoken.
“What?”
Eli hugged the rabbit.
“He told Mom you said we weren’t your problem.”
Jason had endured hostile acquisitions, lawsuits, betrayals, and the death of his father.
Nothing had prepared him for that sentence.
He sat back on his heels.
“I never said that.”
Eli watched him.
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
The boy seemed confused.
Jason forced himself to continue.
“I didn’t even know about you.”
Noah frowned.
“But Mom emailed you.”
Jason looked toward Claire.
“What?”
Noah nodded.
“Lots.”
Jason stood abruptly.
“Claire, get IT.”
“Jason—”
“Now.”
Twenty minutes later, Victor Chen, the company’s chief information-security officer, sat at Jason’s conference table.
Jason gave him one instruction.
“I want every email sent to me from Sarah Bennett from six years ago until today.”
Victor typed.
Then frowned.
“There aren’t any.”
Jason expected it.
“Search deleted mail.”
“Nothing.”
“Archives.”
Victor searched.
Nothing.
“Server backups.”
Victor looked uncomfortable.
“Jason, backups from six years ago are cold-stored.”
“Retrieve them.”
“That could take hours.”
“Do it.”
Jason spent those hours with two boys who might be his sons.
Claire ordered pancakes, eggs, toast, fruit, cereal, and enough food to feed twelve children because none of them knew what five-year-olds ate.
Noah chose pancakes.
Eli chose cereal.
Then ate half of Noah’s pancakes.
Noah had been correct.
Eli ate more.
Jason watched them.
Every detail hurt.
Noah separated blueberries before eating them.
Jason did the same thing.
Eli tapped his fingers when thinking.
Jason’s father used to tease him for that exact habit.
The twins both hated orange juice with pulp.
So did Jason.
Coincidence meant nothing.
Until there were too many coincidences.
At noon, Jason called a private medical service.
DNA swabs were collected discreetly.
Results would be expedited.
Twenty-four hours.
Jason hated that he needed them.
But he needed certainty.
At 1:18 p.m., Victor returned.
He looked pale.
“We found something.”
Jason closed the conference-room door.
Victor opened a recovered archive.
“There were thirty-seven emails from Sarah Bennett sent to your executive address between August and December six years ago.”
Jason stared.
“Thirty-seven?”
“Yes.”
“I never received them.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Victor turned the laptop around.
“Someone created a server-side routing rule.”
Jason read the technical logs.
Every email containing Sarah’s address had been intercepted before reaching his inbox.
Forwarded.
Then deleted.
“Forwarded where?”
Victor clicked.
A private administrative mailbox appeared.
Jason knew the account.
Daniel Cross.
Jason felt physically ill.
“Open the first one.”
Victor did.
Jason,
I know you're angry, but please call me. Something happened and I need to tell you in person.
Next.
Jason,
I’ve tried your phone. Daniel said you asked him to handle this for you, but I don’t believe him.
Next.
Jason,
I’m pregnant.
Jason stopped reading.
The room tilted.
Victor looked away.
Jason stared at those two words.
I’m pregnant.
Sent six years ago.
Received by his company.
Intercepted by his best friend.
He opened another.
Jason, please. I am not asking you for money. I am not asking you to marry me. I only need you to know these babies are yours.
Another.
Daniel says you told him to pay me to disappear. I don’t believe that. I need to hear it from you.
Another.
If you truly want nothing to do with us, tell me yourself. I will leave you alone. But I will not let Daniel speak for you again.
Jason’s hand trembled.
The final message was dated December 21.
I understand now.
I hope someday you become the man I thought you were.
Goodbye, Jason.
He closed his eyes.
Six years of anger collapsed in a single moment.
Sarah had not abandoned him.
She had believed he abandoned her.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Jason answered.
“Jason Miller.”
“This is Detective Laura Vega, Midtown South.”
Jason stood.
“We were told you filed an urgent missing-person inquiry regarding Sarah Bennett.”
“Yes.”
“We located a vehicle registered to Ms. Bennett.”
Jason gripped the desk.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“The vehicle was abandoned near the East River.”
Jason’s heart began pounding.
“Was anyone inside?”
“No.”
“Then find her.”
“Mr. Miller…”
The detective paused.
“There was blood on the driver’s-side door.”
Jason stopped breathing.
“And enough of it that we’re no longer treating this as a simple missing-person case.”
Across the room, Noah pushed open the conference-room door.
He held the stuffed rabbit against his chest.
“Did you find Mom?”
Jason looked at him.
Before he could answer, Detective Vega spoke again.
“There’s something else, Mr. Miller.”
Jason turned away from Noah.
“What?”
“We found a second phone beneath the passenger seat.”
A pause.
“It contains one outgoing message sent at 6:14 this morning.”
Jason’s throat tightened.
“To whom?”
May you like
Detective Vega answered.
“To you.”
