Chương 5
Calm.
Familiar.
The same voice that once made her feel safe.
"Emily, I know you're in there."
Lily looked confused.
"He knows your name."
Emily looked at the little girl.
"Yes."
"How?"
Emily had no answer.
Because that was the question that had followed her for ten years.
How did Daniel always know?
How did he always appear when she was about to discover something?
How did he always know what to say?
Another knock.
This time harder.
"Emily, please open the door."
Margaret whispered.
"You cannot let him see Lily."
Emily looked at her.
"Why?"
Margaret's eyes filled with fear.
"Because if he knows she is here, everything your father tried to protect will be destroyed."
Emily looked toward the door.
She wanted to believe there was a reasonable explanation.
She wanted to believe Daniel was not the person she feared.
But the photograph was still in her hand.
The evidence was still sitting on the desk.
The lies were too many.
Emily quietly moved toward the hallway.
She reached for the old phone on the wall.
Daniel's voice continued.
"I know you have questions."
Emily stopped.
Questions.
That word made her realize something.
Daniel knew.
He knew exactly why she was inside.
He knew she had found something.
"How did you know I was here?" Emily asked through the closed door.
Silence.
A long silence.
Then Daniel answered.
"Because I have been looking for you."
Emily almost laughed.
The sound came out empty.
"Looking for me?"
She looked at Lily.
The little girl who had waited years to be found.
"Is that what you call it?"
Daniel did not answer.
Emily stepped closer to the door.
"You knew about her."
Another silence.
Then his voice changed.
The confidence disappeared.
"Emily."
"No."
Her voice became stronger.
"You don't get to say my name like everything is normal."
Margaret watched her carefully.
Lily held onto Emily's hand.
"You knew where my daughter was."
Daniel finally spoke.
"I knew where she was because I was trying to protect her."
Emily closed her eyes.
The words sounded painfully familiar.
Everyone said they were protecting her.
Everyone made choices for her.
Everyone decided she could not handle the truth.
"You don't get to decide that anymore."
The door suddenly opened.
Margaret gasped.
But Daniel was not forcing his way inside.
He was standing there with his hands visible.
Older than Emily remembered.
More tired.
His hair had started turning gray.
For a moment, Emily saw the man she once loved.
Then she remembered the photograph.
The missing years.
The lies.
Daniel looked past her.
His eyes found Lily.
Everything about his expression changed.
Fear.
Regret.
Pain.
"Lily."
The little girl stepped back.
Emily immediately moved in front of her.
"Do not say her name."
Daniel looked at Emily.
"She deserves to know the truth."
Emily's voice was cold.
"Then tell it."
The porch became silent.
Daniel looked down.
"I was there the night your father took her."
Emily felt her heart stop.
"Why?"
Daniel swallowed.
"Because I helped him."
Lily looked up at Emily.
Emily felt like the world shifted beneath her.
Margaret closed her eyes.
She already knew.
"You helped him take my daughter?"
Daniel looked devastated.
"I helped him save her."
Emily shook her head.
"No."
She stepped closer.
"You don't get to rewrite what happened."
Daniel accepted the anger.
"I know how it looks."
"Because it is exactly how it looks."
Daniel looked at Lily.
"When she was born, there were people trying to get information about her."
"Who?"
Daniel hesitated.
Emily noticed.
"Who?"
Daniel looked at Margaret.
Then back at Emily.
"Your father's business partner."
Emily froze.
Her father had always said his work was complicated.
He always said some things were better left unknown.
She never imagined those secrets would reach her child.
"Why would he want Lily?"
Daniel's expression became darker.
"Because Lily was proof."
"Proof of what?"
Daniel looked at the old house.
"That your father discovered he was being betrayed."
Emily felt confused.
"That doesn't make sense."
Daniel took a slow breath.
"Your father found evidence that someone had been stealing from the company for years."
Emily stared at him.
"And Lily was connected?"
Daniel nodded.
"Not because of who she was."
He looked at Lily.
"But because of what someone did to her records."
The little girl looked frightened.
Emily softened immediately.
She turned slightly toward Lily.
"You don't need to listen to this."
But Lily shook her head.
"No."
Emily looked surprised.
The girl took a small breath.
"I want to know."
Those words broke something inside Emily.
Because Lily had spent her whole life being kept away from the truth.
She deserved to know.
Daniel continued.
"Someone changed Lily's birth records to hide a connection."
"What connection?"
Daniel looked at Emily.
"Your family."
The answer felt impossible.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel looked toward the dark road outside.
"It means Lily was never the secret."
Emily waited.
"The secret was who wanted her hidden."
A car passed slowly outside.
The headlights moved across the room.
Everyone became quiet.
Then Daniel said the one thing Emily never expected.
"The person who started all of this is still alive."
Emily felt a chill.
"Who?"
Daniel looked directly at her.
"Your mother."
"The person who started all of this is still alive."
Emily felt a chill.
"Who?"
Daniel looked directly at her.
"Your mother."
The room became completely silent.
Emily stared at him, waiting for the words to make sense.
But they did not.
Her mother had been dead for twelve years.
She had watched the funeral.
She had held the flowers.
She had stood beside her father as they lowered the casket into the ground.
"No," Emily whispered.
Daniel looked at her with sadness.
"I knew you would say that."
"Because it is impossible."
Daniel slowly shook his head.
"It is only impossible because that is what you were told."
Emily stepped back.
Her mind struggled to understand.
May you like
"Everyone knew she died."
Daniel looked toward Margaret.
