Maya stared at the photograph in her mother's hand.
The woman in it appeared to be in her late twenties. Dark hair fell across one shoulder, and her expression was guarded, almost wary. She stood beside an old brick building Maya recognized immediately.
The workshop.
But the photograph had been taken recently.
Maya could tell from the timestamp printed along the bottom.
Three months ago.
Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
“That's Ella?”
Denise nodded.
“She came back.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Maya looked at her mother as though she had become a stranger.
“You knew she was alive.”
“I knew she might be.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Denise lowered the photograph.
“Yes.”
Rachel turned away.
“Oh, God.”
Maya's hands trembled.
“You knew my sister was alive, and you never told me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You keep using that word.”
“I mean it.”
“You hid an entire person from me.”
Denise's eyes filled with tears.
“I hid her because Robert was looking for her.”
Maya glanced toward the open window.
“Then why did you let her come back?”
“I didn't.”
“Who brought her here?”
“Clara.”
The name stopped everyone.
Maya looked at the photograph again.
“Where is Clara?”
“I don't know.”
“Where is Ella?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?”
Denise swallowed.
“She contacted me in June.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she had proof that Robert had been using the trust for years.”
Maya's eyes narrowed.
“Then why didn't you tell Dad?”
“I didn't trust him.”
Her father stepped forward.
“You should have.”
Denise looked at him bitterly.
“You lied to me about the fire.”
“And you lied to Maya about Ella.”
The words hung between them.
Maya raised her voice.
“Stop.”
They did.
“My daughter is missing.”
She held up the note.
“Someone took her.”
Her father looked at the open window.
“We need to call the police.”
“We already did.”
“Then call them again.”
Maya reached for her phone.
Before she could dial, a new message appeared.
*NO POLICE.**
A second message followed.
*COME TO THE WORKSHOP WITH THE LEDGER.**
Then a third.
*COME WITH YOUR FATHER.**
Maya showed the others.
Her father shook his head.
“It's a trap.”
“Of course it is.”
“Then don't walk into it.”
“Lily is seven.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Maya's voice cracked.
“You weren't there when she was born. You didn't hear her first cry. You didn't sit beside her when she was sick. You don't know what it feels like to have someone take her and leave a note telling you not to call for help.”
Her father looked wounded.
But he didn't argue.
Rachel stepped beside Maya.
“We'll go.”
Maya looked at her.
“You're staying here.”
“No.”
“You have no reason to be involved.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“Neither did I twenty years ago, but apparently I've been involved since before I understood what was happening.”
Denise touched Maya's arm.
“Don't take the ledger.”
Maya turned.
“Why?”
“Because that's what they want.”
“They already know we have it.”
“They may not know whether it's the original.”
Maya's expression hardened.
“Is it?”
“No.”
Maya stared.
“What?”
“The ledger you found isn't the original.”
Her father nodded slowly.
“I suspected.”
Denise looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I knew your grandfather kept a second copy.”
“Where?”
Maya asked.
Her father hesitated.
Denise answered for him.
“In the church.”
“We already found the room.”
“Not that room.”
Maya felt another door opening beneath her feet.
“There are two?”
“There are three.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“This family is insane.”
Maya ignored her.
“Where is the third?”
Denise pointed toward the photograph.
“The workshop.”
Maya looked at the woman standing beside the building.
Ella.
Her sister.
The person she had never known existed.
“Why did Ella return?”
“She wanted the ledger.”
“Why?”
“Because she believes it belongs to her.”
Maya frowned.
“How?”
Denise took a shaky breath.
“Your grandfather changed the trust after she disappeared.”
“Changed it how?”
“He made Ella the protected beneficiary.”
“Then why was I the primary beneficiary?”
“Because you were the child who remained.”
Maya stared at her.
The sentence carried a cruelty Denise probably hadn't intended.
“What happened to Ella?”
Denise looked down.
“She was taken from the hospital.”
Rachel whispered, “By Robert?”
“We never proved it.”
“Who raised her?”
“I don't know.”
Maya looked at the photograph.
The woman had her mother's eyes.
She wondered whether Ella knew who Maya was.
Whether she had ever looked at a family photograph and wondered what happened to the little sister who remained.
Her phone buzzed again.
*FORTY MINUTES.**
Maya looked at the clock.
They had less than an hour.
She opened the canvas bag and removed the copied ledger.
“We're going.”
Her father shook his head.
“You're making a mistake.”
“Maybe.”
She placed the ledger on the table.
“But I'm not leaving Lily to find out whether you're right.”
Rachel picked up her coat.
Denise stood motionless.
Maya looked at her.
“Mom.”
Denise met her eyes.
“If you know where the original is, tell me now.”
Denise whispered, “Your grandfather hid it where Lily would never think to look.”
Maya frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Denise looked toward the hallway.
Then she whispered:
“Under the floor where you used to play.”
Maya remembered.
Her childhood bedroom in the old house.
The room had been demolished with the rest of the property.
But the foundation remained beneath the apartment complex.
Her grandfather's workshop.
The children's room.
The hidden chamber.
Everything suddenly converged.
Maya took the copied ledger.
Her father opened the front door.
Before they stepped outside, Denise caught Maya's hand.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“Ella doesn't trust me.”
Maya looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because she believes I gave her away.”
Maya felt the words settle heavily inside her.
“Did you?”
Denise began crying.
“No.”
Maya waited.
“Then who did?”
Denise looked toward the photograph.
“Your grandfather.”
Maya stopped.
“What?”
“He believed she was safer away from us.”
Maya shook her head.
“He gave away his own granddaughter?”
“To save her.”
“That isn't saving someone.”
“I know.”
Maya walked out.
Rachel followed.
Her father closed the door behind them.
None of them noticed the shadow move across the upstairs curtain.
Click here to continue reading: PART 14: The Old Workshop Held More Than a Hidden Chamber, and Maya Found Evidence That Lily’s Kidnapper Had Been Waiting There
The Dinner Was Supposed to Mend Our Family Until My Daughter’s Cry Changed Everything
Part 13 of 20
