Lily stared at the message.
I stared at my husband.
He had just walked through the front door.
And from the look on his face, he already knew something was wrong.
“What happened?” he asked.
I handed him the phone.
He read the message.
The color drained from his face.
“Who sent this?”
“We don’t know,” Officer Ramirez said. “But they know something about Lily’s birth.”
My husband slowly sat down.
“There’s nothing to tell.”
I looked at him.
“Then why are you shaking?”
He didn’t answer.
Lily stepped forward.
“Dad.”
He closed his eyes.
“Please.”
“What happened the night I was born?”
He looked at her for a long time.
Then he whispered:
“Your mother wasn’t alone.”
Silence.
“Who was with her?” Lily asked.
“Someone from her past.”
“Who?”
He swallowed.
“Her brother.”
I frowned.
“Claire had a brother?”
My husband nodded.
“Daniel.”
Lily looked confused.
“Why have I never heard of him?”
“Because he disappeared.”
“When?”
“The night you were born.”
My husband walked to the window.
“Claire and Daniel had been fighting for years. He was involved with some dangerous people. Drugs, stolen money… things I didn’t understand.”
He rubbed his face.
“On the night Lily was born, Daniel came to the hospital.”
“Why?”
“He wanted something from Claire.”
“What?”
My husband looked at Lily.
“Your mother’s baby.”
My stomach dropped.
“What are you saying?”
“He tried to take you.”
Lily stepped backward.
“Why?”
“We never found out.”
My husband continued.
“Claire called me from the hospital. She was terrified. She told me Daniel had threatened to take you and disappear.”
“What happened?”
“I arrived with the police.”
He paused.
“Daniel was gone.”
“And Claire?”
“She refused to tell anyone where he’d gone.”
I remembered Claire’s letter.
The person who followed us never stopped looking for Lily.
Suddenly everything made sense.
“Your brother was the one following you,” I whispered.
My husband shook his head.
“We don’t know that.”
“Then who?”
He didn’t answer.
Lily’s phone buzzed again.
Another message.
Daniel didn’t disappear.
Then another.
Your father helped him.
I looked at my husband.
He went completely still.
“Is that true?”
He said nothing.
“Dad?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t help him.”
“Then what happened?”
He lowered himself into a chair.
“Daniel came to me that night.”
“When?”
“After Claire called me.”
“Why?”
“He said he’d leave Lily alone if I gave him something.”
“What?”
My husband’s voice cracked.
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Everything I had.”
I stared at him.
“You gave him money?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“He disappeared.”
Lily whispered:
“Why didn’t you tell Mom?”
“Because Claire blamed herself. She thought if anyone knew about Daniel, you’d become a target.”
“But you knew he was dangerous.”
“I thought he was gone.”
Officer Ramirez suddenly stood.
“Wait.”
He looked at the photograph again.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“What’s his last name?”
My husband hesitated.
Then he said it.
“Mercer.”
Ramirez immediately pulled out his phone.
He typed something.
A few seconds later, his expression changed.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel Mercer isn’t missing.”
He turned the phone around.
There was a recent photograph.
A driver’s-license record.
A new address.
And a date.
Updated six months ago.
My husband stared at the screen.
“No…”
Ramirez looked at Lily.
“He’s alive.”
Lily’s phone buzzed one final time.
This time there was no text.
Only a photograph.
It showed Daniel Mercer standing outside a cemetery.
Beside Claire’s grave.
And next to him stood a woman.
A woman I recognized immediately.
My blood ran cold.
“That’s impossible.”
Lily looked at me.
“Who is she?”
I couldn’t speak.
Because I knew her.
She had been Claire’s best friend.
She had attended the funeral.
She had hugged Lily.
And she’d been sitting beside us when Claire’s coffin was lowered into the ground.
Her name was Rachel.
And in the photograph, Rachel was smiling.
Then a final message appeared:
Claire trusted the wrong person.
So did you.
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