Daniel stared at his mother.
"You erased someone?"
Evelyn's eyes filled.
"I didn't know what else to do."
"Who was the child?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because I promised."
"To whom?"
"Ruth."
Samuel stepped away from the door.
"This is pointless."
Daniel turned.
"You knew too."
"I knew there was another child."
"Who?"
"I never learned the name."
Mara spoke quietly.
"I did."
Everyone looked at her.
She closed her eyes.
"Not the name."
"Then what?"
"A sound."
Daniel frowned.
"When I was at St. Agnes, the fifth child used to hum."
"What?"
"A song."
"Do you remember it?"
Mara nodded.
"Three notes."
She hummed softly.
Evelyn immediately began crying.
Daniel looked at her.
"You recognize it."
Evelyn nodded.
"It was the song your father used to sing to you."
Daniel felt the floor disappear beneath him.
"No."
"Yes."
"My father sang it because—"
"Because he learned it from the fifth child."
Mara looked confused.
"Who was she?"
Evelyn did not answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
"She."
Evelyn whispered, "Yes."
"How old?"
"About your age."
"When?"
"At St. Agnes."
Daniel shook his head.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does."
"No."
Evelyn walked to the cabinet.
She opened the lowest drawer.
Inside was a small wooden box.
She carried it to the table.
"I promised myself I'd never open this again."
Daniel watched her lift the lid.
Inside was a child's photograph.
A hospital bracelet.
And a letter.
He picked up the photograph.
A little girl looked back at him.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
The same crescent scar beneath her thumb.
Daniel stared.
"Mara."
Mara took a step closer.
"No."
"Look."
Mara touched the photograph.
The girl's face was younger, but unmistakable.
"That's Ella."
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
Mara looked again.
"Then who?"
Evelyn answered:
"Your sister's daughter."
Silence.
Daniel looked at the bracelet.
The name printed across it was faded.
He tilted it toward the light.
*Nora Ellis.**
Mara's breathing stopped.
"Nora."
Clara sat down.
"I thought she died."
Evelyn shook her head.
"She didn't."
Daniel looked at the letter.
"Who is she?"
Evelyn swallowed.
"Samuel's daughter."
Daniel looked at Samuel.
He was pale.
"That's impossible."
Evelyn stared at him.
"You knew."
Samuel shook his head.
"I knew about Ruth's children."
"Nora was your daughter."
"No."
Evelyn opened the letter.
"Read it."
Daniel did.
The letter was from Ruth.
She explained that Samuel had fathered a child with another woman before Jonah was born. The child had been placed at St. Agnes under a different surname.
When Ruth discovered the child was being used to manipulate the Ellis trust, she tried to protect her.
Then the letter revealed something else.
Nora had been the one who knew the original trust structure.
She had been old enough to understand what the adults were doing.
She had copied the controlling signature.
Daniel looked up.
"The unlisted child."
Evelyn nodded.
"Nora."
"But she was a child."
"She was old enough to understand that something was wrong."
"Did she alter the trust?"
"No."
Mara stared at the letter.
"Then who did?"
Evelyn looked at Samuel.
He said nothing.
Daniel returned to the letter.
A paragraph near the bottom caught his attention.
"Nora changed one thing. She replaced her own name with Daniel's because she believed he would be safer outside the trust."*
Daniel's mouth went dry.
"She protected me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Jonah asked her."
Daniel looked at the photograph.
"Where is she now?"
Evelyn shook her head.
"I don't know."
Clara stood.
"I do."
Everyone turned.
Clara reached into her coat.
She removed an old envelope.
"I received this six months ago."
Daniel took it.
Inside was a recent photograph.
A woman in her forties stood outside a post office.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
The same scar.
Nora.
On the back was an address.
Daniel looked at Clara.
"You knew she was alive."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because she asked me not to."
"Why?"
"She said the wrong people were looking."
Daniel looked at the address.
"Where is she?"
Clara answered.
"Three miles from here."
Mara's eyes widened.
"She's been nearby this whole time."
"Yes."
Samuel suddenly sat down.
Daniel noticed.
"What's wrong?"
Samuel stared at the photograph.
"She came back."
"Did you know?"
"No."
"Then why are you afraid?"
Samuel's face tightened.
"Because Nora knows what happened."
"Tell me."
"I can't."
Daniel slammed the photograph onto the table.
"You've all spent your lives saying that."
Samuel looked at him.
"Your grandfather made the original trust."
"I know."
"He also created the false records."
"I know."
"He did it to hide the properties."
"I know."
Samuel's voice dropped.
"But Nora discovered something worse."
"What?"
"Some of the properties were never ours."
Daniel frowned.
"Then whose were they?"
Samuel looked toward Evelyn.
"Yours."
Daniel stared.
"My father's?"
"No."
"Mine?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Your biological inheritance came from your mother's family."
Evelyn looked shocked.
"What?"
Samuel nodded.
"Your mother's father owned the land before the Ellis family acquired it."
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
"You never told me."
"I didn't know."
Samuel said, "You weren't supposed to."
Daniel looked at the ledger.
The property transfers.
The trust.
The money.
The house.
Everything had been built on something that might not have belonged to the Ellis family at all.
Then Daniel's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
*My name is Nora.**
Another message followed.
*I know why your father hid me.**
Daniel stared.
A third message appeared.
*And I know who sent the $5,000.**
Daniel looked around the room.
"She's here."
Mara stood.
"Where?"
Daniel read the final message.
*Come to the old bridge. Alone.**
Evelyn grabbed his arm.
"No."
Daniel looked at her.
"I have to."
"Don't go."
"Mom."
"I lost Jonah once."
Daniel softened.
"I'm not Dad."
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
She looked at the photograph.
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of."
Daniel pocketed the phone.
He picked up the trust seal.
Mara stepped beside him.
"I'm coming."
The message arrived again.
*I said alone.**
Daniel looked at Mara.
Then at Evelyn.
Then at Clara.
He understood the choice in front of him.
For thirty-eight years, his family had survived by keeping secrets.
Now someone was finally asking him to walk into the dark without them.
He opened the front door.
Behind him, Evelyn whispered:
"Daniel."
He stopped.
"I need you to know something."
He turned.
She held up the photograph of Nora.
"I didn't erase her."
Daniel waited.
"I erased your name."
He stared.
"Because Nora was the child they were hunting."
Evelyn's voice broke.
"And I needed them to believe they had found you instead."
Daniel finally understood why the money had appeared.
Why the account had activated.
Why someone wanted the trust seal.
Why every trail had led back to his birth.
He stepped outside.
Across the road, a black car was parked beneath the trees.
Its engine was running.
Daniel looked at it.
Then his phone vibrated one last time.
*Daniel, don't come to the bridge.**
He stopped.
The next message appeared.
*They're already waiting there.**
Click here to continue reading: PART 17: The Car Beneath the Trees Was Empty, but Its Open Door Proved Someone Had Reached the House Before Daniel Could Escape
The Transfer That Should Have Arrived Quietly, But Instead Opened a Door Neither of Us Knew Existed
Part 16 of 25
