Maya stared at the photograph.
Lily sat at a wooden table, her hands folded in front of her.
Robert sat beside her.
Neither looked injured.
Neither looked frightened.
But Lily was not smiling.
On the table between them was the original ledger.
Maya's breath caught.
“He has it.”
Daniel took the photograph.
“When was this taken?”
“Today.”
Ella studied the background.
“That's not a house.”
Maya looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Those walls.”
Ella pointed to a small metal plate behind Lily.
“That's from the old storage facility.”
Daniel enlarged the photograph.
A number was visible.
17.
Maya understood.
Robert had returned to the original room.
But the room beneath the workshop had been empty.
Unless there was another entrance.
Daniel searched the files.
“There.”
He found a property diagram.
A tunnel connected the workshop to a second structure.
The old storage facility stood beneath a former municipal building.
Rachel frowned.
“That building is still in use.”
“Then we can't just walk in.”
Maya looked at the photograph.
“Robert wants us to come.”
“Maybe.”
“No.”
Maya shook her head.
“He wants the ledger exchanged.”
Daniel nodded.
“And he thinks you don't know the real ledger isn't here.”
Maya looked at him.
“Then we have an advantage.”
“What?”
“We have the copy.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“For once, we're ahead of him.”
They left the station.
The community center was their next stop.
If Samuel had been living there, someone might know where he had gone.
The building was quiet when they arrived.
An elderly woman answered the door.
Ella stepped forward.
“I'm looking for Samuel.”
The woman stared at her.
“You're Ella.”
Ella froze.
“How do you know?”
“Samuel showed me your photograph.”
Maya stepped closer.
“Where is he?”
The woman looked at the others.
“He left last night.”
“Where?”
“He said he was going to meet someone.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Maya's heart dropped.
“My father?”
The woman nodded.
“He said he had to stop him.”
“Stop him from what?”
She looked frightened.
“From going to Robert.”
Maya pulled out her phone.
No messages.
She called her father.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Rachel's phone rang.
She answered.
It was Denise.
Her voice was frantic.
“Robert came here.”
Maya's stomach tightened.
“Where?”
“To the house.”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Where's Dad?”
“He left with Samuel.”
Maya stared at Rachel.
“Did he say where?”
“Only that he was going to protect you.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Everyone was moving pieces again.
She hated it.
“Mom,” she said, taking the phone, “listen carefully. Don't go anywhere.”
“What happened?”
“Robert has Lily.”
Denise began crying.
“I knew this would happen.”
“Mom.”
“I should have told you.”
“Tell me now.”
“There is another ledger.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Denise's voice dropped.
“The one you found is a decoy.”
Maya stared.
“What?”
“Your grandfather created three.”
“Why?”
“To make sure nobody could identify the real one.”
Maya looked at Daniel.
He nodded slowly.
“Where is the real ledger?”
Denise said, “With Clara.”
Maya exhaled.
“Then Robert doesn't have it.”
“No.”
“What's in the one he has?”
“Names.”
Maya frowned.
“Fake names?”
“Not exactly.”
Denise explained that the decoy ledger contained enough genuine information to make it convincing, but the final records had been replaced.
The original contained evidence of the people who had ordered the financial transfers.
The names Robert feared.
“Who are they?” Maya asked.
Denise hesitated.
“I don't know all of them.”
“Who do you know?”
“One.”
“Who?”
Denise whispered:
“Robert's father.”
Maya froze.
“What?”
“He inherited the operation.”
Daniel looked shocked.
“Robert's father died thirty years ago.”
“He died publicly.”
The sentence made Maya's skin crawl.
“Mom, what are you saying?”
“I don't know.”
Another call came through.
Unknown number.
Maya answered.
Clara.
“Listen carefully,” Clara said.
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“I can't tell you.”
Maya closed her eyes.
“Then tell me how to get her.”
“You need to bring the decoy ledger.”
“Robert already has it.”
“He thinks he does.”
Maya looked at Daniel.
“What?”
“The book he took is incomplete.”
Maya remembered the missing page.
“You removed it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the final page contains the name he cannot see.”
“Whose?”
Clara went silent.
Maya's voice hardened.
“Tell me.”
“The person who arranged the children's movements.”
Maya felt cold.
“Your grandfather?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Clara whispered:
“Denise.”
Maya stopped breathing.
She looked at her mother through the phone.
“No.”
“She wasn't the architect,” Clara continued. “But she signed the orders.”
Maya's voice shook.
“Why?”
“Because she believed it was the only way to keep you alive.”
Maya's anger surged.
“Where is Lily?”
Clara said, “At the old municipal building.”
“I'm coming.”
“Bring the ledger.”
“I will.”
“And Maya?”
“What?”
“Don't trust Robert.”
“I don't.”
“Don't trust your father either.”
The line went dead.
Maya lowered the phone.
Daniel looked at her.
“What did she say?”
Maya told him.
Rachel stared at her.
“She signed the orders?”
Maya nodded.
Ella looked toward the road.
“She did it because she thought she was protecting us.”
Maya looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know whether she had changed.”
Maya looked at Daniel.
“Can you access the building records?”
“Yes.”
“Then find every entrance.”
Daniel opened his laptop.
Rachel took the photograph of Lily.
“We should call the police.”
Maya nodded.
“We will.”
“But?”
Maya looked toward the abandoned railway line.
“But we're not waiting for them to arrive before we move.”
They reached the municipal building.
Police vehicles were still several minutes away.
Maya, Daniel, Ella, and Rachel entered through a side door.
The corridor was dark.
A faint child's voice came from somewhere below.
“Mama?”
Maya stopped.
“Lily.”
She ran toward the sound.
A stairwell led underground.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
Maya heard Lily crying behind it.
“Lily!”
“Mama!”
Maya tried the handle.
Locked.
Daniel examined the mechanism.
“Give me a minute.”
Maya stepped back.
Then she noticed the writing on the wall beside the door.
Four names.
Samuel.
Ella.
Maya.
Lily.
Beneath them was one blank line.
Rachel whispered:
“That's the fourth.”
A voice came from the darkness behind them.
“No.”
Maya turned.
Robert stood at the end of the corridor.
“The fourth name was never supposed to be written.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 19: Robert Finally Revealed Why the Children Were Chosen, and Maya Learned the Last Secret Had Been Hidden Inside Her Own Family
The Dinner Was Supposed to Mend Our Family Until My Daughter’s Cry Changed Everything
Part 18 of 20
