Chapter 6 - The Mother’s Letter
After the fire, Daniel agreed to stay under police protection.
Lily was moved to a secure location with Daniel, Ethan, and two officers nearby. She asked every day whether they could go home.
Daniel never knew how to explain that home had become dangerous.
One afternoon, while searching through boxes saved from the beach house, Ethan found a sealed letter.
It was addressed to Daniel.
The handwriting belonged to Ava Carter.
Lily’s biological mother.
Daniel’s hands shook as he opened it.
The letter had been written shortly before Ava’s fatal accident.
> Daniel,
> If anything happens to me, please be careful with Victoria. I know you think she is helping us, but she has been asking strange questions about Lily’s trust and my life insurance. I may be overreacting, but I cannot ignore the feeling that she wants something from our family.
>
> I found documents in her office with my name on them. If I am wrong, forgive me. But if I am right, protect Lily.
>
> Love, Ava.
Daniel read the letter three times.
Victoria had not entered their lives by accident.
She had targeted them.
Ava’s accident had never been fully investigated because a drunk driver had confessed. But now Officer Brooks reopened the case.
The driver had received a large anonymous payment shortly after his release from prison.
The payment came from a shell company connected to Victoria.
Daniel felt sick.
“She planned all of it,” he whispered.
Ethan sat across from him, pale and furious.
“She did it to my dad too.”
Later that night, Lily wandered into Daniel’s room carrying her rabbit slippers.
“Daddy,” she said quietly, “I remember something.”
Daniel knelt.
“What do you remember?”
“Victoria talked on the phone before the fire.”
“What did she say?”
Lily squeezed the rabbit tightly.
“She said, ‘The old house is ready.’”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
The old house.
Michael Hale’s former home.
The place where Ethan had been locked in the nursery.
Officer Brooks immediately sent officers there.
But when they arrived, the house was empty.
Except for one thing.
A child-sized bed in the nursery.
Fresh blankets.
A small pink backpack.
And Lily’s favorite stuffed rabbit.
Victoria had been there.
Planning.
Waiting.
The next morning, a video arrived on Daniel’s phone.
Victoria sat in a dim room.
Her makeup was gone. Her hair was loose around her face.
“You have until midnight,” she said. “Bring the Michael recording and the files. Come alone to the Hale house.”
Then the camera shifted.
Lily was visible in the background.
Asleep on a couch.
Daniel’s entire world went still.
May you like
Victoria had taken his daughter.
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