Chapter 10 - THE BASEMENT
We ran toward the sound.
A hidden staircase lay behind a collapsed storage wall.
Sarah signaled for backup.
Then another shot.
A man yelled.
Daniel.
I ran.
Sarah grabbed my arm.
“Emma!”
“That’s him.”
“You don’t know what’s down there.”
“I know my husband is.”
We descended.
The basement had been renovated years ago.
Steel doors.
Old filing cabinets.
A concrete hallway.
At the far end, Daniel lay against the wall holding his shoulder.
Blood soaked through his shirt.
“Emma?”
I reached him.
“What happened?”
“Dad.”
“Where?”
He pointed.
“Archive room.”
Sarah pressed gauze against his wound.
Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t go in there.”
“Why?”
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Who Rachel’s baby was.”
My entire body went cold.
“Who?”
He closed his eyes.
“You.”
The hallway disappeared around me.
“No.”
“Your mother didn’t give birth to you.”
“No.”
“Rachel did.”
“That’s impossible.”
“She was sixteen.”
I stumbled back.
Daniel continued.
“Your mother worked as an accountant for the home. She discovered what my father was doing.”
“What was he doing?”
Daniel’s face twisted.
“Using girls.”
Sarah went still.
“For what?”
“Fraud. Blackmail. Rich donors. Politicians. He brought men here.”
I felt sick.
“Rachel tried to expose him.”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“She got pregnant.”
I whispered, “By who?”
Daniel looked toward the archive room.
Then at me.
“My father.”
The truth hit like a physical blow.
Robert Cross was my biological father.
Which meant Daniel—
I stared at him.
Daniel shook his head immediately.
“No. I’m adopted.”
“What?”
“My mother couldn’t have children after Vanessa.”
I couldn’t think.
Nothing fit anymore.
Daniel coughed.
“Rachel gave birth to you secretly. Your mother—Margaret—smuggled you out.”
“My mother was my mother.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“She raised you. She protected you.”
“Where is Rachel?”
His eyes filled with grief.
“She died here.”
I covered my mouth.
“Dad buried her on the property.”
The voicemail.
Willow Creek wasn’t money.
It was where they buried her.
A steel door suddenly opened.
Robert Cross stepped into the hallway.
He held a pistol.
His expensive coat was stained with dirt.
“Touching reunion.”
Sarah raised her weapon.
“Drop it!”
Robert smiled.
“You think I came here alone?”
Lights flooded the hallway behind us.
Three armed men appeared at the stairs.
We were trapped.
Robert looked directly at me.
“Hello, Emma.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“Or should I call you my daughter?”
