Chapter 5 - The Truth Daniel Hid For Thirty Years
The front door exploded open.
Not with a crash.
With a warning.
“Police! Nobody move!”
Annie held onto her grandmother.
The man in the hallway froze.
Seconds later, several officers rushed inside.
But Annie noticed something strange.
The man wasn’t scared.
He was smiling.
Like he knew something nobody else knew.
Detective Marcus Hill entered behind the officers.
“Ethan Vale,” he said.
The man smiled.
“Still chasing ghosts, Marcus?”
Annie looked between them.
“You know him?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Because everyone in the room suddenly looked at Eleanor.
The old woman sitting on the floor.
The sick grandmother who seemed harmless.
But now everyone was treating her like someone important.
Daniel arrived moments later.
The moment he saw Ethan, his face changed.
“You.”
Ethan smiled.
“Still alive, Daniel?”
The room became silent.
Annie looked at Daniel.
“What’s happening?”
Daniel stepped forward slowly.
“Annie…”
He looked at Eleanor.
“Your grandmother and I share a history.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
A tear rolled down her face.
“Tell her the truth, Daniel.”
Daniel took a deep breath.
“Thirty years ago, before anyone knew my name…”
He looked at Annie.
“I was just a scared young man running from people who wanted me dead.”
“And your grandmother was the person who hid me.”
Annie listened carefully.
“She saved me.”
A pause.
“And because she saved me, she became a target.”
Ethan laughed softly.
“Funny, isn’t it?”
Everyone looked at him.
“After all these years, the little girl who saved Daniel Moretti…”
He smiled at Annie.
“Turned out to be Eleanor’s granddaughter.”
Annie stepped back.
“What do you want?”
Ethan looked at her.
“The same thing everyone wants.”
He paused.
“Power.”
Daniel moved in front of Annie.
“No.”
Ethan smiled.
“You still protect people who don’t belong to your world.”
Daniel looked at Annie.
“She belongs exactly where she is.”
Then Ethan pulled out his phone.
He pressed one button.
A message appeared on Daniel’s screen.
Daniel’s face changed immediately.
Because the message contained a photo.
A photo of Annie.
Taken inside the hospital.
Taken hours earlier.
Someone had been watching her.
And they were closer than anyone realized.
Daniel whispered:
“They found her.”
Annie looked up.
“Who?”
Daniel looked toward the dark window.
“The people who have been waiting thirty years…”
A pause.
May you like
“…to finish what they started.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
