Chapter 4
Daniel’s heart stopped.
Beatrice stepped away from the window.
The masked man lunged toward Skye.
Daniel caught him around the waist.
They crashed into the wet grass.
The attacker struck Daniel twice.
Daniel refused to release him.
Skye screamed from beneath the window.
The second man was disappearing into the trees with Ivy.
Daniel had to choose.
Fight the man in front of him.
Or chase his daughter.
He drove his forehead into the attacker’s face.
The man grunted.
Daniel tore away and ran after Ivy.
Branches struck his face.
Mud pulled at his shoes.
Ahead, Ivy’s cries became fainter.
“Daddy!”
The word ripped through him.
“I’m coming!”
The attacker reached the old boathouse.
A motorboat waited at the dock.
Daniel ran faster.
The man threw Ivy into the back of the boat.
She hit the floor and screamed.
He reached for the ignition.
Daniel jumped from the dock.
He landed across the stern.
The boat rocked violently.
The man swung a metal flashlight.
It struck Daniel’s shoulder.
Daniel grabbed the man’s coat and drove him against the steering console.
The engine roared to life.
The boat shot forward.
Ivy rolled toward the side.
Daniel released the attacker and caught her seconds before she fell into the black water.
The man grabbed Daniel from behind.
“You should have stayed away from the house,” he hissed.
Daniel elbowed him.
“Who sent you?”
The man tightened his grip.
“Your mother sends her regards.”
Daniel slammed backward.
Both men crashed into the windshield.
Glass shattered.
The boat veered toward the stone pier.
Daniel pulled Ivy against his chest and threw himself to the floor.
The collision sounded like an explosion.
Wood splintered.
The attacker flew over the side.
Daniel’s head struck the deck.
For a moment, everything disappeared.
Then Ivy’s crying pulled him back.
He opened his eyes.
Water poured into the damaged boat.
Ivy was trapped beneath a broken seat.
Daniel pushed himself up.
Pain tore through his shoulder.
“I’ve got you.”
He lifted the seat.
Ivy crawled free and threw her arms around his neck.
“Skye!”
Daniel looked toward the shore.
Skye was still near the house.
The other attacker was closing in on her.
Then headlights swept across the garden.
A police cruiser raced down the private road.
The attacker fled into the woods.
Sergeant Reyes jumped out with her weapon drawn.
“Police! Stop!”
The man vanished among the trees.
Daniel carried Ivy through waist-deep water to the shore.
Reyes ran toward them.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Skye?”
“An officer has her.”
“Beatrice is involved.”
Reyes looked toward the house.
“Where is she?”
Daniel knew before they entered.
Beatrice was gone.
Her phone remained on the kitchen counter.
Her car remained in the driveway.
But she had disappeared.
Skye sat wrapped in a blanket beside an officer.
When she saw Ivy, she broke free and ran.
The twins collided in the hallway.
They held each other so tightly that neither could breathe properly.
Daniel dropped beside them.
“I’m sorry.”
Ivy grabbed his face.
“You came.”
“I will always come.”
She touched the blood near his temple.
“Daddy hurt.”
“I’m okay.”
Skye looked behind him.
“Bad lady helper gone?”
“Yes.”
It hurt to admit it.
Beatrice had been Claire’s closest employee.
She had held Claire’s hand during treatments.
Organized her medications.
Prepared the lake house after every hospital stay.
If Beatrice had betrayed them, then Claire had been surrounded by enemies.
Reyes searched the property.
Officers found tire tracks near the east woods.
The first attacker had escaped.
The second had vanished after falling from the boat.
A blood trail led to the water, then stopped.
No body was found.
Daniel sat with the girls while paramedics examined them.
Ivy had a bruised shoulder.
Skye had cuts on her knees.
Neither wanted to let go of him.
A paramedic stitched Daniel’s forehead and urged him to go to the hospital.
He refused.
“I’m not leaving them.”
“They can ride with you.”
“No hospital.”
Reyes approached.
“Daniel, listen to him.”
“No.”
“You may have a concussion.”
“And someone may be waiting at the hospital.”
Reyes stopped.
He saw that she understood.
Every official place connected to the twins had been compromised.
A clinic.
A hospital.
Possibly social services.
Maybe even law enforcement.
“Then I’ll arrange a private physician,” Reyes said.
“Someone you trust.”
She nodded.
“I know one.”
As dawn approached, the lake house filled with officers.
Daniel’s phone rang.
Ethan.
He answered.
“Where are you?”
Ethan’s breathing was uneven.
“Daniel, I need to see you.”
“Come here.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s watching.”
Daniel looked at Margaret’s initial on Ross’s phone.
“Mother?”
Ethan whispered, “You don’t understand what she can do.”
“I understand she tried to steal my daughters.”
A long silence followed.
“So they are yours.”
Daniel’s grip tightened.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You helped her find Helen.”
“I didn’t know there were children at first.”
“Do not lie to me again.”
“I’m not.”
“Then tell me everything.”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“Meet me alone.”
“No.”
“If she sees police, I’m dead.”
“Where?”
“The old Whitmore textile mill.”
“That place has been abandoned for twenty years.”
“That’s why I chose it.”
“When?”
“An hour.”
Daniel looked at the twins.
He could not leave them.
Not after the attack.
“Come to the house.”
“I told you, I can’t.”
“Then talk now.”
“I have proof.”
“What proof?”
“Claire’s original medical file.”
Daniel stood.
“Where did you get it?”
“Mother kept it.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
The call ended.
Reyes had heard enough.
“You’re not going alone,” she said.
“He’ll run if he sees you.”
“I can follow at a distance.”
Daniel looked toward the girls.
Ivy was asleep against Skye.
Skye’s eyes remained open.
Watching.
Always watching.
“I can’t leave them here.”
“I’ll stay.”
“No offense, Sergeant, but two men entered this house while police were already on the way.”
Reyes accepted the insult.
“Then bring them to a safe location.”
“Where?”
She thought.
“My sister owns a small veterinary clinic outside town. It’s closed on Mondays. No public records connect her to me because she uses her married name.”
Daniel did not like relying on another stranger.
But he had no better option.
“What’s her name?”
“Dr. Elena Marquez.”
“Can you trust her?”
“With my life.”
Daniel looked at the twins.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Reyes held his gaze.
“With theirs too.”
An hour later, the girls were taken through the kitchen and placed in an unmarked vehicle.
Reyes drove.
Daniel sat in the back between Ivy and Skye.
Both held one of his hands.
The veterinary clinic stood beside a quiet country road, surrounded by fields.
Elena Marquez met them at the rear entrance.
She looked like Reyes, but younger.
She did not ask unnecessary questions.
She led the girls into a staff room with a couch, blankets, food, and a television.
“No one knows you’re here,” she said.
Daniel crouched in front of Ivy and Skye.
“I have to leave for a little while.”
Both girls stiffened.
“No,” Ivy said.
“I have to find out what happened to Mommy Helen.”
“Mommy not coming?”
“I’m going to try to bring her back.”
It was a promise he did not know if he could keep.
Skye studied him.
“Bad people?”
“Yes.”
“You fight?”
“I’ll be careful.”
Skye removed the medallion from around her neck.
She placed it in Daniel’s hand.
“For brave.”
He closed his fingers around it.
“I’ll bring it back.”
“No,” she whispered. “Mommy Claire gave us.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How do you know her name?”
Skye pointed to the medallion.
“Mommy Helen said Claire is sky mommy.”
Daniel’s eyes burned.
He kissed both girls and left before they could see him cry.
Reyes followed his car toward the abandoned mill but stayed several minutes behind.
The building stood at the edge of an industrial district, its windows shattered and brick walls stained by decades of rain.
Daniel entered through a side door.
“Ethan?”
His voice echoed.
No answer.
He moved deeper inside.
Old machinery cast twisted shadows across the floor.
Then Ethan stepped from behind a pillar.
His face was bruised.
One eye was swollen.
“What happened to you?” Daniel asked.
“Lauren.”
Daniel stopped.
“Lauren did that?”
“She found out I called you.”
“Where is she?”
“With Mother.”
Ethan held a thick envelope.
“This is what Claire’s doctors originally wrote. Before the records were changed.”
Daniel took it.
Inside were medical charts, embryo transfer records, and letters between Claire and Helen.
There was also a photograph of Margaret entering St. Catherine’s Hospital on the day the twins were born.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Why did Mother have this?”
“She collected everything that could expose her.”
“Why didn’t she destroy it?”
“She never destroys leverage.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Tell me what you did.”
Ethan looked away.
“Mother told me Helen was blackmailing Claire.”
“So you followed her.”
“Yes.”
“You delivered money.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened her.”
“No.”
“Claire heard you and Lauren arguing.”
“Lauren wanted Helen gone.”
“What does that mean?”
Ethan’s eyes filled with tears.
“She hired Ross.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“For what?”
“To scare Helen.”
“And Mother?”
“Mother approved it.”
“Did they hurt her?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know enough.”
Ethan grabbed Daniel’s arm.
“I tried to stop them after the girls were born.”
“How?”
“I gave Helen money. A car. Fake identification.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You helped her escape?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw the babies.”
Ethan’s voice cracked.
“They looked like Claire.”
Daniel’s anger faltered for one second.
Ethan continued.
“Mother wanted them placed through a private adoption. Different families. Different states. She said separating them would make them impossible to trace.”
Daniel felt sick.
“She wanted to split them?”
“I changed the transfer documents. I told Helen where the transport van would stop. She took the girls and ran.”
“Then why did you keep helping Mother search?”
“Because if I stopped, she would know I betrayed her.”
“She knows now.”
“Yes.”
A metal door slammed somewhere behind them.
Ethan’s face went white.
“She followed me.”
Daniel reached for his phone.
No signal.
A voice echoed through the mill.
Margaret.
“Family should never keep secrets.”
She stepped onto the overhead walkway.
Lauren stood beside her.
Calvin Ross stood behind them with a bandage around his head.
He had survived the lake.
And he held a gun.
Margaret looked down at her sons.
“Give me the file, Daniel.”
Daniel moved in front of Ethan.
“No.”
Margaret sighed.
“You always were Claire’s greatest weakness.”
“And you were hers.”
“No. I was the only person willing to protect this family from her mistakes.”
“My daughters are not mistakes.”
“They are liabilities.”
Ethan whispered, “You see?”
Daniel’s rage burned through every part of him.
Margaret raised one hand.
May you like
Ross pointed the gun at Ethan.
“Give me the file,” she repeated, “or your brother dies.”
