Chapter 6
Daniel stared at the message.
Trust the forgotten daughter.
Claire had no sister.
At least, none Daniel knew about.
Her parents had only one child.
Or so the public records said.
Elena came outside, still shaken.
“What is that?”
“A message from Claire.”
Daniel showed her the paper.
Elena frowned.
“Forgotten daughter could mean someone disowned.”
“Or hidden.”
“Like your girls.”
Daniel closed the medallion.
Margaret believed the chip gave access to an account.
Claire believed someone called the forgotten daughter could be trusted.
He needed to discover who she was before sunset.
He called Reyes.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then he called Ethan through the number Reyes had given him.
An officer answered.
“Sergeant Reyes is unavailable.”
“Why?”
“She was injured during transport.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
“The vehicle carrying Lauren Whitmore was ambushed.”
“And Lauren?”
“Escaped.”
“Reyes?”
“Gunshot wound. She’s being taken to Mercy General.”
Margaret was dismantling every obstacle.
One by one.
Daniel looked at the clock.
Four hours until sunset.
He called his corporate security director, Marcus Hale.
Marcus had worked for Daniel for twelve years.
Unlike Beatrice, Marcus had never been close to Margaret.
He came from outside the family.
“Mr. Whitmore?”
“I need everything you can find about Claire’s family.”
“Public records?”
“Private. Sealed. Forgotten.”
Marcus heard the urgency.
“How quickly?”
“Now.”
“I’ll call you.”
Daniel then asked Elena for a vehicle.
She gave him the keys to an old pickup truck.
“Where are you going?”
“To the mausoleum.”
“You’ll be killed.”
“Not before Margaret gets what she wants.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No. But I know she needs this.”
He held up the medallion.
“That keeps my daughters alive.”
Elena looked at him with the same sharp eyes as her sister.
“Then don’t give her the real one.”
Daniel paused.
Elena led him into the clinic’s imaging room.
She placed the medallion beneath a digital scanner.
A magnified image appeared on the screen.
The chip inside was no larger than a fingernail.
“I can print a resin copy of the shell,” she said. “It won’t be perfect.”
“She has seen it.”
“Has she held it?”
Daniel thought back.
Lauren had broken the bread.
Margaret had seen the medallion roll across the floor.
She had not touched it.
“No.”
Elena removed the tiny chip.
“Then give her the copy.”
“What goes inside?”
“Something that looks similar.”
She found an old memory card from a medical device and trimmed it.
Forty minutes later, the false medallion looked convincing.
Daniel placed Claire’s chip inside a small plastic bag and taped it beneath his belt.
His phone rang.
Marcus.
“I found something,” he said.
“Tell me.”
“Claire’s father, Jonathan Bellamy, had another daughter.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“Name?”
“Rose Bellamy.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was born before Jonathan married Claire’s mother. Rose’s mother was a housekeeper at the Bellamy estate.”
“Why have I never heard of her?”
“Jonathan paid for Rose’s education but never publicly acknowledged her. When Claire was sixteen, Rose filed a claim seeking recognition.”
“And?”
“The case was sealed. Rose disappeared from public records soon after.”
“Did she die?”
“No death certificate.”
“Find her.”
“I’m trying.”
“What else?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Rose worked as a nurse.”
Daniel’s mind raced.
Helen had been Claire’s nurse.
Beatrice had managed Claire’s care.
Hospitals and clinics surrounded every part of the secret.
“Where?”
“St. Catherine’s Hospital.”
The same hospital where the twins were born.
“What years?”
“Until four years ago.”
Exactly when Helen became pregnant.
“Find a photograph.”
“I’m sending one.”
Daniel opened the image.
A younger woman stood outside the hospital.
Dark hair.
Gentle eyes.
He had seen that face before.
In Claire’s desk photograph.
The pregnant woman Daniel believed was Helen.
He zoomed in.
The woman wore a name badge.
Rose Carter.
Daniel’s heart hammered.
Helen Carter was not the forgotten daughter.
Her mother was.
Claire’s secret sister had helped carry Claire’s children.
Marcus spoke again.
“There’s another problem.”
“What?”
“Rose Carter was reported dead three years ago.”
“How?”
“House fire.”
“Body identified?”
“Dental records.”
“Who signed the identification?”
“A private forensic consultant.”
“Name.”
“Calvin Ross.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Ross had falsified Rose’s death.
Rose might still be alive.
“Search aliases connected to Helen Carter.”
“I’ll keep digging.”
Daniel drove toward the Whitmore cemetery.
The family mausoleum stood on private land behind an old chapel.
Margaret had chosen the location because no one would see them.
But Daniel would not go truly alone.
He called a number from memory.
A number Claire once made him promise to use only in an emergency.
It belonged to Gabriel Bellamy, Claire’s godfather and her father’s oldest friend.
Gabriel had left the country after Claire’s funeral.
Margaret claimed grief made him unstable.
Daniel now questioned everything Margaret had ever said.
Gabriel answered after one ring.
“Daniel?”
“I need help.”
“What happened?”
“Claire’s daughters were kidnapped.”
Silence.
Then Gabriel whispered, “She found them.”
Daniel nearly drove off the road.
“You knew?”
“I knew they existed.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Claire made me promise.”
“She is dead.”
“And the person hunting them is not.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“You knew what Margaret was doing?”
“Not everything.”
“Who is Rose?”
Gabriel inhaled slowly.
“Claire’s half sister.”
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she carry the twins?”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“The photograph—”
“Rose was with Helen during the pregnancy. Helen was the surrogate. Rose was the nurse who protected her.”
“Then why did Claire write ‘Helen and our little miracles’?”
“Because Helen was standing behind the camera.”
Daniel understood.
The pregnant woman in the photograph was not Helen.
It was Rose.
“Rose was pregnant too?”
“Yes.”
“With whose child?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Ethan’s.”
Daniel slammed the brakes.
The truck stopped on the roadside.
“What did you say?”
“Rose and Ethan had an affair.”
“No.”
“It began before he married Lauren.”
“Did Claire know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Margaret?”
“She discovered it.”
Everything shifted.
Margaret had not only hunted Daniel’s children.
She had erased another child.
Ethan’s child.
The forgotten daughter had a forgotten grandchild.
“Where is that baby?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Rose give birth?”
“Yes. A girl.”
Daniel’s mind raced.
“How old?”
“About four now.”
A child older than Ivy and Skye.
A child who could claim blood ties to both the Bellamy and Whitmore families.
“Why would Claire hide an account key with instructions to trust Rose?”
“Because Jonathan Bellamy left Rose a secret inheritance. Claire found the documents after his death. She created a protected account and named Rose’s daughter as beneficiary.”
“Margaret wants the account.”
“Margaret wants the evidence inside it.”
“What evidence?”
“Jonathan kept records of financial crimes involving the Whitmore family. Bribery. Fraud. Judges. Police. Everything Margaret used to build influence.”
Daniel looked at the road ahead.
The mausoleum was only twenty minutes away.
“My mother kidnapped the twins because she thinks this chip unlocks the account.”
“It may.”
“Can you help me open it?”
“You need Rose.”
“Where is she?”
“I last heard she was hiding near Madison.”
“Three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not enough.”
“I can give you a name. Sister Agnes Doyle. She ran a shelter near St. Brigid’s.”
The church bell.
Skye had said they lived near a big bell.
“Send the address.”
Daniel turned the truck around.
He would not go to the mausoleum yet.
He had time.
Barely.
St. Brigid’s Church stood outside a small town thirty miles away.
Its bell tower rose above bare trees.
Daniel parked behind the shelter.
An elderly nun opened the door.
“Sister Agnes?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Daniel Whitmore.”
Her face changed.
She tried to close the door.
Daniel blocked it.
“Margaret took my daughters.”
Sister Agnes stopped.
“Ivy and Skye?”
“You know them.”
She looked past him toward the road.
“Come inside.”
The shelter was quiet.
Sister Agnes led him to a small office.
“Where is Rose?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Please.”
“I truly don’t.”
“Is she alive?”
“She was the last time I saw her.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
Hope surged through him.
“What happened?”
“She came for Helen.”
“Why?”
“Helen believed she was being followed. Rose planned to move her and the twins.”
“Then men attacked the house.”
Sister Agnes nodded.
“Rose went there afterward. She found Helen wounded but alive.”
“Where did they go?”
“They separated. Rose took Helen somewhere safe. Miss Ruby took the twins toward the lake house.”
“But the girls said men took Miss Ruby.”
“They must have intercepted them.”
“Did Miss Ruby bring them the rest of the way?”
“No. A bus driver loyal to the shelter did.”
“The man with one eye.”
“Yes.”
Daniel almost collapsed with relief.
Helen might be alive.
“Call Rose.”
“I can’t.”
“You must have a way.”
Sister Agnes opened a drawer and removed an old phone.
“She calls this number. I cannot call her.”
“When will she call again?”
“She said at sunset.”
Daniel looked at the clock.
Less than an hour.
Margaret expected him at the mausoleum.
His phone rang.
Margaret.
He answered.
“You changed direction,” she said.
Daniel looked around.
She was tracking him.
“Where are my daughters?”
“Close enough to hear you fail them.”
Ivy cried in the background.
Margaret continued.
“You have twenty minutes.”
“I need proof they’re alive.”
A video call appeared.
Daniel accepted.
Ivy and Skye sat tied together in a stone room.
Both were crying.
Behind them stood Lauren.
She held a silver lighter.
Daniel recognized the room.
The lower chamber of the mausoleum.
May you like
Margaret was already there.
“Bring the medallion,” Margaret said. “Or Lauren burns the room with them inside.”
