Chapter 6: The Daughter of a Dead Man
The screen went black again.
I stood motionless, staring at my reflection in the glass.
My mother had been dead for twenty years.
I'd watched her coffin lowered into the ground. I'd placed white roses on the polished wood and listened as the priest spoke about a life cut short by tragedy.
Now her face had appeared on a screen in a hidden room beneath our burned-down family home.
And she'd called Vanessa someone else's daughter.
“No,” I whispered.
Grace touched my arm.
“Daniel—”
“No.””
I turned toward her.
“Our mother died in that fire. We saw the body.””
“Did we?””
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
I remembered a hospital corridor. A doctor speaking quietly to our uncle. A closed coffin. A funeral arranged so quickly that half our relatives hadn't arrived in time.
I remembered Vanessa standing beside me, her hand wrapped around mine.
She'd told me not to look inside.
She'd said the burns were too severe.
I had believed her.
I looked back at the monitor.
“Play it again.””
Marcus worked the controls.
The image returned.
My mother sat on the narrow bed, her hands trembling in her lap. She looked older than I remembered, but she was unmistakably herself.
“If Daniel ever sees this,” she said again, “tell him the woman he married is not Richard Vale's daughter. She is his daughter.””
The recording stopped.
I gripped the edge of the desk.
“Who recorded this?””
Grace examined the machine.
“There's a date stamped on the file.””
She leaned closer.
“Six months ago.””
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Six months?””
Grace nodded.
“Someone recorded this recently.””
Ethan stepped toward the screen.
“Is that your mom?””
I looked at him.
“No, sweetheart. That's my mother.””
He studied the image.
“She looks sad.””
I swallowed.
“Yes.””
“Can we help her?””
The question nearly broke me.
I knelt beside him.
“I don't know where she is. But if she's alive, I'll find her.””
He searched my face.
“You promise?””
I thought of Lily. Of Grace. Of all the people I had failed because I trusted the wrong person.
“I promise.””
Marcus interrupted.
“There's a date and location attached to the recording. A private medical facility in northern New Jersey. The file was uploaded from a server registered to a company owned by Vanessa.””
I stood.
“Then we go there.””
Grace shook her head.
“Not yet. We need to know whether this footage is genuine.””
“You saw her.””
“I saw a recording.””
“She said my name.””
“Someone could have staged it.””
I stared at my sister.
“You think our mother might be dead?””
“I think Vanessa wants us to believe whatever will make us act recklessly.””
She was right, and I hated her for it.
I paced the room, trying to organize the fragments of my life into something that made sense.
Vanessa had stolen from my company. She had arranged Grace's accident. She had threatened Lily. She had lied about her father.
Now she might have been involved in our parents' deaths.
And somehow, she'd spent seven years sleeping beside me.
I stopped at the desk.
“What did she mean when she said Vanessa wasn't Richard Vale's daughter?””
Grace picked up the birth certificate.
“Maybe Richard adopted her.””
“But why would Mom say she was his daughter?””
“Because she wasn't talking about legal paperwork. She was talking about blood.””
I stared at her.
“You think Vanessa is our half-sister?””
Grace didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
The possibility was so grotesque that my mind rejected it immediately.
“No. Dad would never—”
“Dad was human, Daniel. He had secrets too.””
I stepped away from her.
“Don't do that.””
“Do what?””
“Rewrite everything we knew about him because of one recording.””
Grace's face hardened.
“I'm not rewriting anything. I'm asking you to stop treating our memories as proof.””
A sharp metallic bang echoed from the corridor.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Someone's outside.””
He switched off the room's light.
We stood in darkness, listening.
Footsteps moved across the ruined floor above us.
Then a woman's voice drifted through the passage.
“Daniel?””
Vanessa.
My stomach tightened.
“Daniel, darling, I know you're in there.””
Her voice was soft, almost affectionate.
“I know you've found the files. I know you've seen the footage. And I know Grace has filled your head with stories.””
Grace silently pointed toward a narrow passage behind the filing cabinets.
Marcus shook his head, indicating that the exit was too exposed.
Vanessa continued.
“Please come out. We can talk about this like adults.””
I moved toward the doorway.
Grace caught my wrist.
“Don't.””
Vanessa laughed faintly.
“You always were so sentimental, Daniel. It's your greatest weakness.””
A second voice answered her.
A man's voice.
“Should I search the lower level?””
I recognized him.
The man from the blue coat.
Vanessa replied, “No. Daniel will come to me.””
I looked at Grace.
She mouthed, Wait.
Vanessa's footsteps approached the red door.
Then she spoke again.
“Do you remember our wedding vows, Daniel? You promised you'd never let anyone come between us.””
I said nothing.
“You promised to trust me.””
She paused.
“And now you're hiding in a burned-out house with a woman who's been dead for seven years and a child who may not even be yours.””
Ethan clutched my hand.
Vanessa's voice changed.
“Bring me the boy, Daniel. He doesn't belong in this family.””
My anger rose so sharply that I almost stepped into the doorway.
Grace pulled me back.
Then Vanessa said something that made every muscle in my body lock.
“Because if you knew what happened the night he was conceived, you wouldn't want him either.””
Silence filled the chamber.
Ethan looked up at me.
“Daniel?””
I couldn't answer.
Vanessa knocked gently on the red door.
“Come out, darling. I'll tell you everything.””
Grace leaned close to my ear.
“She's lying. Whatever she says, don't let her control the conversation.””
I stared at the door.
Then I heard a familiar sound from the monitor.
A click.
The screen came back on.
My mother appeared again, but this time she was standing beside the bed. A man in a white coat stood behind her.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Daniel, if Vanessa has found you, then the final stage of her plan has begun.””
She swallowed hard.
“Your father didn't die in the fire. He escaped.””
My knees nearly buckled.
Grace grabbed the desk.
The recording continued.
“He discovered what Richard had done. He discovered what Vanessa was planning. And he found out that one of his children was not his own.””
I stared at the screen.
My mother leaned closer.
“Daniel, you must understand. Vanessa was not born into the Vale family. She was born into ours.””
The image glitched.
Then she spoke one final sentence.
“Vanessa is your sister.””
The screen went black.
Outside the red door, Vanessa stopped knocking.
For several seconds, the only sound was the rain dripping through the ruined ceiling.
Then she spoke.
“Now you understand why I had to keep you away from Lily.””
Her voice was no longer soft.
No longer affectionate.
It was cold enough to freeze the blood in my veins.
“Daniel, open the door.””
I stepped forward.
Grace grabbed my arm.
“Don't.””
I looked at the red door.
At the woman I had married.
At the boy who might be my son.
At the truth that had just torn my family apart.
Then Vanessa said, “If you don't open it, I'll tell Ethan what his mother did to his real father.””
Ethan's fingers tightened around mine.
I looked down at him.
May you like
“Who is my real father?”” he whispered.
Before I could answer, the door handle began to turn.
