Chapter 9: The Voice Behind the Wall
I couldn't see anything.
The room plunged into darkness, and the sound of the gunshot seemed to echo inside my skull.
Someone seized my wrist.
“Move!””
I stumbled forward, clutching the ledger against my chest.
“Who are you?”” I whispered.
“Someone who doesn't want you dead.””
The voice belonged to a man.
Behind us, Thomas shouted for the lights to be restored. A door slammed. Something heavy crashed against the wall.
Evelyn called my name.
“I'm here!”” I shouted.
“Keep moving toward the stairs!””
The man pulled me through a narrow doorway I hadn't noticed before. We entered a service corridor that smelled of damp stone and old paint.
A dim red emergency light flickered above us.
I caught a glimpse of his face.
He was in his late forties, with dark hair, a short beard, and a scar running from his temple to his jaw.
He looked familiar, though I couldn't place him.
“Where are you taking me?””
“To the basement.””
“That's the opposite of escaping!””
“Not if the basement has an exit.””
We descended a narrow staircase.
Behind us, footsteps pounded through the corridor.
The man pushed open a steel door and guided me into a room lined with shelves of old documents.
At the far end stood a second door.
He unlocked it with a key from his pocket.
Beyond it was a small chamber containing a bed, a desk, and an old telephone.
I stopped.
Someone had been living here.
Fresh food sat on a tray beside the bed. A newspaper lay folded on the desk. A pair of reading glasses rested beside a half-finished cup of tea.
Then I heard breathing.
Slow.
Uneven.
Coming from behind a partition.
The man turned toward it.
“Richard?””
A chair scraped against the floor.
An elderly figure emerged from the shadows.
He was thinner than the man in the hospital photograph, his hair almost entirely white, and his face marked by decades of suffering. But his eyes were the same ones I'd seen in the portrait upstairs.
Daniel's eyes.
My eyes.
He looked at me as though he were afraid that blinking would make me disappear.
“Nia?””
I couldn't move.
He took one step forward, then stopped.
“I've dreamed about this moment for twenty-eight years.””
My throat closed.
“Are you my father?””
He nodded.
Tears ran down his cheeks.
“Yes.””
I wanted to embrace him.
I wanted to scream at him.
I wanted to ask why he hadn't found me, why he'd let my mother die without answers, why he'd allowed me to grow up believing I had been abandoned.
Instead, I whispered, “Why didn't you come for me?””
Richard covered his mouth.
“I tried.””
“Not hard enough.””
He flinched.
I hated myself for saying it, but the words had been waiting inside me since I read Margaret's letter.
He lowered his head.
“You're right.””
That answer broke something in me.
I had expected excuses. Explanations. A desperate attempt to convince me that he'd done everything possible.
Instead, he accepted the blame.
“I tried to escape twice,” he said.
“The first time, Thomas's men caught me before I reached the highway. The second time, they told me you were dead and showed me a photograph of a little girl in a hospital bed.””
He reached into his pocket and removed a folded photograph.
It showed a toddler with dark hair and a small bandage on her forehead.
My breath caught.
“That's me?””
“Yes.””
He handed it to me.
“I believed them. They told me you had died from complications after the adoption. They said Margaret had been informed and had accepted the truth.””
I shook my head.
“She never accepted it. She searched for me until she died.””
Richard's face crumpled.
“I know. I found out too late.””
“How?””
“A nurse who worked at the private facility recognized my name. She smuggled out a letter from Margaret's lawyer. By then, Margaret was gone.””
He sat heavily on the edge of the bed.
“I thought about ending my life after I learned what had happened. But then I saw a photograph of you as an adult. Thomas had been monitoring your life for years. He sent it to me as a warning.””
My blood turned cold.
“He knew where I lived?””
“Yes. He knew when you went to school, when you graduated, when you married Daniel. He knew everything.””
I gripped the ledger.
“Why didn't you warn us?””
“Because he threatened to kill you if I contacted you. He said he'd make it look like an accident.””
I thought of Diane raising the baseball bat over my head.
Perhaps Thomas hadn't needed to arrange an accident.
His family had become perfectly capable of creating its own disasters.
The man who had led me downstairs stood near the door, listening.
“Who are you?”” I asked him.
“Marcus Bell. I worked for Thomas before I understood what he was doing.””
Richard nodded toward him.
“Marcus helped me escape the first time. He's been trying to get me out ever since.””
A heavy impact sounded overhead.
Marcus checked his watch.
“We have to leave. Thomas will search this room as soon as he realizes you're gone.””
Richard stood, unsteady on his feet.
I reached for his arm.
For one brief moment, our hands touched.
He stared at my fingers as if they were a miracle.
Then he noticed the ledger beneath my other arm.
“You found it.””
“Yes.””
His face changed.
“Did you read the entries?””
“Some of them.””
“Then you know about the money.””
“I know Thomas paid for my disappearance.””
Richard nodded grimly.
“But there's something you don't know. The ledger doesn't only record the money used to take you from Margaret. It records the payments made to keep you in the Whitmore family.””
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?””
“Diane didn't simply accept your adoption. She arranged it so that you would eventually marry Daniel.””
The words made no sense.
“Why would she do that?””
“Because she believed you were Richard's only legitimate claim to a portion of the family trust. By keeping you close, she could control the documents you might inherit.””
I felt sick.
“She knew who I was when I married Daniel?””
“She suspected. Thomas had told her that you were Richard's daughter. She was supposed to prevent you from learning the truth.””
“But why allow the marriage?””
Richard's eyes filled with pain.
“Because Diane believed that if you married Daniel, your legal identity could be absorbed into the Whitmore family. She thought she could control your inheritance through him.””
I stumbled backward.
My marriage hadn't simply been surrounded by secrets.
It might have been part of the plan.
“Did Daniel know?””
“No. He was a child when the arrangement began. By the time he met you, Diane had convinced herself that you were only a threat if you learned the truth.””
I pressed both hands against my stomach.
My daughter moved beneath my palm.
For the first time, I felt genuine fear for her future.
If Thomas had spent decades manipulating the Whitmore family, what would he do when he learned that I had found Richard and the ledger?
Marcus opened the door.
“Time to go.””
We followed him through another corridor and emerged into a small garage behind the estate.
A black SUV waited with its engine running.
Before we could reach it, a voice rang out behind us.
“Nia!””
Evelyn appeared at the far end of the corridor, one hand pressed against her forehead. Her sleeve was torn, but she was walking.
I ran toward her.
“Are you hurt?””
“Just a cut.”” She glanced at Richard, then stopped.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Evelyn covered her mouth.
“Richard?””
He nodded.
“I'm sorry, Evelyn.””
She crossed the distance between them and embraced him.
“You should have come home.””
“I know.””
“You should have told us you were alive.””
“I know.””
She pulled away and struck his chest with her palm.
“You let Margaret die believing she had lost her child!””
Richard bowed his head.
“I know.””
Evelyn began to cry.
I stood between them, feeling as if the family I'd never known was suddenly gathering around me, carrying decades of grief and guilt.
Then Marcus shouted.
“Get down!””
A bullet shattered the SUV's rear window.
Richard threw himself over me.
Another shot struck the concrete wall.
Evelyn dragged me behind a stack of crates while Marcus returned fire from behind the garage door.
Through the narrow opening, I saw Thomas standing in the corridor with a pistol in his hand.
His face was no longer calm.
He looked furious.
“You should have stayed dead, Richard!””
Richard rose slowly, keeping himself between Thomas and me.
“It's over, Thomas.””
Thomas laughed.
“Nothing is over until the ledger is destroyed.””
His eyes shifted toward me.
Then he smiled.
“You still don't understand, do you, Nia?””
He lifted the gun.
“Your mother wasn't the only woman who gave birth that night.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
Thomas took one step closer.
“Margaret delivered twins.””
The world seemed to fall away.
Richard's face went white.
Evelyn whispered, “No.””
Thomas's smile widened.
“One child went to Margaret. The other went to a different family.””
I stared at him.
“Where is the other child?””
Thomas lowered his gun just enough to look me directly in the eyes.
May you like
“She's been standing beside you for years.””
Then he fired again.
