Chapter 5 - MY DAUGHTER
Her name was Lily.
At least, that's what the Vances called her.
Her real name was Emily.
My daughter.
My first child.
I stared at the photograph until my vision blurred.
“Where is she?”
“Private boarding facility,” Mercer said.
“Take me there.”
“You just suffered trauma.”
“I don't care.”
“You could lose your pregnancy.”
I looked at him.
“I already lost seven years.”
He said nothing.
Three hours later, an SUV carried us through the rain.
Ethan sat beside me.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally he said:
“I never stopped looking.”
I stared through the window.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“You had no memory.”
“You could have tried.”
“I did.”
He pulled out a box.
Inside were dozens of letters.
All addressed to me.
Never delivered.
I touched them.
“Who stopped them?”
“Your husband.”
I looked up.
“Julian?”
Ethan nodded.
“He intercepted every letter.”
I closed my eyes.
Then I realized something.
Julian had known.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
When we arrived, Lily was sitting in a small room reading.
She looked up.
Our eyes met.
I couldn't breathe.
She looked exactly like Ethan.
But there was something else.
Something familiar.
Her eyes.
My eyes.
I knelt.
“Emily?”
She froze.
No one had called her that in years.
“How do you know that name?”
I couldn't answer.
I simply opened my arms.
She slowly approached.
Then she whispered:
“Are you my mommy?”
My heart broke.
“Yes.”
She ran into my arms.
I held her.
I cried.
She cried.
Ethan turned away.
Even Mercer wiped his eyes.
For ten minutes, nothing else mattered.
Then Emily whispered:
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Grandpa said you were dangerous.”
I stiffened.
“What else did he say?”
She looked frightened.
“He said if you ever came back, I wasn't supposed to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Emily reached into her backpack.
She pulled out a small flash drive.
“He gave me this.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“He said only you would know what it means.”
I looked at the drive.
On its side was one word.
ORCHID.
Mercer stared at it.
His face changed.
“What?”
I asked.
He whispered:
“That's the Vances' master account.”
Then Emily said:
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“Grandpa said the money isn't really his.”
“Whose is it?”
May you like
She lowered her voice.
“It's the government's.”
