Chapter 4: The Woman Who Delivered His Daughter
The front door creaked open.
Daniel lowered the telephone slowly.
“Who is it?”” he called.
No answer.
He stepped into the hallway, keeping one hand around the receiver and the other wrapped around the brass key he'd recovered from his pocket. The house was silent except for the rain tapping against the windows and the faint, uneven breathing of Lily behind him.
“Thomas?””
Nothing.
Daniel's security team had been stationed outside less than ten minutes earlier. He had specifically ordered them to remain near the entrance.
Now the hallway lay empty.
The front door swung inward another inch.
“Daddy,” Lily whispered, “don't go down there.””
Daniel turned.
The little girl was standing at the top of the staircase, her face pale beneath the dust and dried tears.
“Why?””
“Because Mom said the people who come through doors without knocking are the people who don't want to be seen.””
Before Daniel could answer, a voice floated up from the darkness.
“Daniel?””
A woman.
Older. Breathless.
“It's Clara. Please don't call the police.””
Daniel nearly dropped the phone.
Clara Bell had worked for his grandmother for thirty years. She had taught Elisa how to make his favorite apple pie, attended their wedding, and cried harder than anyone at the funeral.
Then she had disappeared.
He had assumed she couldn't bear to remain around the house.
“Clara?”” he called.
“Where have you been?””
“Please. There's no time.””
He hurried down the stairs.
An elderly woman stood just inside the doorway, soaked to the skin. Her silver hair clung to her forehead. One hand pressed against her ribs, and a dark stain spread across the sleeve of her coat.
Daniel caught her before she collapsed.
“Good God. You're bleeding.””
“It's nothing.””
“That's blood.””
“I've had worse.””
He guided her to a chair in the drawing room while Lily remained on the stairs, watching with frightened eyes.
Daniel grabbed a clean towel from a cabinet and pressed it against Clara's arm.
“Tell me what happened.””
Clara winced.
“Brielle's men found me at the old cottage. I managed to escape, but they followed me here.””
“Brielle has men?””
Clara gave him a weary look.
“Mr. Whitmore, you've spent seven years believing your wife was dead while the woman who arranged your wedding stood beside you. Do you really think hired men are the strangest thing you'll hear tonight?””
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Start talking.””
Clara looked toward Lily.
“Not in front of the child.””
“She's my daughter.””
The words escaped him before he could think.
Clara's expression softened.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“She is.””
Daniel felt something tighten in his chest.
“Then you knew.””
“I knew Elisa was pregnant. I knew she survived the accident. I knew about Rose.””
“Then why did you let me bury an empty coffin?””
Clara flinched as though he'd struck her.
“I didn't know the coffin was empty until years later.””
“Years later?””
“I was told Elisa's body had been recovered and identified. I believed it. When I discovered the truth, Brielle threatened to have Lily taken away and your family declared unfit to care for her.””
“Who would believe her?””
“People who had already been paid to lie.””
Clara's voice cracked.
“I was a coward, Daniel. I told myself I was protecting your wife by staying quiet. Then I told myself I was protecting your daughter. Every year, I found another reason not to come to you.””
Daniel stared at her.
Seven years of grief. Seven years of waking in an empty bed. Seven years of believing he had failed the only woman he had ever loved.
And Clara had known enough to ask questions.
“Where is Elisa?”” he demanded.
“I don't know.””
“Don't lie to me.””
“I'm not. She moved between safe houses. I helped her when I could. But two nights ago, she told me she was going to confront Brielle.””
Daniel's stomach twisted.
“Confront her about what?””
“Rose.””
He glanced at the photograph still resting on the study desk.
“Evelyn Shaw from St. Catherine's just told me Brielle delivered Rose to the orphanage herself.””
Clara closed her eyes.
“Oh, Elisa.””
“You knew that, too?””
“No. But I suspected.””
Daniel stood so abruptly that the chair scraped across the floor.
“Everybody suspected something. Everybody knew something. And I was the only person who buried my wife without knowing whether she was alive.””
“Daniel—”
“No.””
He paced toward the fireplace, then turned back.
“You will tell me everything you know. Every name. Every address.
Every lie you heard. And if you leave out one detail, I swear to God—”
A small hand slipped into his.
Lily.
“Daddy, don't shout at her.””
He looked down.
The child was trying to be brave, but her eyes were full of tears.
“Mom says shouting doesn't make people tell the truth. It just makes them afraid.””
Daniel knelt beside her.
“I'm sorry, sweetheart.””
She nodded, then looked at Clara.
“Mrs. Clara, where's my mommy?””
The older woman's face crumpled.
“I wish I knew, darling.””
Lily's mouth trembled.
“She promised she'd come back.””
Clara reached for her, but Lily stepped behind Daniel.
The rejection hurt Clara more than any accusation could have.
Daniel stood and pulled out his phone.
“Thomas, where are you?””
Static answered.
Then a man's strained voice came through.
“Sir, we're at the south gate. Someone cut the power to the security cameras.””
“Get the police here. And send an ambulance.””
“Understood.””
“Thomas, I want the men who attacked Clara found.””
“Sir, there's something else.””
Daniel tightened his grip on the phone.
“What?””
“We recovered a vehicle near the eastern road. It belongs to Martin Vale.””
Daniel looked toward Clara.
She had gone pale.
“What is it?”” he demanded.
Clara shook her head.
“Not here.””
“Tell me.””
She glanced at Lily, then whispered, “Martin Vale wasn't the only person who helped Brielle hide Elisa.””
“Who else?””
Clara's lips moved, but no sound came out.
Then a sharp knock struck the front door.
Three times.
Daniel reached for the pistol his security team had insisted he carry after the threats against the family. He had never fired it. He had never imagined he'd need it in his own grandmother's house.
“Stay behind me,” he told Lily.
He approached the door and looked through the narrow glass panel.
A woman stood on the porch.
Her coat was torn. Blood ran down her temple. One hand clutched a small black handbag.
Daniel recognized her immediately.
Brielle.
She lifted her face toward the glass.
“Daniel,” she mouthed.
“Please.””
He opened the door but kept the weapon lowered at his side.
“What are you doing here?””
Brielle stumbled into the hallway.
“They're coming.””
“Who?””
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Martin. His men. They know Lily is here.””
Daniel pulled away.
“You told someone to go to the summer estate. I heard you on the phone.””
“I was trying to stop them.””
“Stop them from doing what?””
“Taking Lily!””
“You've been trying to take her for seven years.””
Brielle looked over his shoulder.
When she saw Clara, hatred flashed across her face.
“You should have stayed dead,” Brielle spat.
Clara slowly rose from the chair.
“And you should have left that child alone.””
Brielle lunged toward her.
Daniel caught her arm.
“Don't you dare.””
Brielle turned on him, tears streaming down her face.
“You don't understand what I did for you!””
“Then explain it.””
“I saved your life.””
“You destroyed it.””
“No!”” she screamed.
“I kept you alive when the truth would have killed you!””
For a moment, the only sound was the rain.
Then Lily stepped out from behind Daniel.
She looked at Brielle with a kind of terrible recognition that no child should possess.
“Mommy said you would come back.””
Brielle's face crumpled.
“Lily, sweetheart—”
“Don't call me that.””
The words were quiet.
Brielle looked as though she'd been slapped.
Lily held Daniel's hand.
“Why did you take Rose away from Mommy?””
Brielle's lips trembled.
“Because I had no choice.””
“Everybody has a choice,” Lily whispered.
“Mommy told me that.””
Brielle looked at Daniel.
“I was twenty-eight. I had spent my entire life watching my family choose you over me. Your father funded my father's business.
Your mother invited us to every important event. And then Elisa arrived, and suddenly I was nothing but the poor girl who could never measure up.””
Daniel stared at her.
“This is about jealousy?””
“You think jealousy is small?”” Brielle laughed bitterly.
“I watched you love her like she was the only woman in the world. When she died, I thought you might finally see me.””
“You helped convince me she was dead.””
“I didn't cause the accident!””
“Did you know she survived?””
Brielle looked away.
“Answer me!””
“Yes.””
The word fell between them.
Daniel felt as though the floor had disappeared.
Brielle sank onto the bottom stair.
“Martin called me the night of the crash. He said Elisa had survived and that there was a baby. He told me the situation could still be controlled.””
“Controlled?””
“He said Elisa had threatened to expose a financial arrangement involving your father and Martin. He said if she returned, the scandal would destroy the Whitmore family.””
“My father died six years ago.””
“And he took his secrets with him.””
Daniel remembered his father's sudden stroke. He remembered the locked study, the missing documents, the way Brielle had persuaded him not to question the executor's decisions.
“What financial arrangement?””
Brielle shook her head.
“I don't know everything.””
“Then tell me what you do know.””
She wiped her face.
“Martin arranged for Elisa to disappear. He moved her to a private clinic and made sure the police investigation went nowhere. When Rose was born, he told me the child was in danger. He said Elisa would never be allowed to raise her.””
“And you believed him?””
“I wanted you.””
Daniel stared at her in disgust.
“So you stole my daughter because you couldn't have me?””
“I took Rose to St. Catherine's because Martin said it was temporary. He told me we could keep her safe until the scandal passed.””
“Seven years is temporary?””
Brielle began to sob.
“I was going to tell you.””
“When?””
“When we were married. I thought if we had a child together, you would finally stop looking backward.””
Daniel took a step away from her.
“You were going to marry me while knowing I had a daughter in an orphanage?””
“I thought I could fix it!””
“How?””
“I had a plan!””
“What plan?””
Brielle opened her mouth.
Then she looked toward the front door.
Her expression changed.
Daniel followed her gaze.
A black car had stopped at the end of the drive. Its headlights cut through the rain.
A man stepped out.
Martin Vale.
Even at a distance, Daniel recognized the broad shoulders and silver hair.
Martin raised a phone to his ear.
Brielle's phone rang.
She stared at the screen.
Daniel reached for it, but she snatched it away.
“No!””
The phone slipped from her hand and hit the floor.
Its screen remained illuminated.
A message appeared.
*THE GIRL MUST BE GONE BEFORE MIDNIGHT. NO WITNESSES.*
Daniel looked at Brielle.
“Who sent that?””
She backed toward the stairs.
“Daniel, please. You have to believe me.””
“You've had seven years to earn that.””
Martin began walking toward the house.
Brielle stared at the message, then at Lily.
For the first time, Daniel saw genuine terror in her eyes.
“It's not Martin,” she whispered.
“Who sent it?””
Brielle's voice broke.
“Your father.””
Daniel froze.
“My father is dead.””
Brielle shook her head violently.
“His body was identified six years ago. But Daniel, I swear to you—”
May you like
She looked toward the window as the front door handle began to turn.
“Your father never died.””
