Nobody answered the door.
Daniel knocked again.
“Susan, I know you're in there.”
Jake moved toward the entrance.
Michael caught his arm.
“No.”
“He knows we're here.”
“That doesn't mean we open the door.”
Daniel's voice came through the wood.
“I don't want trouble. I came to talk.”
I stood behind Michael.
“How did you find us?”
Daniel laughed softly.
“You've been asking that question for eighteen years.”
Lily went rigid.
Michael looked at me.
“Stay back.”
I stepped around him.
“No.”
“Susan—”
“If he's been looking for me, I'm done hiding.”
I walked to the door but didn't open it.
“What do you want?”
Silence.
Then Daniel answered.
“I want to explain what happened.”
“You've had eighteen years.”
“I wasn't allowed to come near you.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
I felt my pulse jump.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
His voice sounded strangely calm.
“That's why I brought documents.”
Michael shook his head.
“Don't open it.”
I looked at him.
“What documents?”
“Records from the hospital.”
Daniel said, “Original ones.”
That changed everything.
Michael stepped closer.
“He could be lying.”
“I know.”
Daniel spoke again.
“Susan, I know you think I used you.”
“You did.”
“I knew about the trust.”
My throat tightened.
“I know.”
“But I didn't know about the medical plan.”
I frowned.
“What medical plan?”
Daniel hesitated.
“My father was involved in something I didn't understand.”
Michael whispered, “Don't listen.”
I ignored him.
“What did he do?”
“He was supposed to make the pregnancy disappear.”
Lily gasped.
I felt as though the floor had shifted beneath me.
“Why?”
“Because your father wanted to protect the trust.”
“By killing my baby?”
“No.”
Daniel's voice sharpened.
“By making everyone believe the baby had died.”
I looked at Michael.
He didn't move.
Daniel continued.
“Your father thought he could hide Lily until she was old enough to control the trust herself.”
“So why did you try to get near me?”
“Because I wanted the trust.”
At least he didn't lie about that.
“But I also loved you.”
I almost laughed.
“You expect me to believe both?”
“I know how it sounds.”
“You lied about your name.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about your family.”
“Yes.”
“You pursued me because of my father's money.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“And you still say you loved me.”
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
When he finally did, his voice was quiet.
“I loved you badly.”
The words should have meant nothing.
Instead, they landed with an uncomfortable weight.
Not because I believed him.
Because I remembered who I had been when I loved him.
Desperate.
Lonely.
Angry with Michael.
Certain that someone else could rescue me from a life I no longer understood.
I had been easy to manipulate.
Daniel knew that.
The door remained closed.
“Leave the documents,” I said.
“I need to speak to you.”
“No.”
“Then I'll leave them.”
A thick envelope slid beneath the door.
Daniel stepped back.
“I'll give you time.”
We heard his footsteps retreat.
Michael waited until the sound disappeared before opening the door.
The envelope lay on the floor.
He picked it up.
Inside were hospital documents.
Some appeared original.
Some were copies.
One contained a delivery record.
I stared at the page.
Mother: Susan Miller.
Date: July 19, 2008.
Sex: Female.
Weight: 6 pounds, 11 ounces.
I couldn't breathe.
July.
Not March.
The date of birth was July 19.
Lily was born in July.
I looked at her.
She was crying.
“That's me.”
“Yes,” I whispered.
Jake stared at the document.
“But Mom said she didn't have a baby.”
“I was told I didn't.”
Michael's face had gone pale.
“There are more pages.”
He spread them across the table.
The delivery had occurred at a private clinic nearly two hundred miles from the hospital where I believed I had been treated.
The mother was listed under a different surname.
But the medical identification number matched mine.
My hands shook.
“How could this exist?”
Michael looked at the final page.
“There was a transfer.”
“Where?”
He pointed.
“Margaret's hospital.”
I sat down.
The pieces were beginning to fit.
My pregnancy had not ended in March.
The procedure had been something else.
The records had been altered to make me believe the pregnancy was gone.
But why had I been hospitalized in March?
Dr. Evans had found evidence of surgery.
Michael had said it was to save me.
I turned to him.
“What happened in March?”
He looked at the documents.
“Your appendix.”
I stared.
“My appendix?”
“You had severe abdominal pain. Dr. Harris operated.”
“But why did he tell everyone I was pregnant?”
“He didn't.”
Michael pointed at another page.
“Someone added that information later.”
I looked at the signature.
Dr. Harris.
My doctor had performed surgery.
But the pregnancy was not yet part of the record.
Someone had altered the file afterward.
“Who changed it?”
Michael shook his head.
“I don't know.”
I looked at the delivery record again.
July 19.
I had never known that date.
For eighteen years, I had celebrated the anniversary of my overdose.
I had never celebrated my daughter's birthday.
Lily sat beside me.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you look for me?”
My throat tightened.
“I thought you were dead.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
“And I was told the pregnancy was gone.”
“I know.”
“But if I had known…”
“You would have found me.”
“Yes.”
She looked down.
“I used to imagine that.”
“Imagine what?”
“My mother finding me.”
I reached for her hand.
“I wish I had.”
She squeezed my fingers.
Across the room, Michael turned away.
Jake watched him.
“You should tell her everything.”
Michael nodded.
“I will.”
He opened the black notebook again.
“There is one thing I never told you.”
I looked at him.
“Of course there is.”
He accepted the bitterness.
“After Lily was born, Margaret took her. But she wasn't the only person involved.”
“Who else?”
“Your father.”
I stared.
“My father was alive?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
“He had arranged everything before his death.”
I looked at the notebook.
There were dates.
July 20.
July 21.
July 22.
Then a final entry.
Susan must never know until Lily can protect herself.
My heart hurt.
“My father made this decision.”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Michael looked at me.
“Because he told me something I didn't know.”
“What?”
“He said Daniel wasn't the only person inside the scheme.”
I waited.
“Your father's business partner was involved.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
Michael didn't answer.
Instead, he turned the page.
The name was written there.
Robert Miller.
My father's brother.
My uncle.
I stared.
“He's dead.”
“No.”
I looked up.
Michael's expression was grim.
“He's alive.”
I stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.
“My uncle has been alive all this time?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Michael hesitated.
“Very close.”
A noise came from outside.
The same dark vehicle was parked across the street.
But this time, another car had stopped behind it.
A man stepped out.
Even from the window, I recognized him.
My uncle Robert.
He looked toward the house.
Then he raised one hand.
Not waving.
Warning.
Michael moved the curtains shut.
“We need to go.”
“Why?”
“Because now they know we have the records.”
Lily looked frightened.
Jake stood beside her.
“What do we do?”
Michael looked at all three of us.
“Get to the safe place your grandfather prepared.”
I stared at him.
“You knew about a safe place?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
He looked at Lily.
“Somewhere Robert has never been able to find.”
Daniel's documents were still spread across the table.
One page had fallen to the floor.
I picked it up.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
The trust can only be activated if mother and daughter appear together before the appointed trustee.
I looked at Lily.
Then Michael.
“What happens if we do?”
Michael's face tightened.
“Then everyone who has been waiting for that moment will know exactly where you are.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: We Went Looking for the Trustee Before the Family Secret Could Be Used Against Us, but Someone Had Already Changed the Appointment
After Eighteen Silent Years, One Question From My Doctor Made Me Realize My Husband Had Been Hiding More Than Resentment
Part 6 of 12
