Chapter 6: The Missing Minutes
I drove faster than I should have.
Not recklessly.
Not dangerously.
But with the kind of urgency that makes every red light feel personal.
Aaliyah’s words kept repeating in my head.
They took the part of the recording that mentioned your name.
That wasn’t random.
Someone hadn’t broken into her apartment looking for money.
They hadn’t taken jewelry.
They hadn’t taken electronics.
They had searched for one thing.
The truth.
And somehow, after ten years of silence, the truth had finally started fighting its way out.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel.
Because I knew what the missing recording probably contained.
Something Daniel wanted Aaliyah to hear.
Something he trusted me to deliver.
Something someone had been afraid of.
When I arrived at Aaliyah’s apartment building, she was standing outside near the entrance.
She looked smaller somehow.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
The confident woman in the graduation gown was gone.
This was the girl who used to run to me when storms scared her.
Except now, I wasn’t sure she wanted to run to me anymore.
She saw my car and walked toward me.
“Marcus.””
I got out immediately.
“Are you okay?””
She nodded.
Then shook her head.
“I don’t know.””
That answer hurt because it was honest.
I looked toward the building.
“Did you call the police?””
“Not yet.””
“Why?””
She hesitated.
“Because I don’t know what I would even tell them.””
I understood.
How do you explain that someone broke into your apartment to steal a recording about your dead biological father?
It sounded impossible.
But impossible had become normal.
“Show me.””
She led me upstairs.
The apartment looked mostly normal.
That was the first thing I noticed.
No broken windows.
No damaged door.
No obvious signs of forced entry.
I stepped inside carefully.
“Did you leave it unlocked?””
“No.””
She closed the door behind us.
“I always lock it.””
I looked at the lock.
No damage.
That bothered me.
“How did they get in?””
Aaliyah crossed her arms.
“That’s what I’ve been asking myself.””
I walked through the apartment.
The living room was untouched.
The television was still there.
Her laptop was on the table.
Her purse sat by the couch.
Nothing looked stolen.
Then I reached the bedroom.
The drawers were open.
Not all of them.
Just one.
The one where she had placed the envelope.
I stopped.
“Aaliyah.””
She stood behind me.
“I know.””
I looked inside.
Empty.
The envelope was gone.
But everything else was still there.
“Who knew you had it?””
She shook her head.
“Only you, my mom, and Derek.””
The room became quiet.
I didn’t like where my thoughts were going.
“You trust Derek?””
Her face changed.
“I don’t know.””
That answer told me everything.
“I’m not saying he did this.””
“I know.””
“But…”
“But everyone has lied to me.””
She sat on the edge of the bed.
“I don’t know who is protecting me and who is protecting themselves.””
I had no argument.
Because that was exactly what had happened.
I looked around the room.
Then something caught my eye.
A small black piece of plastic near the window.
I picked it up.
Aaliyah stood.
“What is that?””
I turned it over.
A memory card.
My stomach tightened.
“It’s a copy.””
“Of what?””
“I don’t know.””
I walked to the table.
“Do you have a computer?””
“Yes.””
She grabbed her laptop.
My hands felt heavier than they should have as I inserted the card.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then a folder appeared.
One file.
No title.
Just a date.
Ten years ago.
Aaliyah looked at me.
“Should we open it?””
I stared at the screen.
“No.””
She frowned.
“What?””
I looked at her.
“Not because we shouldn’t.””
I paused.
“Because I’m scared of what we’re going to hear.””
For the first time that night, she didn’t look angry at me.
She looked like she understood.
Then she nodded.
“Play it.””
I clicked.
Static.
Then a voice.
Daniel.
But this time, he sounded different.
Not broken.
Not afraid.
Determined.
“Marcus, if you’re hearing this, something happened.””
My heart stopped.
Aaliyah looked at me.
The recording continued.
“I need you to understand something. I didn’t leave because I wanted to.””
A pause.
“I left because someone made sure I couldn’t come back.””
Aaliyah covered her mouth.
I felt cold.
Because this was not the story I knew.
Daniel hadn’t just disappeared.
He had been stopped.
“Marcus, I know you’re angry with me.””
My eyes burned.
“You should be.””
The recording crackled.
“But I need you to listen carefully.””
Aaliyah leaned closer.
“Don’t let them tell Aaliyah that I abandoned her.””
A silence.
“Because the person who kept me away from my daughter is the same person who will try to keep this message from reaching her.””
The recording cut.
Then came a second voice.
A woman.
Aaliyah froze.
I recognized it immediately.
Renee.
“No…”
Her voice was barely audible.
The recording continued.
Renee sounded younger.
Desperate.
“Daniel, you can’t do this.””
Daniel responded.
“You already did.””
“What does that mean?”” Aaliyah whispered.
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know.
The recording continued.
“You told Marcus I was gone because you wanted him to raise her.””
Renee’s voice broke.
“I was trying to protect my daughter.””
“No.””
Daniel sounded angry.
“You were trying to control the situation.””
Aaliyah looked at me.
Her eyes widened.
The recording continued.
“You don’t get to decide who loves her.””
Renee cried.
“You don’t understand.””
“I understand everything.””
A long pause.
Then Daniel said something that made my entire body go numb.
“I know about the money.””
Aaliyah looked confused.
“What money?””
I didn’t know.
Neither did she.
The recording continued.
“You think I don’t know what happened after Aaliyah was born?””
Renee whispered:
“Daniel, stop.””
“No.””
His voice hardened.
“You took the money.””
Silence.
“What money?”” Aaliyah asked again.
I couldn’t answer.
Because I was hearing this for the first time.
Daniel continued.
“The settlement money from my accident.””
Renee didn’t respond.
Then:
“You used my daughter’s future to build a life with someone else.””
Aaliyah stood up.
“What?””
The recording stopped.
The room went silent.
I stared at the screen.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Nothing.
The file was over.
Aaliyah slowly turned toward me.
“My mother took money?””
“I don’t know.””
“But Daniel said she did.””
“I heard him.””
“And you knew nothing?””
“No.””
She looked away.
Her whole world was breaking again.
But this time, I wasn’t the only person standing in the wreckage.
Aaliyah grabbed her phone.
“I’m calling my mom.””
I reached out.
“Aaliyah, wait.””
She looked at me.
“Why?””
“Because we don’t know everything yet.””
She laughed.
A painful, exhausted laugh.
“Marcus, that’s all anyone keeps saying.””
She grabbed her jacket.
“I’m done waiting for everyone else to decide when I deserve the truth.””
I watched her walk toward the door.
And I understood.
She wasn’t running away from me.
She was running toward answers.
But before she opened the door, her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
“What?””
I stepped closer.
“Who is it?””
She didn’t answer.
She just stared.
Then slowly handed me the phone.
The caller ID showed a name.
A name I hadn’t seen in ten years.
A name I thought was impossible.
Daniel Carter.
My blood turned cold.
“That’s not possible,” I whispered.
Aaliyah looked at me.
The phone kept ringing.
“Marcus…”
I stared at the screen.
Because there was only one explanation.
Either someone was using Daniel’s name.
May you like
Or the man we thought was gone…
was never gone at all.