Chapter 8: The Daughter Nobody Was Allowed to Find
The girl stood on the staircase, one hand gripping the railing, the other pressed against her chest.
She looked frightened.
Not startled by a stranger.
Frightened by the possibility that the stranger might recognize her.
Victoria moved in front of her.
“Go upstairs, sweetheart.””
The girl shook her head.
“No.””
“Please.””
“Who is he?””
Victoria closed her eyes.
For the first time since I'd met her, she looked less like my mother and more like a woman who had spent years running from something she could no longer escape.
“His name is Daniel.””
The girl stared at me.
I looked back at her.
The resemblance was impossible to ignore.
My father's eyes. My mother's mouth. The same slight crease between the eyebrows that appeared whenever I was confused.
And the scar.
I had gotten mine when I fell against the edge of a garden wall at age six. My mother had rushed me to the hospital, crying harder than I was.
This girl had the same scar in almost exactly the same place.
“What's your name?”” I asked.
She hesitated.
“Lily.””
Victoria turned toward her.
“Lily, please.””
The girl stepped down one stair.
“Why does he look like the photographs?””
I swallowed.
“What photographs?””
She looked at Victoria.
“The ones you told me never to show anyone.””
Victoria's face crumpled.
I felt my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Lily, how old are you?””
“Seventeen.””
“And when were you born?””
“March fourteenth.””
My birthday was March fourteenth.
I gripped the edge of the doorway.
“That doesn't mean—”
“I know,” Lily said quickly.
“But you have the same birthday.””
Victoria looked between us.
Then she whispered, “Daniel, she's your daughter.””
The words seemed to remove every sound from the room.
I couldn't hear the traffic outside. I couldn't hear the rain striking the boarded windows. I couldn't even hear my own breathing.
I stared at Lily.
“My daughter?””
She nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks.
I shook my head.
“No. I have one daughter.””
Victoria's voice broke.
“You have two.””
I backed away.
“That's impossible.””
“I know what you were told.””
“What I was told?”” I repeated.
“I was never told anything about this!””
Lily flinched.
Victoria reached for her, but the girl stepped away.
“You said he would never find me.””
“I was trying to protect you.””
“From what?””
Victoria looked at me.
“From the people who took you from him.””
I pressed my hands against my face.
Seventeen years.
For seventeen years, I'd believed my life began with a childhood full of ordinary struggles, a loving mother, and a father who worked too hard.
I'd never known that a daughter might have been born to me before I'd even had the chance to become a father.
I was twenty-four when Lily was born.
I'd been dating a woman named Elise Morgan for less than a year. We'd broken up after a series of arguments about work and money. She moved away, and I eventually met Renee.
I remembered Elise telling me she wanted to talk.
I remembered missing her call because I was in a meeting.
I remembered calling back the following day and reaching a disconnected number.
Then, three weeks later, I'd received a letter saying she had decided to start over somewhere else.
I'd assumed she'd wanted nothing more to do with me.
“Where is Elise?”” I asked.
Victoria looked away.
“She's dead.””
I stared at her.
“How?””
“Complications after childbirth.””
Lily's face crumpled.
“You said she died in a car accident.””
Victoria closed her eyes.
“I lied.””
The girl backed away as if she'd been struck.
“You told me my mother died before I could remember her.””
“I thought it was safer.””
“You told me she didn't want me.””
Victoria began to cry.
“I never said—”
“You did!”” Lily shouted.
“You told me that nobody came for me because nobody wanted me!””
The sound echoed through the empty building.
I took a step toward Lily.
“That's not true.””
She turned toward me.
“You don't know anything about me.””
“No,” I admitted.
“I don't.””
“Then don't pretend you do.””
I stopped.
She was right.
I had no right to demand that a frightened seventeen-year-old accept me as her father simply because a woman had made a claim.
I lowered my voice.
“What's your full name?””
“Lily Morgan.””
“Who raised you?””
“Victoria.””
“Did she tell you anything about your father?””
Lily laughed bitterly.
“She told me he was a man who chose his career over me. She said he knew I existed and never wanted to see me.””
I looked at Victoria.
She couldn't meet my eyes.
“Why?”” I whispered.
Victoria wiped her cheeks.
“Because your father was trying to keep you safe. Because Elise's family had connections to the people who were stealing from the company. Because the adoption records were altered, and someone had decided that Lily would be more useful as a secret than as a child.””
“Useful to whom?””
Victoria hesitated.
Then she reached into her handbag and pulled out a thin folder.
Inside were hospital records, adoption papers, and a photograph of a newborn wrapped in a white blanket.
My hands trembled as I turned the pages.
The birth certificate listed my name as the father.
The date matched Lily's birthday.
My signature appeared on a consent form authorizing temporary guardianship.
I stared at it.
“I never signed this.””
“I know,” Victoria said.
“The signature is fake.””
“Yes.””
“Then how did you get these documents?””
“Your father gave them to me.””
“When?””
“Before the accident.””
I looked up.
“Why didn't he tell me?””
“Because he was trying to locate Elise's family. He believed the adoption had been arranged without her consent.””
Lily crossed her arms.
“So what? You both knew I existed, and nobody came for me?””
Victoria flinched.
“I tried.””
“When?””
“Every year.””
“You sent birthday cards?””
Victoria nodded.
“I left them with the agency.””
Lily stared at her.
“I never received a single one.””
“I know.””
“Then what happened to them?””
Victoria looked at me.
I understood before she spoke.
“Someone intercepted them.””
She nodded.
“The agency was connected to the same legal office that handled the company's transfers. Graham Mercer had access to the records.””
I felt sick.
Graham had not merely hidden money.
He had helped erase a child.
And my father had known.
“Why did you keep Lily hidden after the adoption?”” I asked.
Victoria's voice became small.
“Because someone threatened to take her away if I tried to expose the fraud. They told me that if I contacted you, Renee would lose her job, Amara would be taken from you, and Lily would disappear into the system.””
I thought of the message Renee had received.
They know we found it.
The threats had never been random.
They had been calculated to keep every member of our family isolated.
I looked at Lily.
“Do you have any idea how much time we've lost?””
She lifted her chin.
“You lost time. I lost my entire childhood.””
I had no answer.
She wiped her cheeks angrily.
“I don't want your money. I don't want your house. I don't want you to pretend you're going to become some perfect father overnight.””
“I wouldn't know how.””
“Good. At least you're honest.””
A small, broken smile crossed my face.
“I can promise you one thing. I'll never tell you that nobody wanted you.””
Lily looked away.
For a moment, I thought she might cry again.
Instead, she asked, “Does your wife know about me?””
“Not until today.””
“Does your daughter?””
I shook my head.
“No.””
“Then she must hate me.””
“Why would she hate you?””
“Because I'm proof that you had another family.””
I thought of Amara sitting in the hospital bed, clutching her trophy while asking whether her grandfather was alive.
I thought of Renee, who had stood beside me through every loss and every disappointment.
“Amara is eleven,” I said.
“She's a child. If she meets you, she'll probably ask a hundred questions and try to show you her trophy.””
Lily almost smiled.
“What's her name?””
“Amara.””
“Is she nice?””
“She can be stubborn.””
“Like you?””
“Exactly like me.””
Lily gave a tiny laugh.
Then her expression hardened again.
“Why did you come here tonight?””
I showed her the note.
“We were told that if we brought the ledger, someone would tell us where my father was.””
Victoria's face changed.
“You brought the original?””
“No. The police have the evidence.””
“Good.””
She crossed the room and locked the door.
“Then we have very little time.””
“Why?””
“Because Graham knows about the ledger. He knows Evelyn is alive. And now he knows you've found Lily.””
“How?””
Victoria pointed toward the window.
A small black device was attached beneath the sill.
A camera.
I stared at it.
“He's been watching you?””
“Not just me.””
She reached into her folder and pulled out a second photograph.
It showed Amara outside Westbridge Preparatory School three days earlier, walking beside a teacher.
On the back was a handwritten message.
*THE YOUNGER DAUGHTER IS THE LEVERAGE.*
My stomach turned.
“Who took this?””
“I don't know.””
Lily stepped closer.
“That's your daughter?””
“Yes.””
She studied the photograph.
“She looks happy.””
“She usually is.””
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“Then keep her that way.””
A loud crash sounded outside.
Someone had broken through the boarded front window.
I grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her behind me.
“Stay back.””
Footsteps crossed the entry hall.
A man's voice called out.
“Victoria! We know you're in there!””
Victoria went pale.
Lily whispered, “It's him.””
“Who?””
“The man who comes when Mom says she needs to be reminded of the rules.””
The footsteps stopped outside the room.
Then a voice spoke through the door.
“Daniel, open up. We need to discuss your family.””
I recognized it immediately.
Graham Mercer.
I looked at Victoria.
She was shaking.
“There's another way out,” she whispered.
“Through the basement.””
I moved toward the stairs, keeping Lily behind me.
But before we reached the door, Graham spoke again.
“There's no point running, Daniel. I have something you need to hear.””
A phone began playing a recording in the hallway.
My father's voice filled the building.
“Daniel, if you ever discover Lily, do not trust Victoria. She knows what happened to your mother.””
Victoria closed her eyes.
May you like
Lily stared at her.
And I realized that the woman who had kept my daughter alive might also have been the person who helped destroy my family.
