CHAPTER 4 — The Secret Hidden Beneath the Ashes
Darkness swallowed the conference room.
The gunshot still echoed through the hotel.
When the emergency lights flickered back on...
Dana was gone.
So was the baby.
Adrian's heart nearly stopped.
"No..."
He sprinted into the hallway.
Guests screamed as officers rushed through the hotel.
The fake policemen had disappeared.
Only one security guard remained conscious.
His hands trembled as he pointed toward the underground parking garage.
"They took... the little girl..."
Detective Evelyn Brooks immediately ordered every exit sealed.
But it was already too late.
The black SUVs had vanished into the storm.
Three hours later...
Police searched Dana's tiny shelter near the East River landfill.
It wasn't a home.
It was an abandoned shipping container held together with plywood and plastic sheets.
Inside...
There were no toys.
No television.
No bed.
Only twelve small blankets folded carefully in one corner.
Twelve.
Exactly the same number as the babies in the photograph.
Each blanket had a handwritten name stitched into it.
Some had tiny socks beside them.
Others still held baby bottles.
Detective Brooks slowly picked up a notebook hidden beneath a loose floorboard.
Every page contained dates.
Locations.
Descriptions.
"Baby found behind supermarket."
"Boy rescued from riverbank."
"Girl left outside hospital."
Beside every name...
Dana had written only one sentence.
"I hope someone loves you."
The detective wiped away tears.
An eight-year-old child had become the mother no one else would be.
Then Adrian noticed something strange.
Inside the notebook...
A folded map.
Several locations had been marked with red circles.
Every one of them...
Was connected to properties owned by Victor Laurent.
The trafficking network wasn't random.
It had been carefully planned for years.
Meanwhile...
Inside an abandoned warehouse outside the city...
Dana slowly opened her eyes.
She was tied to a metal chair.
The baby slept nearby in a portable crib.
A tall man stepped out of the shadows.
Gray hair.
Tailored black suit.
Cold blue eyes.
Victor Laurent.
Celeste's father.
He smiled.
"You've caused me a great deal of trouble, little girl."
Dana stared at him without speaking.
Victor leaned closer.
"Where is the flash drive?"
Dana frowned.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
His smile disappeared.
"Oh..."
"You do."
"Because your mother died protecting it."
Dana's entire body froze.
"My... mother?"
Victor nodded slowly.
"The woman you believe abandoned you..."
"...was my former accountant."
"And before she died..."
"...she stole everything."
Dana's world shattered.
She had spent eight years believing she had never been wanted.
May you like
Now...
Someone had murdered the only person who had tried to save her.
