CHAPTER 3 – Locker 317
Ethan didn’t wait for the suited man to open the taxi door.
He slammed the car into reverse.
Metal screamed as the taxi smashed into one of the black SUVs. A man shouted. Another slipped on the wet pavement. Ethan twisted the wheel and sped into the night with his heart pounding like a gunshot inside his chest.
Only one thought repeated in his mind.
Trust no one... not even your own daughter.
His daughter, Lily, was nineteen. Sweet. Fragile. The only reason he still woke up every morning.
But why would Emily warn him about her?
At Grand Central Station, Ethan found Locker 317 hidden near the old lower-level platform.
His hands shook as he turned the silver key.
Inside was a small black box.
A birth certificate.
A flash drive.
And a hospital bracelet with the name:
Lily Carter.
But the date was wrong.
Lily hadn’t been born nineteen years ago.
According to the bracelet…
she was born twenty years ago.
The same night Emily “died.”
Before Ethan could process it, his phone rang.
It was Lily.
“Dad,” she whispered.
Her voice was trembling.
“Please don’t go home.”
Ethan’s blood turned cold.
“Lily, what’s happening?”
A long silence followed.
May you like
Then she said the words that destroyed him.
“Because Mom is there.”
