CHAPTER 5 – The Secret They Were Still Willing to Kill For
Jack shoved Emily toward the house.
"Lock every door."
"Now."
The black SUV sped away before police arrived.
But Detective Ryan recognized it immediately.
The license plate belonged to a company that no longer officially existed.
Twenty-three years earlier...
It had been linked to a powerful child-trafficking network.
Most members had been arrested.
Some had vanished forever.
Detective Ryan reopened the recovered evidence from the cabin.
This time...
He noticed something everyone had missed.
One photograph showed six frightened children.
Five had already been identified.
The sixth child...
Had never been found.
Jack stared at the picture for nearly a minute.
Then his face turned pale.
"Oh my God..."
Emily looked closer.
"What is it?"
Jack pointed toward the little boy standing in the corner.
Around his neck hung a silver pendant shaped like a tiny wolf.
Emily's hands began trembling.
She rushed upstairs.
Opened Noah's keepsake box.
Inside...
Was the exact same pendant.
Her late husband had told her it had belonged to his father.
Nothing more.
Detective Ryan's voice became almost a whisper.
"Emily..."
"Where exactly did your husband grow up?"
Emily swallowed hard.
"He... never knew."
"He was adopted."
Silence filled the room.
Jack slowly looked into Emily's eyes.
"I think your husband..."
"...was the missing boy."
If that was true...
Then Noah wasn't just the baby Shadow had saved.
He was the last living heir connected to one of the biggest unsolved crimes in the state's history.
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And somewhere...
The people responsible had just learned he was alive.
