CHAPTER 8 — The Wife's Impossible Secret
Daniel raced home at nearly one hundred miles per hour.
The front door was wide open.
Furniture was overturned.
Glass covered the floor.
"Melissa!"
No answer.
Then he noticed something on the dining table.
A wedding photograph.
Across it, someone had written in red paint:
"YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED DIGGING."
Daniel searched every room.
Nothing.
Until he heard a weak voice from the basement.
Melissa was tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Terrified.
He cut the ropes as fast as he could.
"I'm so sorry," she cried.
"I wanted to tell you years ago."
Daniel stared at her.
"You knew Emily was alive."
Melissa nodded through tears.
"I met her six years ago."
"She found me before she ever tried to find you."
"She wasn't hiding from you..."
"She was hiding from your family."
Melissa reached into her jacket and pulled out a small flash drive.
"I promised Emily I would protect this until the day your parents made their next move."
Daniel inserted the drive into his laptop.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Bank transfers.
Private investigator reports.
Secret recordings.
Then one video automatically began playing.
Richard Carter and Victoria Carter sat across from a man in a dark suit.
Richard slid a briefcase across the table.
"No witnesses."
"No loose ends."
"And if Emily ever comes back..."
"...make sure she disappears permanently."
The room went silent.
Daniel realized the nightmare was far worse than he had imagined.
His parents hadn't simply lied.
They had allegedly ordered Emily's disappearance.
At that exact moment, the television in the living room turned on by itself.
A live news broadcast interrupted every channel.
The anchor looked directly into the camera.
"We have breaking news."
"A woman believed to have died sixteen years ago has just walked into the Federal Bureau of Investigation with evidence involving one of America's most powerful families."
The screen switched to live footage.
Surrounded by federal agents...
A woman slowly stepped out of a black SUV.
She lifted her face toward the cameras.
Ava dropped to her knees, sobbing.
"Dad..."
May you like
"It's Mom."
To be continued...
