CHAPTER 5: MY DAUGHTER CALLS ANOTHER WOMAN "MOM"
The phone hit the floor.
"Hello, brother."
The words echoed in Nathaniel's head.
Impossible.
Emily Cross had died twenty years ago.
At least, that's what everyone believed.
A fire.
A closed bedroom door.
A tiny coffin.
A grieving family.
An ending.
Or so he had been told.
"Nathaniel…" Claire whispered.
But he couldn't hear her.
On the other end of the line, the woman laughed softly.
"You always believed what Father wanted you to believe."
His hands trembled.
"Emily?"
"I've missed hearing my name."
Maria clutched Lily tighter.
The little girl looked confused.
"Who's Emily?"
No one answered.
Nathaniel picked up the phone.
"Where are you?"
"Closer than you think."
"What did you do to Sarah?"
Silence.
Then:
"I loved Sarah."
"What?"
"I loved her more than you ever did."
The line went dead.
Everyone stood frozen.
Then the security monitor beeped again.
A new file appeared.
LIVE CAMERA FEED – FRONT GATE
Nathaniel looked at the screen.
A woman stood outside.
Rain poured around her.
She slowly removed her hood.
Claire gasped.
Maria nearly dropped Lily.
She looked exactly like the little girl in the family photographs Nathaniel remembered.
Except she wasn't a little girl anymore.
She was a woman in her thirties.
Emily Cross.
Alive.
And she wasn't alone.
Standing beside her was a child.
A little girl.
Around six years old.
Long dark curls.
Pink coat.
Holding a stuffed elephant.
The same stuffed elephant that had once been sitting inside the yellow nursery.
Nathaniel's heart stopped.
The child looked up at the camera.
Then she smiled.
And waved.
Emily spoke into the gate intercom.
"Open the door, Nathaniel."
No one moved.
"Open it."
Still silence.
Then she said the words that shattered him.
"Your daughter wants to meet her father."
The room erupted.
Maria covered her mouth.
Claire began crying.
The security guards looked at one another in disbelief.
Nathaniel couldn't breathe.
The little girl on the screen…
had Sarah's eyes.
Exactly Sarah's eyes.
And then—
"Daddy?"
Everyone turned.
Lily was staring at the monitor.
She pointed at the child outside.
"That's the pretty girl's little girl."
A chill ran through the room.
Nathaniel slowly walked toward the front door.
"Sir…" one of the guards warned.
But he kept walking.
His hand reached the lock.
He hesitated.
Three years of grief.
Three years of loneliness.
Three years of believing his wife and daughter were gone.
And now…
A child was standing outside calling him father.
He opened the door.
Rain and cold air rushed inside.
Emily stood there.
Her eyes filled with tears.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Then she smiled sadly.
"You grew old, brother."
Nathaniel stared at her.
"You're dead."
"So are a lot of things."
The little girl beside her stepped forward.
She looked up at him curiously.
Then she asked:
"Are you my daddy?"
The world seemed to stop.
Nathaniel couldn't answer.
He simply stared.
The child had Sarah's smile.
Sarah's dimples.
Sarah's eyes.
Tears blurred his vision.
Emily gently placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Her name is Grace."
Grace.
The name Sarah had chosen for their daughter.
Nathaniel staggered backward.
"No…"
Emily nodded.
"Yes."
He looked at the little girl.
Then back at Emily.
"Where has she been?"
"With me."
"For three years?"
"Yes."
"WHY?"
His voice thundered through the mansion.
Grace flinched.
Emily's face crumpled.
"Because Sarah asked me to."
Silence.
"What?"
"The day before the accident, Sarah came to me."
Nathaniel stared at her.
"She said someone was trying to take the baby."
"Who?"
Emily looked away.
"Our father."
The room froze.
Nathaniel's face turned white.
"No."
"He found out that Sarah planned to change her will."
"What does that have to do with the baby?"
"Everything."
Emily swallowed hard.
"Sarah had inherited her family's company."
Nathaniel frowned.
"And?"
"If she died, her fortune would go to her child."
He suddenly understood.
"No…"
"If the baby disappeared, everything would eventually pass into the Cross family trust."
Thunder crashed outside.
"Our father was drowning in debt," Emily said quietly.
"He needed money."
"No."
"He planned to fake the baby's death."
"No."
"He never planned to kill Sarah."
Nathaniel felt sick.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
The little girl tugged at Emily's sleeve.
"Mommy…"
Nathaniel froze.
Mommy?
Grace looked up at Emily.
"I'm sleepy."
Mommy.
The word cut through him like a knife.
Three years.
For three years another woman had held his daughter.
Fed her.
Comforted her.
Read her bedtime stories.
And now…
His daughter called someone else "Mom."
Emily looked at him with tears in her eyes.
"She doesn't know me as her aunt."
Silence.
"She thinks I'm her mother."
The words broke something inside him.
He looked at the little girl.
His little girl.
His daughter.
A stranger.
Then Grace walked toward him.
She tilted her head.
"You look sad."
His throat tightened.
The same words Lily had spoken.
The same gentle expression.
The same heart as Sarah.
Grace reached into her pocket.
Then she pulled out a small yellow flower.
A dandelion.
She held it out to him.
"Mommy says flowers help when people miss someone."
Nathaniel's hands began to shake.
Another dandelion.
Another little girl.
Another chance at life.
Slowly, he knelt in front of her.
Tears streamed down his face.
"Grace…"
She smiled.
Then she asked the question he had dreamed of hearing for three years.
"Can I have a hug, Daddy?"
Nathaniel broke.
He pulled her into his arms and sobbed.
The little girl wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.
And for the first time since Sarah died…
the mansion no longer felt empty.
But behind them…
Emily wasn't smiling.
She was staring into the darkness beyond the gates.
At a black car parked across the street.
Its headlights were off.
Someone was inside.
Watching.
Then Emily whispered words that no one else heard.
"He found us."
And inside the black car…
May you like
a man picked up his phone and said:
"Bring the child to me tonight."
