Chapter 3 - The Trap Closes"Kidnapping?" Daniel demanded, his voice shaking with righteous fury. "Ethan’s daughters? That’s a disgusting lie!"
"She produced birth certificates, Daniel," Marcus warned, his hands trembling as he typed rapidly on his keyboard. "Official state records registered six months ago. Ethan and Lauren are listed as the legal parents of Ivy and Skye Whitmore. On paper, those children legally belong to your brother!"
Daniel felt a suffocating pressure in his chest. Margaret had planned this for years. They knew Claire was using a surrogate. When Claire died, Ethan and Lauren fraudulently claimed the surrogate infants as their own to gain control over the massive trust fund Claire had established for her unborn heirs.
Outside Marcus's office, police sirens wailed, echoing off the skyscraper walls. Red and blue lights flashed against the glass windows.
"You have to run," Marcus urged, grabbing a secure burner phone from his drawer and pressing it into Daniel's hand. "If the police take you into custody today, Margaret will take the girls. Once she has them, those innocent children will 'disappear' in an unfortunate accident to ensure the secret never comes out."
"I won't let them touch my daughters," Daniel growled.
Marcus led Daniel, Ivy, and Skye through a private service elevator used for high-profile clients, emerging into a dark underground parking garage. "Go to my cabin in Wisconsin. The key is in the burner phone case. I will stay here, delay the police, and secretly run the DNA test using the hair samples from the girls' brushes."
Daniel rushed the girls into a rental vehicle Marcus had arranged. As he sped out of the garage, he saw three police cruisers pull up to the building's front entrance with their weapons drawn.
He had narrowly escaped, but he was now a wanted fugitive in his own country.
Driving north toward the dense forests of Wisconsin, Daniel watched his daughters in the rearview mirror. Skye was gently holding Ivy’s hand, sharing a small piece of biscuit. Despite the horror surrounding them, they were safe for now.
That night, tucked away in the remote, snow-dusted cabin, Daniel sat by the fireplace with the girls. Ivy looked up at him with eyes so eerily similar to Claire’s that it made his heart ache.
"Uncle Daniel?" Ivy asked softly.
"Call me Daddy, sweetheart," Daniel said, his voice cracking with emotion. "I am your daddy."
Skye tilted her head. "Daddy... why is bad Grandma angry at us? Mommy Helen said bad Grandma gave Mommy Claire the bitter water."
Daniel froze. "Bitter water?"
"Every day," Skye whispered. "Bad Grandma gave Mommy Claire bitter water in a red cup. Then Mommy Claire became very sleepy and couldn't wake up."
The evidence was piling up, but Daniel needed cold, hard medical proof to overturn the forged birth certificates and prove murder.
Suddenly, the burner phone buzzed on the table. It was an encrypted text message from Marcus.
Daniel picked it up. His eyes widened as he read the text:
“Daniel, the DNA results are in. It’s confirmed—they are 100% yours and Claire’s. BUT DO NOT TRUST ANYONE. Margaret knows where you are. Your brother Ethan just left Chicago with three armed men. GET OUT NOW!”
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Before Daniel could even stand up, the headlights of two heavy SUVs swept through the cabin’s front windows.
CHAPTER 3 HOOK: Trapped in a remote cabin in the middle of a snowstorm, Daniel faces his brother Ethan and a squad of armed mercenaries coming to eliminate the evidence forever.
