Chapter 2 - The Mother Who Said His Daughter Never DiedJack didn't think.
He moved.
He pulled Lena behind him just as the first window shattered.
Marissa screamed.
Jack grabbed the girl and pushed her beneath the old wooden staircase.
“Stay down!”
“Daddy?”
That single word almost destroyed him.
Jack turned.
Lena had called him Daddy.
Not him.
Her father in memory.
But for a second, the sound cut through him.
“I've got you,” he whispered.
Marissa dragged a heavy table across the doorway.
“Back room!”
Jack carried Lena.
They ran through a narrow hallway.
Another shot exploded.
Wood splintered above his head.
“Who are they?” Jack shouted.
Marissa didn't answer.
She pulled open a basement door.
“Down!”
They descended.
The basement was dark.
Cold.
Damp.
But there was another exit.
A broken window at ground level.
Jack crawled through first.
Snow soaked his hands.
He lifted Lena through.
Marissa followed.
They ran behind the building.
A black SUV waited at the end of the street.
Jack reached his own car.
“Get in!”
Marissa hesitated.
“Your car is tracked.”
“What?”
“They know you.”
“How?”
“Because your father hired them.”
Jack froze.
“My father?”
His father had been dead for seven years.
Marissa shook her head.
“Not your biological father.”
Jack stared.
“What are you talking about?”
“We have no time.”
They drove.
The black SUV followed.
Jack pressed the accelerator.
Lena cried quietly in the back.
Marissa kept looking through the rear window.
“They're close.”
“Who are they?”
“Men who were paid to make sure Lena remained missing.”
Jack's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Why?”
Marissa looked at him.
“Because your family believes she's dead.”
Jack shook his head.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
“Tell me now.”
Marissa finally spoke.
“Three years ago, your wife didn't die in an accident.”
Jack slammed the brakes.
“What?”
“The crash was staged.”
His breathing stopped.
“Callie wasn't in that car.”
“What about Samantha?”
His wife.
The mother of his child.
The woman the police had pronounced dead at the scene of a supposed highway accident.
Marissa looked down.
“Callie and Samantha were taken.”
Jack stared ahead.
The SUV slowed behind them.
“They kidnapped my wife?”
“Yes.”
“And my daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marissa's voice broke.
“Because your wife discovered something.”
“What?”
“Money.”
Jack almost laughed.
“That's why?”
“No.”
Marissa looked at Lena.
“She discovered who your family really was.”
Jack's heart raced.
“My family?”
“Your grandfather built Cooper Holdings from nothing.”
“I know.”
“He didn't.”
Jack frowned.
“What?”
“He stole it.”
Silence.
Marissa explained.
Jack's grandfather had built his fortune through a shipping and construction empire.
But behind the legitimate businesses was a hidden network of shell companies, bribery, land manipulation, and fraudulent acquisitions.
Samantha had discovered evidence.
She intended to expose it.
Before she could, she disappeared.
Jack's father had helped cover it up.
Then Jack had been told his wife and daughter were dead.
For three years, he had grieved.
While they were alive.
Jack's eyes filled.
“Why didn't she contact me?”
“She tried.”
“How?”
“She mailed letters.”
“I never received them.”
“Your father intercepted them.”
Jack's stomach turned.
His father had been dead.
But someone had continued the cover-up.
“Who?”
Marissa hesitated.
“Your uncle.”
Jack froze.
“Ethan?”
“Yes.”
His father's younger brother.
Ethan Cooper controlled the family's private foundation.
He had been the one who told Jack not to investigate the accident.
The one who had offered financial support.
The one who had said:
“Some things are better left buried.”
Jack realized he'd trusted the wrong man.
The SUV suddenly accelerated.
“Hold on!” Jack shouted.
He turned sharply into a side road.
The SUV followed.
Lena screamed.
Jack drove toward an old parking structure.
He entered.
Turned.
Went down one level.
Then another.
He switched off the headlights.
The SUV passed.
Silence.
Jack breathed.
Marissa whispered:
“We have maybe ten minutes.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
“Your old house.”
Jack looked at her.
“I don't have an old house.”
“You do.”
“What?”
“Your mother.”
Jack stared.
“She bought one before she died.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Because she knew something would happen.”
They reached the house.
It had been abandoned for years.
Jack unlocked it using a key Marissa gave him.
Inside were boxes.
Photographs.
Documents.
A nursery.
Jack stopped.
A small yellow room.
A little bed.
Cloud-shaped stickers on the wall.
Callie's name painted above it.
His knees weakened.
“She stayed here?”
Marissa nodded.
“When?”
“For six months after the accident.”
Jack touched the bed.
His hand trembled.
Lena entered behind him.
“This was mine?”
Jack turned.
“Yes.”
She stared around.
“Mommy told me about this room.”
Jack sat on the edge of the bed.
“When?”
“All the time.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That Daddy built it.”
Jack closed his eyes.
“I did.”
Lena smiled.
“Then I was right.”
He couldn't stop the tears.
Marissa left them alone.
Jack pulled Lena toward him.
She hesitated.
Then wrapped her arms around his neck.
It was the first time in three years he had held his daughter.
The first time he had felt whole.
Then someone knocked on the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Jack stood.
Marissa rushed in.
“No.”
“What?”
She looked terrified.
“He found us.”
“Who?”
May you like
She whispered:
“Ethan.”
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