Chapter 4 - The Letter Clara Hid Beneath the Floor
Emma moved into Daniel's guest room the next day.
Neither of them called it moving in.
It was temporary.
Emergency.
Until they understood what was happening.
But by the fourth morning, there were two mugs beside the coffee machine and Emma's coat hanging beside Daniel's.
Something about the apartment began to feel different.
Less empty.
Daniel had spent years living alone.
Now he kept hearing another person in the kitchen.
A drawer opening.
Water running.
Emma humming without realizing it.
He found himself smiling before he remembered he had no reason to.
Then she would look at him, and both of them would become serious again.
They were not discussing what might be growing between them.
There were too many secrets between them already.
One evening Marianne arrived with a new lead.
“Clara Bell owned a house.”
Emma frowned.
“I've never heard of it.”
“It was sold thirty-one years ago.”
“To whom?”
Marianne looked at Daniel.
“Your father.”
Emma went still.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does when you read the deed.”
The address belonged to a small house outside the city.
Daniel knew it.
He had passed it hundreds of times as a child.
His father had always told him it was a rental property.
They drove there that night.
The house had been abandoned for years.
The front door opened with a reluctant groan.
Dust covered everything.
Emma walked slowly through the living room.
“I feel like I've been here.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You were six weeks old.”
“I know.”
She touched the wall.
“Something.”
She stopped.
“There.”
A loose floorboard beneath the window.
Daniel pulled it up.
Inside was a tin box.
Emma gasped.
On top was a letter.
Clara's handwriting.
Emma's hands shook as she unfolded it.
My little girl,
If you are reading this, then someone finally told you the truth.
I did not leave you.
I was forced to disappear.
I want you to understand one thing before anything else.
You were loved.
Not for what your existence could prove.
Not because someone owed me a promise.
You were loved simply because you were you.
Emma started crying.
Daniel stood beside her.
She continued reading.
Your father, Michael, believed he could expose Richard Rowan.
He was wrong about one thing.
Richard was not the most dangerous person involved.
The person behind him was someone I trusted.
Someone inside my own family.
Emma stopped.
Daniel looked at her.
“Who?”
She read the next line.
Vivian knows the name.
Emma looked at Daniel.
His mother.
They drove to Vivian's house immediately.
She did not deny it.
“The person was my sister.”
Daniel stared.
“My aunt?”
“Margaret.”
Emma whispered, “She's alive?”
“No.”
Vivian sat heavily.
“She died nine years ago.”
“Then why would she be behind it?”
“She wasn't alone.”
Vivian pulled an old photograph from a drawer.
Margaret stood beside a man Daniel recognized immediately.
Andrew Rowan.
His father.
Daniel's face went white.
Emma's voice broke.
“So Clara was afraid of your father.”
Vivian shook her head.
“At first, no.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Clara was afraid of Margaret.”
“Why?”
“Because Margaret was laundering money through the company.”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“And Dad helped her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vivian's eyes filled.
“Because Margaret threatened him with something.”
“What?”
She hesitated.
“Your life.”
Daniel felt his throat close.
“My life?”
“You were six years old.”
Emma whispered, “She threatened his child.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother knew.”
“Yes.”
“So Clara disappeared to protect both of us.”
Vivian nodded.
Daniel looked away.
For the first time in his life, he understood why his father had always looked afraid when he thought nobody was watching.
But one question remained.
“What happened to Margaret?”
Vivian spoke quietly.
“She was arrested.”
Daniel frowned.
“I don't remember that.”
“She used a false name.”
“Why?”
“Because I helped the authorities build the case.”
Daniel stared.
“You turned on your own sister.”
“Yes.”
“After protecting her for years.”
“Yes.”
Emma sat down.
“What did she have on you?”
Vivian's voice broke.
“She knew I had changed Emma's identity.”
Daniel looked at her.
“And?”
“And she knew I had helped your father move the evidence.”
Silence followed.
Then Emma asked the question that seemed to frighten everyone.
“Where is Clara?”
Vivian shook her head.
“I don't know.”
A sound came from outside.
A car door.
Daniel stood.
The headlights of an SUV washed over the windows.
Marianne reached for her phone.
The front door burst open.
A man rushed inside.
Daniel tackled him.
The struggle lasted seconds.
The man slipped away through the side door.
But he dropped something.
A key.
And a photograph.
Emma picked it up.
Her hands went cold.
The photograph showed Clara Bell standing outside a hospital.
Older.
Alive.
And beside her was a teenage Emma.
The date was only twelve years ago.
Emma stared.
“My mother was alive.”
Vivian whispered, “Apparently.”
Daniel turned the photograph over.
An address was written on the back.
Saint Agnes Rehabilitation Center.
Emma began crying.
“She was there.”
Daniel took her hand.
May you like
“We'll find her.”
And this time, neither of them pretended the promise was temporary.
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