Chapter 2 - A CAGE OF SILENCE
The sound of heavy boots echoed in the hallway.
Security was coming,
just as Margaret had summoned.
Daniel took one step toward me,
reaching out a hand that I had held for a decade.
“Nat,”
he said,
his voice cracking.
Only Daniel called me that.
It was a name reserved for late-night whispers and morning coffee.
My legs almost failed me then.
The physical reality of him was overwhelming.
His hair was shorter than it had been five years earlier.
A pale scar curved from his temple to his right ear,
a jagged memory of the "accident."
He looked thinner.
Older.
But I knew the slight bend in his left little finger.
I knew the brown mark beneath his jaw.
I knew the way he pressed his tongue behind his front teeth whenever he was frightened.
He was frightened now,
not of the dead,
but of the living truth.
“Don’t touch her,”
Margaret snapped at Daniel.
She turned to me,
her face a mask of aristocratic composure.
“Natalie,
we can handle this quietly.”
“Think of the scandal.”
“Think of what this would do to the family name.”
“The family is dead,
Margaret,”
I said,
backing toward the door.
“You buried it five years ago.”
Two large men in charcoal uniforms appeared in the doorway.
They looked at Margaret for instructions.
“The lady was just leaving,”
Margaret said,
her voice dripping with false concern.
“She’s had a dizzy spell.”
“Escort her to her car.”
The guards moved toward me,
their shadows long and intimidating.
I didn't stop recording.
I held the phone up like a shield.
“If you touch me,
this video goes to the cloud immediately,”
I lied.
“It’s already being watched by my attorney.”
The guards hesitated.
They were hired muscle,
not kidnappers.
Margaret’s eyes flared with rage.
I looked back at Daniel one last time.
He looked like a man trapped in a dream he couldn't wake up from.
He looked at the blond woman,
then at me.
He chose to stay silent.
He chose to stay hidden.
I turned and ran.
I didn't look back until I reached the lobby.
The air in the Hudson Falls afternoon was crisp and cold.
I got into my car,
locked the doors,
and felt my body begin to shake.
For five years,
I had slept on the right side of our bed.
The left side still felt like his.
For five years,
I had listened to old voice messages.
Just to hear him say he was stopping for groceries.
For five years,
I had defended Margaret against the world.
And for five years,
they had used my identity to fund a secret life.
I put the car in gear and drove,
not knowing where I was going,
May you like
only knowing that the Natalie Mercer they knew was gone.
The real Natalie was finally awake.
