Chapter 4 - Someone Was Watching Lily
The photograph was taken from outside the hospital.
That fact mattered because Anna’s room was on the sixth floor.
There was no building directly across from it.
Only a parking structure.
Marcus examined the image.
“Telephoto lens.”
“I know.”
“Could be someone in the garage.”
“I know.”
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“Stop saying you know.”
I looked at him.
He lowered his voice.
“You’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“Angry people make predictable decisions.”
“What would you suggest?”
“Security first.”
I called my head of private protection.
Within thirty minutes, two men were stationed outside Anna’s room and another near the elevators.
I told hospital staff Lily’s information was private.
Then I called Daniel.
“Where are you?”
“My office.”
“Stay there.”
A pause.
“Problem?”
“I’ll explain when I arrive.”
Marcus grabbed my arm.
“Don’t.”
I ended the call.
“He knows.”
“That doesn’t mean you confront him alone.”
“I’m not asking permission.”
Anna spoke from the bed.
“Ethan.”
I turned.
“If Daniel helped your father, he has spent years preparing for this.”
“So?”
“So don’t give him your anger before you know what he knows.”
She was right.
I hated that too.
Instead of going to Daniel, I changed plans.
We moved Anna and Lily to a private recovery suite registered under an alias.
Then I went home.
My house overlooking Lake Washington had never felt empty before.
It felt enormous now.
Lily entered holding Anna’s hand.
“Is this all yours?”
“Yes.”
“Even upstairs?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I almost smiled.
“Because apparently I make bad real-estate decisions.”
She didn’t understand.
Anna did.
For the first time in days, she laughed.
Lily wandered toward the living room.
I followed.
She stopped beside a grand piano.
“Do you play?”
“No.”
“Why do you have it?”
“My mother did.”
“Is she here?”
“No.”
“Where is she?”
I looked at the piano.
“She died when I was young.”
Lily considered this.
“So you miss your mommy too.”
“Yes.”
That was all she needed.
No awkward sympathy.
No false comfort.
She simply climbed onto the piano bench.
“What songs did she play?”
I sat beside her.
“I don’t remember all of them.”
“Remember one.”
I touched a key.
Then another.
A melody returned slowly.
Lily listened.
At the doorway, Anna watched us.
That evening, my security team found the source of the photograph.
A man had entered the parking structure using a stolen contractor badge.
Cameras captured a dark jacket.
Baseball cap.
No clear face.
But his vehicle mattered.
Black sedan.
Registered to a shell company.
The shell company appeared in Claire’s ledger.
I called Marcus.
“It’s active?”
“Yes.”
“After twelve years?”
“Different ownership records. Same original incorporation attorney.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“Daniel Voss.”
That was enough.
The next morning I walked into Rowe Group headquarters at 8:00.
Daniel entered my office at 8:07.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes.”
He closed the door.
I placed a photograph on the desk.
Claire.
Newborn Lily.
Daniel looked at it.
No reaction.
Too little reaction.
“You remember her?”
“Claire Carter.”
“You told me two days ago you barely knew Anna.”
“Anna isn’t Claire.”
“You knew Claire.”
“Everyone knew Claire.”
“Did my father?”
Daniel sat slowly.
“Very well.”
“Did you?”
“Well enough.”
“What did you do for him?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Ethan, you need to understand your father wasn’t the man you think he was.”
“I’m beginning to.”
“He was harder.”
“Criminal?”
Daniel’s jaw moved.
“What have you found?”
Wrong question.
Not what are you talking about?
What have you found?
I leaned back.
“You tell me.”
Daniel stood.
“This conversation requires counsel.”
“Yours or mine?”
“Both.”
“Sit.”
He didn’t.
“You helped him hide Claire.”
Daniel stared.
Then something changed.
Not guilt.
Relief.
As if a secret had finally become too heavy.
“Yes.”
The answer stunned me despite expecting it.
“Why?”
“Because he ordered me to.”
“That’s your defense?”
“No.”
“Then what is?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“From my child?”
“From the scandal.”
I stood.
“What scandal?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Your father had already been under quiet federal review. Claire had documents. If they became public, Rowe Group could collapse.”
“So you silenced her.”
“No.”
“You intercepted her calls.”
“Yes.”
“Mail?”
“Yes.”
“Apartment access?”
“Yes.”
“You told the doorman to turn her away?”
“Yes.”
Every answer felt like another five years stolen.
“Did you know Lily was mine?”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“Yes.”
I nearly hit him.
I didn’t.
Barely.
“Five years.”
“I know.”
“You watched me live five years without knowing I had a daughter.”
“I know.”
“You came to my house on Christmas.”
“I know.”
“You gave speeches about loyalty.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“Did you kill Claire?”
His eyes opened.
“No.”
“Did my father?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I don’t.”
“You knew her medication was switched?”
Daniel looked genuinely shocked.
“What?”
I studied him.
He wasn’t acting.
Maybe.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“Who else worked with my father?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Victor Sloane.”
“I know that name.”
“You don’t know what he became.”
“What?”
“The part of your father’s operation that couldn’t be audited.”
I felt sick.
“Meaning?”
“Pressure.”
“What kind?”
“Buying people. Threatening lawsuits. Destroying contracts.”
“Killing people?”
Daniel looked away.
“Your father never ordered murder in front of me.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
“Then?”
“I don’t know.”
I walked toward the window.
“What about my mother?”
Daniel became completely still.
That was answer enough.
I turned.
“What happened to her?”
“I was twenty-four.”
“Daniel.”
“I worked as your father’s assistant.”
“What happened?”
“He and your mother were fighting.”
“About the foundation?”
“Yes.”
“She found the accounts?”
“Yes.”
“Was her accident an accident?”
Daniel whispered, “I don’t know.”
I slammed my hand onto the desk.
He flinched.
“I don’t know!”
“Who would?”
“Victor.”
“Where is he?”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“You don’t find Victor.”
“Watch me.”
He stepped closer.
“Ethan, if Victor knows Claire’s records survived, Lily is leverage.”
My phone rang.
Security.
I answered.
“Mr. Rowe, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Lily and Ms. Carter are safe.”
My heart restarted.
“Then what problem?”
“Someone delivered a package to your residence.”
“What package?”
“No return address.”
“Open it.”
“Sir—”
“Open it.”
Two minutes later, photographs arrived on my phone.
Inside the box was an old silver bracelet.
I recognized it immediately.
My mother’s.
It had disappeared after her death.
Beneath it was a handwritten note.
Two generations of women should have learned to stop asking questions.
Anna entered my office twenty minutes later despite security trying to stop her.
She had seen the photograph of the bracelet.
“Claire had one like that.”
“No.”
“She did.”
“That belonged to my mother.”
Anna shook her head.
“Claire found it.”
“Where?”
“In a storage unit.”
“When?”
“Before she disappeared.”
My stomach dropped.
“What storage unit?”
“One your father rented.”
Daniel whispered, “Oh God.”
I turned.
“What?”
He stared at the bracelet.
“Your mother wasn’t wearing that when she died.”
“I know.”
“No.”
His face had gone pale.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Daniel backed toward a chair.
“I saw that bracelet the night before the crash.”
“Where?”
“In Victor Sloane’s car.”
The room went silent.
My phone buzzed.
Another unknown message.
This time no photograph.
Just an address.
And one sentence.
If you want to know what happened to your mother and Claire, come alone at midnight.
Anna looked at me.
“You’re not going.”
I looked at the address.
An abandoned warehouse near the old industrial waterfront.
One of the properties listed in Claire’s ledger.
I already knew I was going.
May you like
What I didn’t know was whether the person waiting there wanted to tell me the truth.
Or make sure I never returned to Lily.
