Chapter 12: The Choice They Wanted Me to Make
The police station erupted into controlled chaos.
Officers rushed between desks, radios crackling as they relayed Nora's description and the details of the threatening call. My mother sat in a chair near the reception desk, crying into her hands.
I knelt in front of her.
“Mom, look at me. Did you see who took her?””
She shook her head desperately.
“I was speaking to the officer. Nora was sitting right beside me. I turned away for a second, and then she was gone.””
“Was the door open?””
“I don't know!””
She grabbed my wrists.
“Ethan, I should have been watching her.””
“This isn't your fault.””
But the words felt hollow.
Someone had taken my daughter from a police station while we were chasing the truth about my wife's disappearance.
I stood and turned toward the nearest officer.
“Find her.””
“We're issuing an alert now, sir.””
“Then issue it faster!””
Rachel stepped between us.
“Ethan.””
I looked at her.
Her face was pale, but her voice remained steady.
“They want us to panic. That's how they control us.””
“They have my daughter!””
“I know.””
Her eyes filled.
“I know exactly what that feels like.””
I swallowed hard.
For six years, Rachel had lived with the knowledge that someone could reach Nora whenever they wanted. Now the threat had become real again.
I forced myself to breathe.
“What do they want?””
Rachel glanced at the documents on the table.
“The original records from your father's safe.””
My father had been escorted to another room for questioning. He returned moments later, his face grim.
“Thomas knows we found the archive key,” he said.
“He'll want the documents before the police recover them.””
“Then give him the documents,” I replied.
Rachel shook her head.
“Some of those records may be the only evidence linking him to the accident.””
“I don't care about the records! I want Nora back!””
My father lowered his eyes.
“Ethan, Thomas won't stop once he has them. He'll destroy the evidence and disappear.””
“Then we'll find other evidence.””
“There may not be any.””
I stared at him.
“Are you telling me to choose between my daughter's life and your precious investigation?””
“No,” he said quietly.
“I'm telling you that Thomas may not release Nora even if you give him everything.””
The truth of his words made me feel physically sick.
Rachel took my hand.
“We have to find the location first.””
An officer approached with a tablet.
“We recovered a second message from the number used in the video call. It contains an address and instructions.””
He turned the screen toward us.
The message showed an old industrial warehouse near the Scioto River.
Beneath the address were two lines.
*BRING THE ORIGINAL RECORDS.*
*COME ALONE, ETHAN.*
I looked at Rachel.
“I'm going.””
“No,” she said immediately.
“They have Nora.””
“And they want you isolated.””
“I can't sit here while my daughter is in their hands.””
Rachel's voice broke.
“You think I don't understand that? I spent six years imagining someone taking her away from me. But if you walk into that warehouse alone, they get exactly what they want.””
My father stepped forward.
“I'll go.””
I turned on him.
“Absolutely not.””
“Thomas won't expect me to return. I know how he thinks.””
“You're the reason this started!””
My father absorbed the accusation without protest.
“And I'll spend the rest of my life regretting that. But right now, I can help get Nora back.””
I looked at Rachel.
She was staring at the address, her expression distant.
“What is it?”” I asked.
She pointed to a small marking beside the building number.
A faded symbol had been printed beside the address: a circle crossed by two diagonal lines.
“I've seen that before,” she whispered.
“Where?””
“On the medical records from the facility where I was held. It was the logo of a private security company.””
My father leaned closer.
“Northstar Protective Services.””
Rachel nodded.
“Marcus used them to transport me.””
The officer immediately began checking the company's records.
“There's a connection,” he said after a moment.
“Northstar's registered owner is a holding company associated with Thomas Miller.””
I stared at the screen.
“They own the warehouse?””
“Not directly. But the property was leased by one of their subsidiaries.””
Rachel closed her eyes.
“That's where they kept me after the hospital.””
I turned toward her.
“You were at that warehouse?””
“Not this building. Another facility outside Dayton. But the security company used the same symbol.””
The officer began coordinating a response team.
“We'll establish a perimeter and assess the site before anyone approaches.””
I nodded, though every second felt like a lifetime.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
“Where is my daughter?””
Thomas's voice came through, calm and almost amused.
“Straight to business. I always admired that about you, Ethan.””
“If you touch Nora, I'll kill you.””
“Threats won't help her.””
“Tell me what you want.””
“The original records. Every document from your father's safe. The photographs, the transfer forms, the medical records. All of it.””
“And then you release Nora?””
“Of course.””
Rachel shook her head, silently warning me not to agree.
I kept my voice steady.
“How do I know she's alive?””
Thomas chuckled.
“You don't.””
I clenched my jaw.
“Let me speak to her.””
A rustling sound came through the phone.
Then Nora's frightened voice filled my ear.
“Daddy?””
My knees nearly gave way.
“Sweetheart, I'm here.””
“Daddy, I want to come home.””
“I know, baby. I'm coming to get you.””
A man spoke in the background, and Nora began crying.
“Daddy, there's another woman here.””
I closed my eyes.
“What woman?””
“The woman who looks like Mommy.””
Rachel grabbed my arm.
Thomas took the phone back.
“Now you understand the situation. Two women. One truth. One set of records.””
I felt cold all over.
“What are you talking about?””
“The woman you call Rachel isn't the only person who knows what happened that night. Eleanor has her own story, and I intend to keep it buried.””
“Eleanor is alive?””
Thomas laughed.
“For now.””
Rachel stepped closer to the phone.
“Thomas, leave Nora out of this.””
He went silent.
Then he said, “Rachel. Still pretending you're the innocent one?””
“I know what you did.””
“No, you know what Daniel told you.””
My father leaned toward the phone.
“Thomas, this is between us.””
“It's always been between us, Daniel. You stole the company, the money, and the future I was promised. Then you let Rachel destroy everything I built.””
“You forged the records!””
“I corrected your mistakes.””
“You arranged her accident!””
“I arranged a warning. Marcus was supposed to frighten her, not turn her into a martyr.””
Rachel's face drained of color.
I stared at the phone.
“You just admitted you arranged the crash.””
Thomas laughed softly.
“Then I suppose this call has been educational.””
The line went dead.
The officer beside me looked stunned.
“Did you record that?””
I nodded.
My phone had automatically saved the call.
For the first time, we had Thomas admitting his involvement in Rachel's disappearance.
But we still didn't know where Nora was.
Then another message arrived.
It contained a photograph of Nora sitting on a metal chair in a dimly lit room.
She was crying, but she appeared unharmed.
Beside her stood the second woman.
Eleanor.
She looked directly into the camera.
Beneath the photograph, Thomas had written:
*MIDNIGHT. THE WAREHOUSE. BRING THE RECORDS OR YOUR DAUGHTER LEARNS WHAT HAPPENED TO HER MOTHER.*
I looked at the clock.
11:17 p.m.
Forty-three minutes.
Rachel took my hand.
“We're getting Nora back.””
I nodded.
But as the police prepared their response, my father suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Ethan, there's something I haven't told you.””
I turned toward him.
“What now?””
He looked at Rachel, then at the photograph on my phone.
“The woman in that picture isn't Eleanor Shaw.””
Rachel frowned.
“How can you know?””
My father swallowed hard.
“Because Eleanor died two years ago.””
The room fell silent.
He pointed at the woman standing beside Nora.
“That woman is Vanessa's older sister.””
Rachel staggered backward.
I stared at the photograph again.
The woman had Rachel's face.
And now my father was telling me that the person holding my daughter wasn't the woman we'd spent six years searching for.
May you like
It was someone else entirely.
Someone who had been hiding behind Rachel's identity from the beginning.
