Chapter 7: The Daughter I Was Told I Lost
For a full minute, I couldn’t move.
The photograph shook between my fingers.
The girl in the picture stood in front of an old white farmhouse surrounded by trees. She looked about fourteen years old.
Her hair was darker than Lily’s used to be.
Her face was older.
But her eyes…
Those eyes were impossible to forget.
I had stared into them every morning when she woke up.
I had seen them when she laughed.
When she cried.
When she begged me for extra bedtime stories.
Those were Lily’s eyes.
Ava watched my face change.
“She’s alive,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“Where?””
“I don’t know.””
“You don’t know?””
My voice cracked.
“You’re telling me my daughter has been alive all these years and you don’t know where she is?””
Ava looked down.
“I know where the picture was taken.””
“Where?””
“My father’s old property outside Franklin.””
I grabbed the photograph.
“Then we go there.””
Ava shook her head.
“You don’t understand.””
“No, you don’t understand.””
My anger rose.
“I spent years thinking my daughter was dead.””
The hallway went quiet.
“I buried a child who wasn’t even gone.””
Ava looked away.
For the first time, she had no argument.
The lockdown continued for three hours.
Three hours of guards walking the halls.
Three hours of questions nobody answered.
By evening, I was taken back to my cell.
But I wasn’t alone.
A woman named Carla was waiting near the door.
She was one of the inmates who usually avoided attention.
I recognized her from the cafeteria.
“You’re the one who found the picture,” she said.
I froze.
“How do you know that?””
She looked nervous.
“Because I’m the one who put it there.””
I stared.
“What?””
Carla stepped inside.
“I was working laundry when I found an old package hidden behind the machines.””
“What package?””
“Something Ruth left.””
My heart stopped.
“Ruth?””
Carla nodded.
“She knew she was in danger.””
“Is she alive?””
Carla looked away.
“I don’t know.””
The answer hurt.
“What was in the package?””
“Instructions.””
“For what?””
“For you.””
I stepped closer.
“What instructions?””
Carla reached into her pocket and handed me a folded piece of paper.
The handwriting was shaky.
But I knew it immediately.
Ruth.
Emily,
If you are reading this, it means I failed to tell you everything.
I read the words again and again.
My hands trembled.
Carla watched me.
“She wrote that two days before she was attacked.””
I looked up.
“She knew.””
“Yes.””
“Why didn’t she tell me?””
“Because she was trying to protect you.””
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.””
Carla’s expression softened.
“Sometimes protecting someone means keeping them alive long enough to learn the truth.””
I looked back at the letter.
There was another line.
The truth is not in the prison.
It is under the house.
I felt cold.
The house.
Daniel.
The photograph.
The abandoned property.
Everything connected.
A noise came from outside my cell.
A guard walking by.
Carla immediately stepped back.
“I shouldn’t have come here.””
“Wait.””
She stopped.
“Why are you helping me?””
She hesitated.
Then said:
“Because Ruth helped me when nobody else would.””
After she left, I sat on my bed and read Ruth’s letter again.
Under the house.
Not my house.
The Vale property.
The place where Ava said Lily disappeared.
The next morning, Ava appeared during breakfast.
She looked worse.
She hadn’t slept.
“You saw the picture.””
I nodded.
“She’s alive.””
Ava sat across from me.
“Yes.””
“How long have you known?””
She looked down.
“Three years.””
My chest tightened.
“You knew for three years?””
“I only saw a picture.””
“And you did nothing?””
Her jaw tightened.
“I tried.””
“Try harder.””
She looked at me.
“You think I didn’t?””
Her voice broke.
“My father threatened my brother. He threatened everyone who helped me.””
I didn’t answer.
Because I understood fear.
But I also understood what it felt like to lose a child.
“What happened to Lily?””
Ava looked around.
Then whispered:
“She wasn’t kidnapped.””
I frowned.
“What?””
“She was hidden.””
“By who?””
Ava looked directly at me.
“By someone she trusted.””
My stomach turned.
“Daniel.””
Ava didn’t respond.
That was enough.
I stood.
“I need to find her.””
Ava grabbed my wrist.
“Emily.””
I looked at her.
“There’s something else.””
“What?””
Her fingers tightened.
“The girl in the picture…”
She swallowed.
“She wasn’t alone.””
My heart sank.
“Who was with her?””
Ava looked terrified.
“Daniel.””
The room spun.
“He’s been with her?””
“No.””
Ava’s voice dropped.
“He was there when the picture was taken.””
I stared at her.
“Then where is he now?””
Ava looked toward the prison cameras.
May you like
And whispered:
“He’s coming for you.””
