Chapter 6
Ryan ran.
He did not remember leaving the hospital.
He remembered Mia screaming when he told Claire he had to go.
He remembered Alvarez calling officers.
He remembered driving too fast.
Everything else blurred.
When Ryan reached the house, police lights washed the street in red and blue.
Emma stood on the porch barefoot.
She ran toward him.
“Ryan!”
He grabbed her shoulders.
“Where is Lily?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took her?”
“I don’t know!”
“You know your mother better than anyone.”
Emma sobbed.
“I swear I don’t know.”
Ryan released her.
Mrs. Dawson sat inside wrapped in a blanket.
She looked devastated.
“I only went downstairs for water,” she said. “Maybe two minutes.”
Ryan knelt.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I heard the window.”
“What window?”
“Lily’s bedroom.”
Officers searched the yard.
A ladder had been placed against the side of the house.
One detective found tire tracks near the alley.
Alvarez arrived ten minutes later.
Ryan gave him the note.
It had been left on Lily’s pillow.
You chose the wrong daughter.
No signature.
Ryan stared at Emma.
“Margaret.”
“She’s in custody.”
Alvarez looked up.
Ryan froze.
“What?”
“Margaret Bennett was still being processed at the county station when Lily disappeared.”
Emma stared.
“Then who?”
Ryan thought of everyone who knew.
Victor.
Dr. Kern.
Margaret’s employees.
Anyone involved in the cover-up.
Alvarez asked, “Who knew Lily was home?”
Emma looked around.
“My father.”
Ryan frowned.
“Your father?”
“Daniel Bennett.”
Ryan realized they had barely mentioned him.
Emma and Claire’s father had divorced Margaret when the girls were teenagers.
He lived in Arizona now.
Or so Ryan had always believed.
“When did you tell him?”
“Today. After the police came.”
“Why?”
“He called me.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed.
“How did he know?”
Emma stopped.
“I thought Mom called him.”
Alvarez immediately requested Daniel’s number.
Emma handed over her phone.
Ryan paced.
Every second without Lily felt unbearable.
He pictured her small face.
Her pigtails.
Her asking whether Mia could be her sister.
He slammed his fist against the wall.
Emma flinched.
Ryan turned.
“No more secrets.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
He stepped closer.
“If there is one thing—one name, one place, one account, one person—you haven’t told me about, say it now.”
Emma cried silently.
“Think.”
She closed her eyes.
Then opened them.
“The church.”
Ryan frowned.
“What church?”
“St. Andrew’s.”
“I know it.”
“My mother owns the old rectory next door through a holding company.”
Alvarez looked up sharply.
“Why didn’t you mention that?”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot your mother owns a property ten minutes away?”
“I haven’t been there since I was a teenager!”
Ryan grabbed his keys.
Alvarez blocked him.
“You are not going alone.”
“Then come.”
Police moved quickly.
Three units headed toward the abandoned church property.
Ryan rode with Alvarez.
Emma came in another car.
When they arrived, the rectory was dark.
The doors were locked.
Officers surrounded the building.
Ryan stood behind a patrol vehicle.
Every instinct screamed to run inside.
Then a light flickered in an upstairs window.
Ryan saw a small shadow.
“Lily.”
Alvarez grabbed his arm.
“Stay here.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“And if someone inside has a weapon, running in could get her killed.”
Ryan hated him for being right.
Police entered through the rear.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
Two.
Ryan could not breathe.
Then the radio crackled.
“Child located.”
Ryan nearly collapsed.
“Condition?”
“Conscious. Appears unharmed.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Emma began sobbing.
Then the radio continued.
“One adult male in custody.”
Ryan looked up.
“Who?”
Alvarez listened.
His expression changed.
Ryan saw it.
“Who is it?”
Alvarez looked at Emma.
“Daniel Bennett.”
Emma went white.
“My father?”
Police brought Lily outside.
Ryan ran.
She saw him and screamed.
“Daddy!”
He lifted her into his arms.
She wrapped herself around him.
Ryan buried his face in her hair.
“I’ve got you.”
Emma reached them.
Lily reached for her too.
“Mommy!”
Emma hugged both of them.
For a moment, Ryan allowed it.
Because Lily needed her mother.
Then Daniel Bennett was brought outside in handcuffs.
Ryan had not seen him in six years.
Daniel looked older.
Gray beard.
Thin face.
He did not struggle.
Emma stared.
“Dad?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I was trying to keep her safe.”
Ryan moved toward him.
Alvarez stepped between them.
“You climbed into my daughter’s bedroom.”
Daniel nodded.
“I had to.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“I removed her before Margaret’s people got there.”
Emma stared.
“What people?”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You still think your mother works alone?”
Alvarez guided Daniel into the building for questioning.
Ryan refused to leave Lily.
They interviewed Daniel in the rectory dining room while Ryan sat nearby holding his daughter.
Emma sat across from her father.
Daniel looked at her.
“I warned you years ago.”
“You disappeared.”
“I left because your mother threatened to destroy me.”
Claire’s father looked toward Ryan.
“She had help.”
“From who?”
Daniel nodded toward Alvarez.
“Dr. Kern. A lawyer named Stephen Voss. Two private investigators. People at the facility.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“Why take Lily?”
“Because Voss called me this afternoon.”
Emma froze.
“Why would he call you?”
“He thought I was still loyal.”
Daniel looked down.
“He said Margaret wanted leverage.”
Ryan held Lily tighter.
“And you decided to provide it?”
“I got there first.”
“You could have called police.”
Daniel laughed.
“And say what? Hello, my ex-wife who’s currently in police custody has an attorney planning to kidnap my granddaughter?”
“Yes!”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“I don’t trust police.”
Ryan nearly lunged across the table.
Alvarez raised a hand.
“Mr. Bennett, where is Voss?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you leave the note?”
“I didn’t.”
Silence.
Ryan stared.
“What?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I took Lily. I didn’t leave any note.”
Emma went cold.
Alvarez looked at Ryan.
“Someone else was in your house.”
Ryan’s stomach dropped.
Daniel continued.
“When I climbed through the window, Lily was alone. The note wasn’t on the bed.”
Ryan looked at Emma.
She had found the note.
“Where exactly was it?”
“On her pillow.”
“After Mrs. Dawson called you upstairs?”
“Yes.”
Alvarez frowned.
“Who else entered the room?”
Emma shook her head.
“No one.”
Ryan stared at his wife.
Then he noticed something.
Emma’s hands.
Ink.
Black ink along the side of her right hand.
The note had been written with a black marker.
Ryan looked at her.
Emma saw his expression.
“What?”
He reached for her hand.
She pulled back.
Ryan’s face hardened.
“Show me.”
“Ryan.”
“Show me your hand.”
She slowly opened it.
Black ink.
Lily looked between them.
“Mommy wrote a note earlier.”
Everyone went still.
Ryan looked down.
“What note, sweetheart?”
Lily pointed at Emma.
“She was practicing.”
Emma’s face collapsed.
Ryan stood.
“You wrote it.”
Emma began shaking.
“No.”
“You wrote the kidnapping note.”
“I didn’t know Dad had Lily!”
Daniel stared at his daughter.
“What did you do?”
Emma sobbed.
“I thought Mom’s people were going to take her.”
Ryan could not understand.
“So you wrote a fake note?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Emma covered her face.
“To make you hate Mom.”
Ryan stared in disbelief.
“You thought I needed more reasons?”
“I panicked!”
“You always panic!”
The words exploded from him.
“And every time you panic, somebody else pays!”
Emma recoiled.
Lily began crying.
Ryan immediately lowered his voice.
He lifted Lily.
“We’re leaving.”
Emma grabbed his arm.
“Ryan, please.”
He looked at her.
“You used our daughter.”
“I thought she was gone.”
“So you created evidence.”
“I wanted police to focus on Mom.”
“You lied during an active kidnapping.”
Emma sobbed.
“I’m sorry.”
Ryan stared at her.
“For five years, those words have been your answer to everything.”
Alvarez stepped toward Emma.
“Mrs. Mercer, we need to talk.”
Ryan knew what that meant.
Possible obstruction.
False evidence.
Maybe worse.
Lily reached for Emma.
“Mommy?”
Emma broke.
Ryan turned away.
He carried Lily outside.
She cried against his shoulder.
“Is Mommy bad?”
Ryan stopped.
The question crushed him.
He crouched until they were eye level.
“Mommy made some bad choices.”
“Like when I color on the wall?”
Ryan almost laughed and cried at once.
“Bigger than that.”
“Does she still love me?”
“Yes.”
That answer he believed.
“Yes, sweetheart. She loves you.”
“Do you?”
“With everything I have.”
Lily hugged him.
Ryan held her tightly.
His phone rang.
Victor.
Ryan almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“What?”
Victor sounded frightened.
“Ryan, your mother is here.”
Ryan frowned.
“At your house?”
“Yes.”
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
“Everything.”
Ryan stared into the darkness.
Victor continued.
“She wants to talk to you.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Not tonight.”
“Ryan.”
“What?”
Victor hesitated.
“Your mother knows who your biological father is.”
Ryan opened his eyes.
“Who?”
May you like
Victor’s voice dropped.
“She says he’s still alive.”
