Chapter 3 - A Daughter He Never Knew)
Ethan listened to Olivia’s recording four times.
Each time, the words felt worse.
The person who started this has the last name Pierce.
His father was dead.
His mother had admitted hiding the pregnancy.
Claire had been twenty-three when Olivia disappeared.
And Ethan himself had apparently been at the center of a conspiracy he knew nothing about.
Detective Reed stopped the recorder.
“There’s more audio, but the file is corrupted.”
“Can it be recovered?”
“We’ll try.”
Lucy sat beside Ethan.
He had not yet figured out how to speak to her.
Daughter.
The word seemed too enormous to fit inside the abandoned terminal.
He had imagined children before.
Someday.
After the right marriage.
After life became less complicated.
Instead, his daughter had existed for eleven years while he attended board meetings, built hotels, crossed continents, and complained about things that now seemed embarrassingly small.
Lucy looked at the DNA test.
“My mom did that last year.”
“Why?”
“She didn’t tell me.”
“How did she get my DNA?”
Lucy shrugged.
Detective Reed answered.
“Public event, discarded glass, restaurant utensil. Not difficult if someone knows what they’re doing.”
Ethan studied Lucy.
“Did your mother ever tell you I was your father?”
“Not until last month.”
That hurt in a different way.
“What did she say?”
“She said she had made mistakes.”
“Did she say why she kept you from me?”
“She said she was keeping me alive.”
Ethan looked at Reed.
The detective’s expression hardened.
“Then we assume the threat was real.”
Police cataloged the contents of the locker.
The files showed years of transactions between shell companies.
Hale charities.
Pierce subsidiaries.
Private security firms.
Ethan recognized some names.
Others meant nothing.
One appeared repeatedly.
Northstar Meridian Consulting.
“What is that?” Reed asked.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan called his chief financial officer.
The answer arrived within minutes.
Northstar Meridian had been dissolved ten years earlier.
It had once been controlled by Thomas Pierce.
Ethan’s father.
The detective looked at him.
“That gives us direction.”
Ethan felt no relief.
Lucy wandered toward the edge of the terminal.
Ethan followed.
Rain drummed against the metal roof.
“Lucy.”
She turned.
He struggled for words.
“About the DNA test.”
“You’re my dad.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe it?”
He crouched.
“I believe it.”
She studied him.
“You don’t look happy.”
His heart nearly broke.
“I’m happy you exist.”
“Then why are you sad?”
“Because I missed everything.”
Lucy looked down.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“Mom said you didn’t.”
Ethan swallowed.
“I wish I had.”
Lucy looked at him again.
There was Olivia in that expression.
He could almost see the twenty-six-year-old woman who had challenged everything he said simply because she enjoyed watching him argue.
“What do I call you?” Lucy asked.
“Anything you want.”
“Mr. Pierce sounds weird.”
“It is weird.”
“Ethan?”
“If you want.”
“Dad?”
His breath caught.
Lucy looked embarrassed.
“Maybe later.”
Ethan smiled through the pain.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Detective Reed approached.
“We found something in the case.”
He held up an old business card.
On the back, Olivia had written an address.
A storage facility in Quincy.
Below it were three words.
ASK FOR NORA.
Ethan recognized the name.
Nora Bennett.
Olivia’s younger sister.
“She died,” Ethan said.
“When?”
“Ten years ago. Car accident.”
Reed stared at the card.
“You’re sure?”
“I attended the funeral.”
Lucy looked confused.
“Mom didn’t have a sister.”
Ethan turned toward her.
“Yes, she did.”
“My mom told me she was an only child.”
The hairs on Ethan’s arms rose.
Reed took out his phone.
Twenty minutes later, his face had changed.
“There is no death certificate for Nora Bennett.”
Ethan stared.
“What?”
“No official record. No burial permit either.”
“I saw a coffin.”
“You saw a funeral.”
That distinction chilled him.
Reed continued.
“The funeral home closed nine years ago after the owner was convicted of insurance fraud.”
Ethan remembered the rain that day.
Olivia had already vanished.
He had gone because he hoped she might appear.
She never did.
But Victoria had.
He suddenly remembered her standing beside him beneath an umbrella.
Barely an acquaintance then.
She had put a hand on his arm.
“I’m sorry,” she had said.
That was the first real conversation they ever had.
Ethan felt nauseated.
Victoria had entered his life at Nora Bennett’s funeral.
A funeral for a woman who might never have died.
Reed studied him.
“What?”
“I remember something.”
“What?”
“Victoria was there.”
The detective’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“I never asked.”
Lucy stood.
“Who is Nora?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Your aunt.”
Lucy’s face changed.
“I don’t have an aunt.”
“Maybe you do.”
A uniformed officer approached carrying a laptop.
“Detective.”
Reed turned.
“We recovered part of the damaged audio.”
They gathered around.
The recording crackled.
Olivia’s voice appeared again.
“I trusted Nora with copies. If anything happens, she knows where the original ledger is.”
Static.
Then:
“Do not contact her by phone.”
More static.
Then a final fragment.
“Ethan’s father told me the truth the night before he died.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
His father had died seven years ago.
Olivia had disappeared twelve years ago.
That meant they had remained in contact for at least five years after she supposedly vanished.
He looked at the detective.
“My father knew where Olivia was.”
Reed nodded slowly.
“And apparently he knew why she was hiding.”
Ethan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Silence.
Then a woman spoke.
“Ethan?”
His heart hammered.
The voice was older than he remembered.
But he knew it.
“Nora?”
A sharp breath.
“Don’t say my name.”
“Where are you?”
“You opened the locker.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“Olivia is missing.”
“I know.”
“Do you know where she is?”
Silence.
“Nora.”
“I can help you find her.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Tell me where.”
“I can’t. Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re listening.”
“Who?”
The answer came softly.
“The same people who listened twelve years ago.”
Then Nora said something that made Ethan grip the phone tighter.
“Your wedding wasn’t interrupted by accident.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lucy was supposed to reach you.”
Ethan looked at his daughter.
“Olivia planned it?”
“No.”
Nora’s voice shook.
May you like
“I did.”
The line went dead.
