Chapter 14 - THE LAST DOORThe police arrived before sunrise.
Victor Hale was arrested.
His men were taken away.
Vanessa gave a full statement.
Daniel confessed to everything he had hidden.
But there was still one question.
Who was Lily's biological father?
Grandma finally answered.
She opened an old photograph.
A young man stood beside Vanessa.
I recognized him.
Not because I knew him.
Because his face had appeared on the news for years.
He had been one of the richest businessmen in the country.
And he had died seven years earlier.
Daniel looked at me.
“Your daughter is the sole heir.”
I looked at Lily.
She was sleeping peacefully on the couch.
The pink watch was still around her wrist.
I touched her hair.
All those years, I had thought I was protecting my daughter from the world.
I hadn't realized the world had been protecting a secret from her.
Then the pink watch suddenly beeped.
Everyone froze.
A new recording had appeared.
Recorded only minutes earlier.
A man's voice whispered:
“Eleanor…”
Grandma turned pale.
The voice continued.
“If you're hearing this, Victor has failed.”
A pause.
Then:
“And there is one person you still haven't told Harper about.”
The recording ended.
I looked at Grandma.
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
May you like
Then she slowly looked toward Daniel.
And Daniel's face told me the truth was going to be worse than anything we'd discovered that night.
