Chapter 13 - We Had Been Declared Dead
The hospital felt unreal.
Warm sheets.
Clean water.
Food.
Machines.
Noah was dehydrated and exhausted, but stable.
I had lost significant weight.
My feet were badly injured.
But we were alive.
Then Detective Sarah Collins entered.
She placed documents beside my bed.
Dad had reported an alleged accident.
He claimed he personally saw Noah and me swept into a ravine after finding us days after the family separated.
Search teams had investigated the wrong area.
That explained why nobody found us.
He hadn't simply abandoned us.
At some point, he actively redirected rescuers away from our real location.
Why?
Detective Collins had another surprise.
My mother Elaine had contacted police separately.
Secretly.
Her voicemail said:
“Richard is lying. Daniel is alive.”
Then:
“If something happens to me, look at the storage unit.”
The call ended.
Elaine was now missing too.
Melissa?
Missing.
Her daughters?
Safe.
They had been found at a motel with a terrified Sophie and Hannah locked inside a bathroom.
Troy was gone.
Grant was gone.
I asked for Noah’s backpack.
Police had secured it.
The memory card was intact.
Detective Collins already knew about it.
“We need to discuss Claire.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did you find something?”
She turned her laptop.
Investigators had repaired the corrupted video.
Claire appeared.
“The money isn't the worst thing I found.”
Then she lifted a document.
“Someone has been using Daniel’s identity.”
I stared.
Claire continued:
“Properties. Loans. Companies. Everything points back to him even though he never signed anything.”
My father had not merely stolen money.
Someone had constructed a financial trail designed to make me responsible.
Then Claire said:
“And Richard isn't the person who started it.”
She looked off-camera.
May you like
Terrified.
“The person behind this has been inside our family for years.”
