CHAPTER 8 — THE MISSING WITNESS
CHAPTER 8 — THE MISSING WITNESS
The rain had turned into a storm by the time Daniel carried Cassandra into the chapel.
She was alive.
Barely.
Her breathing was shallow, and blood had soaked through the expensive fabric of her dress.
Leah stood beside her, still holding the photograph.
SHE IS NOT AN HEIR.
SHE IS THE WITNESS.
Those words refused to leave her mind.
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Leah shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Jonathan stood behind them.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
Jonathan's face had gone pale.
“She isn't Cassandra's biological daughter.”
Daniel stared.
“You said that already.”
“I didn't know how deep it went.”
“Then tell us.”
Jonathan looked at Cassandra.
“She was born twenty-three years ago.”
Leah frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if Margaret planned everything before she died.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who are Emma's parents?”
Jonathan hesitated.
Then said:
“Thomas Carter.”
Silence.
Leah's heart stopped.
“What?”
“Emma is Thomas's daughter.”
Daniel looked at Leah.
Another sibling.
Another secret.
Another child Margaret had hidden.
But Jonathan shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then what?”
Jonathan looked at Leah.
“Emma is Thomas's biological daughter.”
He paused.
“But Margaret was her mother.”
Leah felt dizzy.
“My mother?”
Jonathan nodded.
“Margaret gave birth to her three years after you were born.”
Leah stared.
“That can't be.”
“She never told you because you were already in danger.”
Daniel looked toward Cassandra.
“Then why did Cassandra raise her?”
“Because Margaret knew Cassandra would protect the child.”
Leah looked at him.
“Cassandra?”
Jonathan nodded.
“Margaret trusted her with the one thing Cassandra could never destroy.”
Daniel looked confused.
“Why would Cassandra agree?”
Jonathan's answer was quiet.
“Because Emma was also hers.”
THE CHILD BETWEEN TWO WOMEN
Cassandra had never wanted to be a mother.
At least that was what she told herself.
When Margaret brought the newborn baby to her, Cassandra had refused.
“I can't.”
“You must.”
“Why?”
“Because they're watching me.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.”
Margaret placed the baby in Cassandra's arms.
The infant stopped crying.
Cassandra stared at her.
“What is her name?”
“Emma.”
“Why me?”
“Because no one will suspect you.”
Cassandra looked at Margaret.
“You're asking me to raise your child?”
“I'm asking you to save her.”
Cassandra shook her head.
“You hate me.”
Margaret's expression softened.
“I do.”
“Then why trust me?”
“Because you're the only person they won't think I'd trust.”
Cassandra looked down at the baby.
“And if I refuse?”
Margaret whispered:
“They'll kill her.”
Cassandra said nothing.
She took the child.
And that was the last night Margaret ever held Emma.
PRESENT DAY
Daniel stared at Cassandra.
“You raised Emma.”
Cassandra was still unconscious.
Jonathan answered.
“For twenty-three years.”
Leah looked at the photograph.
“Then why did she say Emma wasn't her daughter?”
“Because she wasn't.”
“But Emma called her mother.”
“Because Cassandra was the only mother she knew.”
Leah's eyes filled with tears.
“What happened to Margaret?”
Jonathan looked away.
“She knew she wouldn't survive.”
Leah whispered:
“She gave her baby away.”
“Yes.”
“To the woman she hated.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Jonathan's voice became quiet.
“Because Margaret knew Cassandra was cruel.”
He looked at Leah.
“But she also knew Cassandra would burn down the world before letting anyone hurt a child she considered hers.”
Leah stared at Cassandra.
For the first time, she wondered if the woman who had spent years destroying families had once protected one.
WHERE IS EMMA?
Daniel immediately called Emma.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Her phone was turned off.
Jonathan searched the hospital records.
“She never arrived.”
Daniel frowned.
“She said she was going there.”
“Maybe she changed locations.”
“Why?”
Jonathan looked at Cassandra.
“Because she knew someone was following her.”
Leah remembered the phone call.
Emma's voice.
The fear.
My mother knows I've been talking to you.
Leah suddenly stood.
“She wasn't afraid of Cassandra.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“She said, ‘She's coming.’”
“So?”
“She knew Cassandra was coming.”
Jonathan understood.
“She was warning us.”
“About someone else.”
“Yes.”
Leah looked at Cassandra.
“Who?”
THE WOMAN IN THE RED COAT
Security footage from St. Mary's showed Emma arriving at 11:43 p.m.
She wore a gray coat.
Black boots.
A scarf around her neck.
She entered through the emergency entrance.
Then stopped.
She looked behind her.
Someone was following.
A woman.
Red coat.
Dark umbrella.
Emma immediately changed direction.
She disappeared through a side corridor.
The woman followed.
Daniel paused the footage.
“Can we identify her?”
Samuel shook his head.
“Face is covered.”
“License plate?”
“Nothing.”
Leah leaned closer.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Look at her wrist.”
The woman was wearing a silver bracelet.
Leah's heart tightened.
The same bracelet she remembered from the gala.
“That's Cassandra's bracelet.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Cassandra never wears silver.”
Leah stared.
“Then who is she?”
Samuel enlarged the image.
A tiny emblem appeared on the bracelet.
A black bird.
Daniel recognized it.
“Blackwood security.”
Leah looked at him.
“Your family?”
“Yes.”
“Who wears that symbol?”
Daniel's face changed.
“My father's private security division.”
THE HIDDEN ROOM
They returned to Blackwood Manor.
Daniel led them through a private corridor beneath the west wing.
At the end was a steel door.
He entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was a surveillance room.
Hundreds of monitors covered the walls.
Leah stared.
“This exists beneath your house?”
Daniel nodded.
“My father built it.”
“For what?”
“To monitor everyone.”
Leah felt sick.
“Everyone?”
“Employees.”
“Guests?”
“Yes.”
“Family?”
Daniel nodded.
“And apparently…”
He looked at the screens.
“…Emma.”
He searched the system.
A file appeared.
SUBJECT: E.W.
Daniel opened it.
Photographs.
School records.
Medical reports.
Travel documents.
Everything.
Emma had been monitored since childhood.
Leah stared at the screen.
“Who authorized this?”
Daniel looked at the authorization.
His face went pale.
“Edward.”
Jonathan stepped forward.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel pointed.
“Look.”
The authorization was dated twelve years after Edward supposedly died.
Jonathan froze.
Leah whispered:
“Someone has been using his identity.”
Daniel nodded.
“The same person who has been manipulating the trust.”
THE RECORDING
A hidden file appeared.
E.W. — AUDIO — 2004
Daniel played it.
Margaret's voice filled the room.
“Emma is safe.”
A man's voice replied.
“For now.”
“Who are you?”
“You know who I am.”
“I know Edward is dead.”
Silence.
Then the man's voice became colder.
“Edward may be dead.”
Margaret whispered:
“But you aren't.”
Leah stared at the screen.
Daniel's hands tightened.
The recording continued.
“Tell me where the trust documents are.”
“No.”
“Then Emma dies.”
Margaret gasped.
“You wouldn't.”
“I already killed Thomas.”
Leah covered her mouth.
The man's voice continued.
“And I will kill you too.”
Margaret began crying.
“Please.”
“Where are the documents?”
“I destroyed them.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
The man laughed.
Then came the sentence that froze everyone.
“You always were terrible at protecting your children.”
The recording ended.
Daniel stared at the machine.
“That wasn't Edward.”
Jonathan nodded.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Jonathan looked at Leah.
“Someone who knew Margaret personally.”
THE MISSING FILE
Daniel searched the surveillance system again.
Emma's file had been deleted.
But one fragment remained.
A location.
BLACKWOOD MARINE STORAGE — DOCK 17
Leah looked at Daniel.
“That's where Thomas died.”
“Yes.”
Jonathan's expression darkened.
“Then Emma went there.”
“Why?”
“Because someone told her to.”
They reached Dock 17 before dawn.
The warehouse was abandoned.
A single light flickered above the entrance.
Daniel entered first.
Leah followed.
Inside, everything was covered in dust.
Then they saw blood.
A trail.
Leah's heart raced.
“Emma?”
No answer.
Daniel followed the trail.
It ended beside an overturned chair.
On the floor was Emma's silver bracelet.
Leah picked it up.
“She's been here.”
Jonathan crouched.
There was a piece of paper beneath the chair.
He unfolded it.
Only four words.
SHE KNOWS ABOUT DANIEL.
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
Leah shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then a sound came from the darkness.
A phone ringing.
Daniel followed it.
A broken mobile phone lay beneath a wooden crate.
He picked it up.
The screen displayed one incoming call.
MOM
Cassandra.
Daniel answered.
“Where is Emma?”
Silence.
Then Cassandra's weak voice.
“You're too late.”
“Where is she?”
“I tried to protect her.”
“From who?”
“From the man who killed Margaret.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“Who?”
Cassandra whispered:
“Edward.”
Daniel froze.
“Edward is dead.”
“No.”
A pause.
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Leah felt cold.
Cassandra continued:
“He came for Emma.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why call us?”
Cassandra began crying.
“Because he left me a message.”
“What message?”
Her voice trembled.
“He said…”
Silence.
Then:
“Tell Daniel that his father is coming home.”
The call ended.
THE MAN AT THE WINDOW
A movement appeared outside the warehouse.
Leah turned.
A man stood across the dock.
He was wearing a black coat.
Daniel ran toward the door.
The man disappeared.
They followed.
Nothing.
Only rain.
Then Leah saw something on the ground.
A photograph.
She picked it up.
It showed Margaret.
Thomas.
And three children.
Leah.
Daniel.
Emma.
All together.
But the photograph had been taken when Emma was only a baby.
Leah stared.
“How did my mother take this?”
Jonathan looked at the photograph.
“She didn't.”
“What?”
Jonathan pointed to the corner.
A date.
2005.
Leah's heart stopped.
Margaret had supposedly died in 2003.
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“That means…”
“She was alive two years after her death,” Jonathan said.
Silence.
Leah's entire understanding of her mother's death collapsed again.
“She didn't die that night.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
He looked toward the dark road.
“She disappeared.”
THE SECOND LETTER
Back at the manor, Leah found another envelope inside Margaret's hidden box.
This one was addressed to Daniel.
He opened it.
Margaret's handwriting was unmistakable.
Daniel,
If you're reading this, then you finally know about Jonathan.
There is something I could never tell you.
Your mother is alive.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Leah stared at him.
“What?”
He continued reading.
She has been hiding because the person who ordered Thomas's death believes she is dead.
If you find her, do not bring her home.
Do not trust the Blackwoods.
Do not trust Cassandra.
And most importantly—
Daniel's hands began shaking.
He read the final line.
Do not trust the man who says he is your father.
Silence.
Leah looked at him.
“Edward.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Who else?”
He looked at the photograph.
Three children.
One mother.
One dead father.
One missing witness.
Then the door behind them opened.
Evelyn stood there.
Her face was pale.
“Leah.”
“Yes?”
“I know where Margaret is.”
Leah's heart stopped.
“Where?”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
“She has been living under another name.”
“Where?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Twenty minutes from here.”
Daniel stood.
“Take us to her.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because she's not hiding from Cassandra.”
Leah felt a chill.
“Then who?”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“The same man who has been searching for Emma.”
A pause.
“And he knows we're looking for him.”
THE LAST IMAGE
Across the city, a young woman sat inside a locked room.
Emma.
Her hands were tied.
A camera pointed toward her.
She looked exhausted.
A door opened.
A man entered.
Emma looked up.
“You're not going to kill me.”
The man smiled.
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The truth.”
“I don't know anything.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Emma stared at it.
Margaret.
Holding Emma as a baby.
“You know exactly who she was.”
Emma began crying.
“She was my mother.”
The man leaned closer.
“And you know where she is.”
Emma shook her head.
“I don't.”
The man smiled.
“Then perhaps you should hear her voice.”
He pressed play.
Margaret's voice filled the room.
Emma's eyes widened.
Her mother was alive.
And speaking from somewhere nearby.
“If Emma is hearing this…”
Margaret paused.
“…then the Blackwood family has finally found her.”
Emma whispered:
“Mom?”
The recording continued.
“Don't trust Daniel.”
Emma froze.
“Don't trust Jonathan.”
Her breathing stopped.
“And whatever happens…”
Margaret's voice broke.
“…do not let Leah find me.”
The recording ended.
Emma stared at the darkness.
Then whispered:
“Why?”
A voice behind her answered.
“Because your mother knows what Leah will become if she learns the truth.”
Emma slowly turned.
The man stepped into the light.
And for the first time, she saw his face.
It was a face she had seen her entire childhood.
A face she had been told belonged to a dead man.
Edward Blackwood.
He smiled.
May you like
“Hello, Emma.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
