Chapter 7: The Daughter Nobody Was Allowed to Know
Damon read the message three times.
*Come find your sister.*
The words should have been impossible.
They should have been a cruel joke.
A mistake.
Anything except the truth.
But the photograph attached to the message showed Lily’s empty bed.
The small blanket folded neatly.
The stuffed rabbit sitting untouched on the pillow.
A room that had only recently felt safe.
Now it felt like evidence.
“Rachel.””
His voice was different.
She looked up immediately.
“What happened?””
Damon turned the phone toward her.
Her face drained of color.
“No.””
“Yes.””
“She was with security.””
“I know.””
“Then how—”
“That’s what we find out.””
He was already moving.
The fear inside him was real.
But beneath it was something stronger.
Anger.
Someone had taken a child.
Again.
Someone had looked at Lily and decided she was something to control instead of someone to protect.
And Damon was done allowing that.
The safe house was silent when they arrived.
Too silent.
The kind of silence that told Damon something had happened before anyone admitted it.
Two security guards stood outside the entrance.
One looked terrified.
The other looked away.
Damon noticed immediately.
“What happened?””
The first guard swallowed.
“We were checking the cameras.””
“And?””
“Everything went black for three minutes.””
“Three minutes?””
“Yes.””
Damon looked at the second guard.
“And you?””
The man avoided his eyes.
“I was outside.””
“You were assigned to Lily’s floor.””
“I stepped away.””
Damon stared.
“For three minutes?””
The guard said nothing.
Rachel stepped forward.
“Damon.””
He raised a hand.
“No.””
His eyes stayed on the guard.
“Who paid you?””
The man froze.
“I don’t know what you mean.””
Damon walked closer.
“People don’t abandon their post by accident when a child disappears.””
“I didn’t take her.””
“Then tell me who did.””
The guard looked terrified.
Finally, he whispered:
“Clara.””
The name filled the room.
Damon’s jaw tightened.
“Where?””
“I don’t know.””
“You’re lying.””
The guard shook his head.
“I swear.””
He looked at Damon.
“But she wasn’t alone.””
“Who was with her?””
The guard hesitated.
Then said:
“Your mother.””
Everything stopped.
Damon felt the world tilt.
“My mother is dead.””
The guard looked confused.
“No.””
He shook his head.
“The woman who came with Clara.””
Rachel stepped closer.
“What woman?””
The guard closed his eyes.
“I don’t know her name.””
“Describe her.””
He swallowed.
“She looked older.””
Damon’s heart started pounding.
“Gray hair?””
The guard nodded.
“Yes.””
Rachel looked at him.
“Damon…”
He already knew.
There was only one person.
One person who had appeared in his life again and again.
One person who knew every secret.
One person who had always claimed to protect him.
Margaret.
They found Margaret two hours later.
Not at her mansion.
Not at her office.
At an abandoned chapel outside the city.
The place had once belonged to the Cross family estate.
Damon remembered coming there as a child.
His mother used to bring him.
She said quiet places helped people hear the truth.
Now he wondered what truths she had been hiding.
The chapel door creaked open.
Margaret stood inside.
She didn’t run.
She looked tired.
Older.
Broken.
“I knew you’d find me.””
Damon entered.
“Where is Lily?””
Margaret closed her eyes.
“She’s safe.””
“Where?””
“Damon—”
“Where?””
His voice echoed through the empty chapel.
Margaret looked at him.
“You sound like your grandfather.””
The words cut deeper than he expected.
“Don’t.””
“I’m sorry.””
“No.””
He stepped closer.
“Do not compare me to him.””
Margaret looked down.
“Then prove you’re different.””
Damon froze.
“What does that mean?””
“It means listen before you judge.””
He laughed bitterly.
“A child was taken.””
“I know.””
“Then tell me where she is.””
Margaret was silent.
Finally, she whispered:
“Your mother asked me to protect her.””
Damon stared.
“My mother?””
“Yes.””
“Lily?””
Margaret nodded.
“Before your mother died, she knew the truth would eventually come out.””
“What truth?””
Margaret looked at the old wooden altar.
“Lily is not only Robert Cross’s granddaughter.””
Damon frowned.
“What else?””
Margaret looked at him.
“She is your sister.””
The words landed harder than anything else.
Damon couldn’t breathe.
“No.””
“Your mother had another child.””
“That’s impossible.””
“She hid her.””
“Why?””
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because Robert found out.””
Damon shook his head.
“My mother would have told me.””
“She wanted to.””
“Then why didn’t she?””
Margaret looked at him.
“Because she knew Robert would use you.””
The chapel became silent.
Damon felt memories breaking apart.
His mother’s late-night phone calls.
The locked drawers.
The conversations that stopped when he entered rooms.
All the things he thought were normal.
They weren’t.
“She gave Lily away to protect her,” Margaret continued.
“Where was she?””
“With a family friend.””
“And then?””
“Your grandfather found out.””
Damon clenched his fists.
“He hurt her?””
Margaret looked away.
“He destroyed everyone connected to her.””
A cold rage moved through him.
“And Lily?””
“Was hidden.””
“Until the gala.””
Margaret nodded.
“Someone wanted her found.””
“Who?””
Margaret looked toward the door.
Before she could answer, headlights appeared outside.
Too many.
Damon turned.
Cars surrounded the chapel.
Margaret’s face changed.
“They found us.””
“Who?””
She whispered:
“The people who were supposed to protect your family.””
May you like
The chapel doors opened.
And Clara Voss walked inside.
