Chapter 7 - The Secret Room.
Chapter 7 - The Secret Room.
Nora and Ethan froze.
The footsteps above them were slow.
Careful.
Someone knew they were there.
Ethan immediately turned off the basement light.
“Stay quiet.”
Nora stared at him.
“You don’t get to protect me anymore.”
But Ethan did not respond.
He was listening.
The footsteps stopped.
Then silence.
Ethan moved toward the stairs.
Nora followed.
They reached the first floor.
Nobody was there.
The front door was open.
A cold wind entered the house.
Someone had escaped.
But they left something behind.
A folder on the kitchen table.
Nora opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
A hospital room.
Six years earlier.
Nora’s daughter.
Alive.
Being held by Margaret Hale.
But standing beside them was another person.
Someone Nora recognized immediately.
Dr. Adrian Cole.
The doctor who told her the baby died.
Nora felt her hands become numb.
“He was involved.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
The truth became heavier.
The doctor.
The hospital.
The missing records.
Margaret.
Everyone was connected.
Nora turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
Three words.
“Project New Beginning.”
“What is this?” Nora asked.
Ethan looked terrified.
“I don’t know everything.”
“But I know enough.”
“Your daughter was not taken because someone wanted money.”
“Then why?”
Ethan looked at the photograph.
“Because she was evidence.”
Nora stared at him.
“Evidence of what?”
Before he answered, Nora’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
Unknown number.
A picture.
Emma.
Sitting alone.
Holding the rabbit.
Under the photo were five words.
“Come alone if you want her.”
Nora’s heart stopped.
May you like
The person who had been hiding her daughter for six years...
Had just contacted her.
