Chapter 2: The Woman Who Was Never Gone
Hours later, Daniel sat inside his private office at the hospital.
Evelyn placed a thick folder on the desk.
"I wasn't hired by coincidence."
Daniel looked up.
"What do you mean?"
Evelyn took a deep breath.
"Three years ago, I worked at Saint Agnes Trauma Center."
She pulled out an old photograph.
A woman stood beside her, smiling.
Daniel's hands began shaking.
It was his late wife.
Olivia Vale.
The woman everyone believed had abandoned her family.
Evelyn continued.
"Olivia was my best friend."
Daniel's world stopped spinning.
"Impossible."
Evelyn slid another paper across the desk.
A police report.
Missing Person.
Never investigated.
Withdrawn by family request.
Signed by...
Marissa Vale.
Daniel felt sick.
"Why would she do that?"
Evelyn answered quietly.
"Because she wanted everything."
The fortune.
The company.
The mansion.
And Noah.
Marissa had carefully manipulated every person around her for years.
She convinced everyone Olivia had become unstable.
She isolated Noah.
She replaced staff members.
She slowly erased Olivia from existence.
But she made one mistake.
Noah remembered things adults ignored.
Children always do.
The basement stairs story was fake.
The cast was torture.
And Olivia had left clues before she disappeared.
A clue hidden inside a safety deposit box.
Evelyn handed Daniel a key.
"Olivia gave me this years ago."
Daniel whispered, "What if she's still alive?"
May you like
Evelyn looked directly into his eyes.
"Then we don't have much time."
