Daniel tried to hide his fear.
“Lily, tell me what Mommy said.”
The little girl squeezed her wooden box.
“She said you loved me before I was born. But someone took you away.”
Daniel felt a terrible weight settle in his chest.
He opened the box, hoping to find another letter.
Inside was a tiny silver bracelet, a folded photograph, and a hospital identification card.
The card carried Lily’s birth date.
The photograph showed Emily holding a newborn baby beside Daniel’s brother, Michael.
On the back, Emily had written:
“The night everything changed.”
Daniel remembered the night Michael died. He remembered the phone call, the hospital, and the funeral.
But now he wondered whether the story he had been told was a lie.
Suddenly, Lily pointed at the photograph.
“That’s the man who visits Mommy.”
Daniel stared at Michael’s face.
“Have you seen him recently?”
Lily nodded.
“He comes to my window when I’m sleeping.”
Daniel pulled her close.
Then she whispered something that made his blood run cold.
“He told Mommy that when I turn five, he will come to take me away.”
Outside, a car engine started.
Headlights swept across the bedroom wall.
Someone had found them.
