Chapter 3: The Man Who Knew Everything
Richard Hayes lived alone outside the city.
Retirement had made him smaller.
Older.
More fragile.
But when he opened the door and saw Evelyn standing there with Daniel beside her...
His face lost every trace of color.
"You."
Evelyn held up the hospital document.
"You lied."
Richard closed his eyes.
"I prayed this day would never come."
Daniel hid slightly behind Evelyn.
Richard looked at the boy for a long moment before whispering,
"I'm sorry."
Evelyn stepped forward.
"Where did my son go?"
The old doctor's shoulders collapsed.
"Your husband..."
She stared.
"My husband?"
"He owed dangerous people millions after his business failed."
"He believed raising a child would destroy your future."
"So he paid someone to take the baby."
Evelyn shook her head violently.
"No."
"He told me if I helped... the child would be adopted by a wealthy family overseas."
Richard's voice broke.
"I believed him."
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
"The adoption never happened."
"The people disappeared."
"I searched for years."
Daniel listened without speaking.
His entire life had been decided before he could even open his eyes.
Richard opened a safe and removed one final envelope.
"I've kept this because I could never forgive myself."
Inside were photographs.
One showed a tiny newborn wrapped in a blue blanket.
Another showed the man who had accepted the child.
Evelyn recognized him immediately.
He had died six years earlier.
A trafficker arrested under a different identity.
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The trail wasn't cold.
It had finally begun.
