Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO DIED TWICEDaniel was in the passenger seat before Marcus finished starting the engine.
Aaron followed in an unmarked police vehicle.
Sophie remained at the estate under the protection of two officers Daniel trusted.
He hated leaving her.
But everything inside him told him that if Nathan Brooks reached that medical facility first, whatever had been hidden for three years might disappear forever.
“What is the place?” Daniel asked.
Marcus drove faster.
“Silver Pines Behavioral Recovery Center.”
“My father owns a psychiatric hospital?”
“Not directly.”
“Of course not.”
“A holding company owns it.”
“Which holding company?”
Marcus hesitated.
“North Field Medical.”
Daniel looked at him.
Marcus continued.
“North Field is controlled by a trust administered by Nathan Brooks.”
Daniel stared through the windshield.
His father had hidden everything behind layers.
Companies.
Trusts.
Attorneys.
Employees.
Even people.
Especially people.
Daniel remembered Claire’s funeral.
Rain.
A closed casket.
Graham standing beside him.
One hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“Some things are better left unseen, son.”
Daniel had believed him.
He had been so broken that he had believed everyone.
The official report said Claire’s car had left a mountain road after midnight.
There had been a fire.
The body was badly damaged.
Nathan handled the paperwork.
Graham arranged the funeral.
Daniel had spent three years blaming himself because he and Claire had argued that night.
She had driven away angry.
And never returned.
“What if she’s alive?”
Marcus did not answer.
Daniel looked at him.
“What if she’s been alive this entire time?”
Marcus kept his eyes on the road.
“Then somebody worked very hard to make you believe she wasn’t.”
They reached Silver Pines forty minutes later.
The facility did not look like a hospital.
It looked like a luxury retreat.
Tall pine trees.
Stone buildings.
Private gates.
No large sign.
No visible patients.
Nathan’s SUV was parked near the rear entrance.
Daniel jumped out.
Aaron arrived behind him.
“We do this legally.”
Daniel kept walking.
Aaron grabbed his arm.
“Daniel.”
“My wife may be in there.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Aaron lowered his voice.
“I also know that if you go through that door swinging at people, every lawyer Graham owns will spend the next year calling you unstable.”
Daniel stopped.
Aaron continued.
“Let me get us inside.”
The administrator appeared minutes later.
Dr. Helen Ward.
Fifty years old.
Perfect suit.
Controlled expression.
“There is no patient named Claire Vale here.”
Daniel placed Claire’s photograph on the desk.
“What about this woman?”
Dr. Ward barely looked.
“No.”
Aaron watched her.
“You answered quickly.”
“I know my patients.”
Daniel noticed a slight tremor in her fingers.
Nathan Brooks suddenly stepped into the lobby.
“Daniel.”
Daniel turned.
Nathan looked exactly as he always had.
Silver hair.
Expensive glasses.
A calm smile.
“Nathan.”
“I heard what happened at the estate.”
“Did you?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Nathan hesitated.
Daniel walked closer.
“For Sophie almost dying?”
“Yes.”
“Or Claire still being alive?”
Nathan’s smile vanished.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Daniel punched him.
Aaron shouted.
Nathan crashed into a chair.
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
“Where is my wife?”
“Daniel!”
Aaron pulled him away.
Nathan wiped blood from his mouth.
“There.”
He smiled.
“That temper.”
Daniel froze.
Nathan pointed toward Aaron.
“You’re seeing it yourself, Detective.”
Daniel understood immediately.
The whole thing had been prepared.
Nathan wanted Daniel angry.
Violent.
Unstable.
Exactly the story Graham would need.
Daniel released him.
Nathan straightened his suit.
“My brother was a psychiatrist,” Daniel said.
Nathan blinked.
Daniel continued.
“He always told me unstable people rarely stop being angry just because someone asks.”
Nathan said nothing.
Daniel smiled.
“So if I were as crazy as you need me to be, I’d still be hitting you.”
Aaron almost smiled.
Dr. Ward stepped forward.
“I’m going to ask everyone to leave.”
A voice came from the hallway.
“Sunflower.”
Daniel stopped.
The word was barely audible.
A woman’s voice.
His entire body turned cold.
Claire used to call Sophie that.
Sunflower.
Because as a toddler Sophie would turn her face toward every bright window she saw.
Daniel looked down the corridor.
A woman stood there.
Barefoot.
Thin.
Her blond hair had been cut short.
She wore pale hospital clothing.
Daniel could not move.
The woman stared at him.
Her lips trembled.
“Daniel?”
He forgot how to breathe.
“Claire?”
Nathan shouted, “Get her back to her room!”
Two orderlies moved.
Daniel crossed the lobby before they reached her.
Claire stumbled toward him.
He caught her.
She touched his face.
“You’re alive.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What?”
“They told me you died.”
His knees nearly gave out.
Claire began crying.
“They said you and Sophie died in the accident.”
Daniel wrapped both arms around her.
“No.”
She sobbed against him.
“No, Claire.”
“Sophie?”
“She’s alive.”
Claire pulled back.
“What?”
“She’s alive.”
Claire’s face changed completely.
“My baby?”
“She’s safe.”
Claire screamed.
Not from fear.
From three years of stolen grief escaping at once.
“My baby!”
Daniel held her as she collapsed.
Nathan moved toward the exit.
Aaron blocked him.
“Where are you going?”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“I am legal counsel for this facility.”
“Good.”
Aaron removed handcuffs.
“You’ll know your rights.”
Nathan stepped back.
“You have nothing.”
Aaron pointed toward Claire.
“I have a woman legally declared dead walking around your client’s private hospital.”
Nathan’s confidence weakened.
Dr. Ward whispered, “I can explain.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Start.”
She looked toward Nathan.
Aaron noticed.
“Don’t look at him.”
Dr. Ward closed her eyes.
“She was admitted under a court order.”
“Whose?”
“Graham Vale petitioned for emergency guardianship.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“Guardianship over a dead woman?”
“She wasn’t legally dead when she arrived.”
Silence.
Aaron stepped closer.
“When was the death certificate issued?”
Dr. Ward looked at Nathan.
“Two days later.”
Nathan stopped speaking entirely.
Daniel held Claire tighter.
“What did they do to her?”
Dr. Ward’s voice shook.
“She suffered a head injury in the crash.”
“Did she lose her memory?”
“For several weeks.”
“And then?”
Dr. Ward looked ashamed.
“She began remembering.”
Daniel understood.
“And you kept drugging her.”
“I followed the treatment plan.”
“You imprisoned my wife.”
Nathan suddenly spoke.
“She was dangerous.”
Claire turned.
Her eyes filled with something fierce.
“You.”
Nathan froze.
Claire stepped toward him.
“You were at the road.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
Claire pointed.
“He pulled me out of the car.”
Nathan’s face emptied.
“He told the ambulance driver my husband was already dead.”
Aaron’s eyes narrowed.
Claire continued.
“But somebody else was there.”
Daniel asked, “Who?”
Claire looked at him.
“Your father.”
The room went silent.
She gripped Daniel’s hands.
“I had discovered the money.”
“The one hundred eighty million?”
Claire nodded.
“But that wasn’t why Graham tried to erase me.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Then why?”
Claire looked around.
She was afraid even now.
“I discovered who the money was going to.”
Nathan whispered, “Claire.”
Aaron immediately faced him.
Claire continued.
“Your father wasn’t stealing from Vale International.”
Daniel frowned.
“He was paying someone.”
“Who?”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“A man named Thomas Reed.”
The name meant nothing to Daniel.
Claire looked at him.
“It should.”
“Why?”
“Because according to the documents I found, Thomas Reed is your biological father.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
May you like
And somewhere behind him, Nathan Brooks quietly said:
“Oh, God.”
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