Chapter 4 - MY WIFE WAS STILL ALIVE
Samuel spent the next hour convincing himself the photograph had been manipulated.
It had to be.
His wife, Laura, had died seventeen years ago.
He had identified her body.
He had attended her funeral.
He had watched the coffin disappear beneath the ground.
But the photograph showed her alive.
Daniel zoomed in.
“Look at the necklace.”
Samuel stared.
It was the necklace he had given Laura on their tenth anniversary.
A silver pendant shaped like a small key.
He had buried it with her.
Or so he thought.
Emma began crying.
“Dad, what does this mean?”
Samuel couldn't answer.
Daniel opened another file.
“This is from three months ago.”
The file contained surveillance photographs.
Laura entering a private clinic.
Laura leaving a courthouse.
Laura meeting Victoria.
Laura standing beside the man who looked like Samuel.
Samuel felt the room spinning.
“Where is she?”
Daniel pointed to an address.
A private rehabilitation center.
Samuel stood immediately.
“We're going.”
Daniel stopped him.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“She may not be the person you remember.”
Samuel turned.
“What does that mean?”
“She could be involved.”
Samuel shook his head.
“She wouldn't hurt Emma.”
Daniel didn't answer.
They drove to the clinic.
The building looked ordinary.
White walls.
Small windows.
A quiet parking lot.
Samuel entered the lobby.
“I'm here to see Laura Hale.”
The receptionist looked at him.
Then went pale.
“Sir…”
Samuel placed the photograph on the counter.
“I need to see her.”
The receptionist picked up the phone.
Before she could speak, the lights went out.
Daniel grabbed Emma.
“Down!”
A loud crash came from the hallway.
Then footsteps.
Samuel pulled Emma behind a desk.
The emergency lights came on.
A man ran toward the back entrance.
Daniel chased him.
Samuel followed.
They reached a small room.
Empty.
Except for a chair.
And a mirror.
On the mirror, someone had written:
YOU WERE NEVER HER HUSBAND.
Samuel stared.
“What?”
Daniel entered behind him.
“Dad…”
Samuel turned.
Daniel was holding a file.
“What?”
Daniel opened it.
It was a marriage certificate.
Samuel Hale.
Laura Bennett.
The date was wrong.
It listed their marriage two years after the date Samuel remembered.
Samuel shook his head.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel showed him another.
A birth certificate for Emma.
The father's name was blank.
Samuel felt his knees weaken.
“What is this?”
Daniel whispered:
“The records were changed.”
“By whom?”
“That's what we've been trying to find out.”
A door opened behind them.
An elderly nurse stepped inside.
She looked frightened.
“You need to leave.”
Samuel turned.
“Where is Laura?”
The nurse stared at him.
“She doesn't know you.”
Samuel's heart broke.
“What?”
“She has memory problems.”
“Is she here?”
“Yes.”
“Take me to her.”
The nurse hesitated.
Then whispered:
“She asked for you.”
Samuel froze.
“What?”
“She has been asking for Samuel every night.”
The nurse led him down a corridor.
At the end was a small room.
Laura sat beside a window.
Her hair was gray.
Her face was thinner.
But it was her.
Samuel couldn't breathe.
“Laura?”
She turned.
For several seconds, she simply stared.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“You came.”
Samuel walked toward her.
“I thought you were dead.”
Laura shook her head.
“They wanted you to believe that.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the door.
“Your mother.”
Samuel froze.
“My mother died twenty years ago.”
Laura shook her head.
“No.”
“She is alive.”
Samuel stared.
Laura reached beneath her pillow.
She pulled out a photograph.
It showed three people.
Laura.
Victoria.
And Samuel's mother.
But the date was only four months old.
Laura whispered:
“They have been preparing this for seventeen years.”
Samuel sat beside her.
“Why?”
Laura looked directly into his eyes.
“Because they couldn't steal the inheritance while you were alive and trusted.”
Samuel felt a chill.
“So they needed to destroy my family.”
Laura nodded.
“And when that failed…”
She looked at Emma.
“They decided to destroy her.”
Then Laura said something that made Samuel's blood run cold.
“Your daughter was never supposed to inherit the money.”
Samuel stared.
“What?”
Laura whispered:
“The trust belongs to someone else.”
A long silence followed.
“Who?”
Laura looked toward Daniel.
“Your son.”
Daniel froze.
Samuel slowly turned toward him.
Daniel's face had gone white.
“I didn't know.”
Laura shook her head.
“They made sure you didn't.”
Then the door behind them locked.
Someone had trapped them inside.
May you like
And from the hallway came Victoria's voice.
“Now that the whole family is together, we can finally finish this.”
