Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
I couldn't sleep that night.
Lily was finally resting after the nurse finished checking her.
I sat beside the window while Phoebe reviewed every transaction connected to my mother's name.
At 2:13 a.m., she found something.
“There's a pattern.”
“What kind?”
“Every transfer begins in a Vance account.”
“And ends with your mother's account.”
“How much?”
Phoebe looked at the spreadsheet.
“Over eleven years?”
She paused.
“Thirty-two million dollars.”
I couldn't speak.
My mother had never owned that kind of money.
At least, that's what I had believed.
Then Phoebe opened the oldest transaction.
The description read:
PROJECT LILY.
I stared at the words.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
A knock came at the door.
I expected a nurse.
Instead, an elderly man entered.
He was wearing a dark wool coat.
His face was familiar.
Not because I knew him.
Because I had seen him in photographs.
Flynn's father.
I stood so quickly that the chair nearly fell.
“That’s impossible.”
The man smiled sadly.
“My son said the same thing when he saw me.”
Phoebe immediately stood.
“Who are you?”
“Thomas Vance.”
I shook my head.
“Thomas Vance died.”
“That's what everyone was told.”
My hands began trembling.
“Why?”
“Because I needed them to believe I was dead.”
“Why would you do that?”
He looked at Lily.
“Because I discovered what my family had been doing.”
He walked closer.
“I discovered that your mother had been trying to stop them.”
I felt dizzy.
“My mother knew you?”
“She trusted me.”
“Then why did she never tell me?”
“Because she wanted you safe.”
He reached inside his coat and removed a sealed envelope.
“Your mother gave me this eleven years ago.”
The envelope had my name on it.
Mabel.
My eyes filled with tears.
“What is it?”
“Something she wanted you to read when you had a daughter.”
I stared at him.
“How did she know?”
“Because she knew the Vance family would eventually come for your child.”
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Only one sentence had been written.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THEY HAVE ALREADY FOUND HER.
My breath caught.
“Found who?”
Thomas looked toward the hallway.
“The woman who has been pretending to be dead.”
A shadow moved beneath the door.
Phoebe noticed it too.
She reached for her phone.
Thomas whispered:
“Don't call anyone.”
“Why?”
“Because the person outside that door isn't here to hurt you.”
He looked at me.
“They're here to warn you.”
The door opened.
A nurse stood there, pale and shaking.
She looked directly at me.
Then she whispered:
May you like
“Mrs. Vance… your mother is alive.”
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