The gunshot never came.
Instead, a metal door slammed somewhere below.
Then another.
Voss cursed.
Charles grabbed Emily and pulled her behind the desk.
Claire dropped to the floor.
Margaret crouched beside her.
A flashlight snapped on across the room.
A security alarm began to howl.
Emily could hear footsteps.
Voss shouted, "Who is there?"
No answer.
Charles whispered, "Stay down."
Emily felt the ledger beneath her jacket.
She had taken it before the lights went out.
Voss's flashlight swept across the room.
Then stopped.
"Give me the ledger."
Emily held her breath.
Voss moved closer.
Suddenly a heavy object struck him from behind.
He fell.
Charles lunged forward and kicked the gun away.
The lights came back.
A man stood in the doorway.
Emily recognized him.
He was the hospital security guard from earlier.
The one she had asked about the man in the dark coat.
He looked at Charles.
"You're welcome."
Charles stared.
"Who are you?"
The guard removed his cap.
"Someone Thomas trusted."
Emily looked at Claire.
Claire's eyes widened.
"Peter."
The man nodded.
"I've been watching Voss for six months."
Voss groaned.
Peter handcuffed him.
Emily stared.
"How did you know we were here?"
"Thomas arranged a contingency."
"Before he died?"
"Yes."
Peter looked at the ledger.
"He knew Voss would come for it."
Voss laughed weakly.
"You think that book proves anything?"
Emily looked at him.
"You were moving money."
"Not enough."
"You forged documents."
"Forgery is difficult to prove."
"You threatened my father."
Voss smiled.
"Your father threatened himself."
Charles stepped forward.
"You killed Edward."
Voss looked at him.
"Edward died because Thomas chose money over loyalty."
Claire said, "You pushed him."
Voss's smile disappeared.
"You saw nothing."
"I saw you."
"And you stayed silent for twenty-three years."
Claire's face hardened.
"Because Thomas threatened my sister."
Voss looked toward Margaret.
"He did more than that."
Margaret stepped closer.
"What do you mean?"
Voss laughed.
"Thomas never told you?"
Margaret stared.
"Told me what?"
Voss looked at Emily.
"Your mother wasn't the only person he threatened."
Emily felt uneasy.
"What are you talking about?"
Voss said nothing.
Peter tightened the handcuffs.
"We'll let the police hear the rest."
Voss smiled.
"You still don't understand."
He looked at Emily.
"The ledger is not the evidence."
Emily froze.
"What is?"
Voss leaned back.
"The second recording."
Claire's face changed.
Voss saw it.
"You have it."
Emily looked at the cassette recorder in her hand.
Voss smiled.
"That's why Thomas kept you alive."
Margaret stepped toward him.
"What did he record?"
Voss laughed.
"Not me."
Silence.
"Who?"
Voss looked at Daniel's daughter.
"Thomas recorded himself admitting what he did."
Emily remembered the first tape.
Thomas's words.
I was afraid.
I became cruel.
But there had been more.
The recording had stopped.
Emily looked at Claire.
"Did you hear the entire tape?"
Claire shook her head.
"No."
Peter frowned.
"Then Voss knows more than we do."
Voss smiled.
"Because I heard the original."
Emily stepped closer.
"What did Thomas admit?"
Voss looked at Margaret.
"That he ordered your sister's disappearance."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"We knew that."
"No."
Voss shook his head.
"He didn't merely threaten her."
He looked at Emily.
"He paid me to make her disappear."
Claire stared at him.
"You."
"Yes."
"You told Thomas you had killed me."
"I told him what he wanted to hear."
Claire's face went pale.
"You knew I was alive."
"I knew."
Emily looked at Claire.
"Then why didn't you come back?"
Claire's voice trembled.
"Because I believed Voss would kill you if I did."
Margaret began crying.
"I should have found you."
Claire looked at her.
"You were trying to raise Emily."
"For twenty-three years."
"I know."
Emily felt the anger inside her soften.
The family had not simply been lying.
They had been trapped.
But someone had designed the trap.
Voss.
Peter searched his pockets and found a phone.
"This is locked."
Emily looked at it.
"Give it to me."
Peter hesitated.
"Why?"
"The messages."
She entered the number she had received.
The phone unlocked.
Hundreds of messages appeared.
Some were from Thomas's old number.
Others came from temporary accounts.
Emily scrolled.
Then she saw a recent conversation.
Three weeks ago.
A message from Voss to someone else.
THOMAS IS DEAD.
The response:
DANIEL MUST NOT SPEAK.
Emily's eyes widened.
"Who was he talking to?"
The number belonged to Margaret.
She looked at her mother.
"No."
Margaret shook her head.
"I never saw that."
Emily showed her.
Margaret stared.
"I didn't send that."
Charles took the phone.
"This isn't your number."
He looked closer.
"Someone cloned it."
Emily thought of the forged signatures.
The fake records.
The false officer.
Everything was imitation.
Nothing was what it appeared to be.
Then Peter found another message.
A photo.
Daniel in his hospital bed.
Taken from the doorway.
The timestamp was that afternoon.
Emily's blood ran cold.
"Someone is still inside the hospital."
Peter looked at Charles.
"We need to go."
They rushed back.
The hospital was unusually quiet.
Too quiet.
When they reached Daniel's floor, the lights were dim.
Margaret ran toward his room.
The bed was empty.
The monitor had been disconnected.
Emily's heart stopped.
"Dad?"
No answer.
A nurse came running.
"He was moved."
"Where?"
"Emergency procedure."
"Who ordered it?"
The nurse checked the chart.
"Dr. Harris."
Charles frowned.
"There is no Dr. Harris on this floor."
Emily looked at Peter.
"Voss's people."
They ran toward the operating area.
A man in surgical clothing came through the doors.
Peter grabbed him.
"Where is Daniel Mercer?"
The man froze.
"I don't know."
Emily saw a smear of blood on his sleeve.
Her stomach turned.
"Where is my father?"
He pointed toward the elevator.
"Basement."
They raced downstairs.
A service van stood near the loading dock.
Its rear doors were open.
Inside was Daniel.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
Emily climbed in.
"Dad."
His eyes opened.
He tried to speak.
She held his hand.
"We found the ledger."
Daniel nodded.
"Good."
"We found Voss."
His eyes widened.
"Don't trust…"
He stopped.
Emily leaned closer.
"Who?"
Daniel struggled.
"Peter."
Emily looked back.
Peter stood at the van door.
His face was unreadable.
Daniel whispered again.
"Not…"
Then he lost consciousness.
Emily slowly turned toward Peter.
Peter's hand moved toward his coat.
Claire stepped between them.
"Don't."
Peter froze.
Emily looked at him.
"Who are you?"
Peter sighed.
"Not who Thomas told you I was."
Charles stared.
"You worked for Voss."
Peter shook his head.
"No."
"Then why did Daniel say not to trust you?"
Peter looked at the unconscious man.
"Because Daniel saw the one thing none of you did."
He reached inside his coat.
Emily stepped back.
Peter removed a photograph.
He placed it on the van floor.
It showed Voss.
And beside him stood someone else.
Emily stared.
Her mother's face.
Margaret's.
The photograph was dated three weeks earlier.
Margaret looked at it.
Her lips parted.
"I've never seen this."
Peter nodded.
"I know."
He turned the photograph over.
On the back was one sentence.
SHE HAS A TWIN.
Emily looked at Claire.
Then at Margaret.
Claire whispered, "No."
Margaret began shaking.
"I don't have a twin."
Peter looked at her.
"That's what Thomas wanted you to believe."
Click Here to continue read next: PART8: The Final Recording Reveals Why Thomas Built the Lie, Who Truly Controlled the Family, and What Emily Must Finally Choose
The Visitor Arrived Carrying Two Expensive Shopping Bags, Yet Her Father Had Asked Everyone to Keep Her Away From His Hospital Room
Part 7 of 16
