Daniel stood behind me, his face grim.
Detective Bennett stopped the recording.
“We believe Vanessa Grant may be that baby,” she said.
“So she came back for revenge.”
“Yes.”
“But why use Ryan?”
“Because Ryan was Charles Parker’s son. Because she believed the Parker family destroyed her mother. And because Ryan made himself easy to manipulate.” Familycounseling services
I closed my eyes.
The horror kept spreading wider and wider.
Vanessa had been born into betrayal.
Hidden away by money.
Raised inside a lie.
Then she had become a woman willing to destroy another mother and child in order to punish the bloodline that had destroyed hers.
It was tragic.
It was monstrous.
It was not an excuse.
That afternoon, Ryan called.
Not my phone.
Daniel’s.
The number was blocked.
Daniel answered on speaker while Detective Bennett recorded.
For one second, there was only breathing.
Then Ryan’s voice came through, hoarse and trembling.
“Daniel?”
Daniel’s face hardened. “Ryan.”
“Help me.”
The words hung in the room.
Daniel glanced at Bennett.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ryan, where are you?”
“I said I don’t know!” His voice cracked. “She blindfolded me. Moved me. I’m in some room. It smells like wood. Like old wood. There’s water nearby. I can hear it.”
My heart stopped.
Water.
Old wood.
A cold thought moved through me.
The cabin.
My mother’s hidden property. Mother-in-lawgifts
No.
Vanessa could not know.
Could she?
Ryan sobbed. “She told me everything. About my father. About her mother. She said I’m going to confess on camera. She said if I don’t, she’ll send pieces of me to my father.”
Nathan looked sick.
Daniel spoke with care. “Ryan, listen to me. The police can help you, but you need to stay calm.”
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