CHAPTER 4 – THE MAN EVERYONE BURIED
CHAPTER 4 – THE MAN EVERYONE BURIED
Grace thought the old man had finally lost his mind.
"You said your son died."
"So did everyone else."
Warren slowly lowered himself into a chair.
For the first time since Grace had met him...
He looked old.
Not angry.
Not impossible.
Just exhausted.
"I buried an empty coffin."
Silence filled the room.
Mrs. Bell closed the curtains.
"No one outside this house can hear what you're about to learn."
Grace whispered,
"My daughter..."
"Is probably safer than either of us."
Grace almost slapped him.
"My little girl has been kidnapped!"
"No."
Warren looked toward the fireplace.
"If Michael has her..."
"...he rescued her."
Grace stared in disbelief.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I expect you to listen."
He opened a locked drawer.
Inside lay dozens of letters.
Every envelope carried the same signature.
M.
"I've received one every year."
Grace picked up the newest letter.
It read—
The wrong son inherited your empire. One day I'll return for the only thing you still love.
Her hands trembled.
"You never told the police?"
"They already believed he was dead."
"Why?"
"Because someone paid them to."
Mrs. Bell quietly looked toward the hallway.
Daniel.
At breakfast...
Daniel entered with perfect composure.
"Good morning."
No one answered.
He immediately sensed something had changed.
"What happened?"
Warren calmly slid the handwritten note across the table.
Daniel read it.
For less than half a second...
His smile disappeared.
Grace noticed.
Mrs. Bell noticed.
Warren noticed.
Then Daniel laughed.
"Someone's playing a cruel joke."
"Perhaps."
"You don't actually think Michael..."
"I don't know what I think anymore."
Daniel folded the note.
"I'll have security investigate."
"No."
Warren's voice turned icy.
"I'll handle this myself."
Daniel's eyes hardened.
"As you wish."
An hour later...
Grace wandered into the neglected garden behind the mansion.
She couldn't breathe inside those walls.
Every smile felt fake.
Every conversation felt rehearsed.
Then she noticed something strange.
Fresh footprints.
Small ones.
Children's footprints.
Leading toward the abandoned greenhouse.
"Lily?"
She hurried after them.
Inside the greenhouse she found an old wooden bench.
On it rested Lily's favorite stuffed rabbit.
Grace picked it up.
It was warm.
Someone had placed it there only minutes earlier.
Tucked beneath it was another note.
This one contained only a drawing.
A maze.
At the center—
A red X.
On the back...
Five handwritten words.
Trust the gardener. Not family.
Grace slowly turned.
The elderly gardener stood only a few feet away, holding a watering can.
"I wondered how long it would take," he said quietly.
"You..."
"You want your daughter back?"
Grace nodded desperately.
"Then come tonight."
"Where?"
"The old chapel beyond the lake."
He leaned closer.
"And tell no one."
Not Warren.
Not Mrs. Bell.
Especially...
Not Daniel.
As Grace watched him walk away...
She never noticed someone photographing them from an upstairs window.
Daniel lowered his camera.
Then picked up his phone.
His voice was calm.
"They've taken the bait."
A pause.
May you like
Then he smiled.
"Tonight... we finish what should have ended thirty years ago."
