Chapter 8 - The Lie That Kept Her Alive
Lily demanded the truth before she would take another step.
Victor told it in pieces.
Nine years earlier, Mei Chen had come to him with evidence that Matteo was selling children through a network disguised as international relief work. Daniel had already been killed. Mei believed Lily was being watched, so Victor arranged for new school records, a new address, and a quiet life outside the city.
"You changed my life without asking me," Lily said.
"I kept you alive."
"You let me believe my father died in a car accident."
"Your mother thought the lie would protect you."
"And you agreed."
Victor didn't answer.
Lily stood. "You don't get to call that protection."
"I know."
"No, you don't. You had people. Money. Men with guns. I had a mother who cried in the bathroom so I wouldn't hear her."
Victor's face tightened.
For the first time, Lily saw something beneath his control: shame.
A knock sounded at the apartment door. Eddie entered, pale.
"We have a problem."
"Another one?" Lily asked.
Eddie held out a tablet. A local news report showed flames rising from the old harbor storage building.
The caption read: FIRE AT ABANDONED WAREHOUSE; TWO UNIDENTIFIED VICTIMS.
Lily recognized the address.
"The laundromat?"
"Not the laundromat," Eddie said. "The building next door. Someone knew we were there."
Victor looked at the notebook. "They wanted us to think the evidence was destroyed."
Lily turned the pages quickly. "The ledger is a copy. My mother said harbor file. There must be an original."
A loose page slipped from the binding. It contained a set of coordinates and one sentence:
THE THIRD BOAT NEVER LEFT.
Lily looked at Victor.
"Where is it?"
Victor read the coordinates.
"Under the old ferry terminal."
Before they could move, every light in the apartment went out.
May you like
A voice came through the darkness.
"Nobody move."
