“His birth certificate.”
I looked down.
“The hospital records?”
“Yes.”
“They’re trying to destroy them.”
“Not because they prove Samuel exists.”
The road seemed to narrow.
“Then why?”
Mara’s next words changed everything.
“Because they prove who his mother really is.”
My breath stopped.
“What?”
Daniel looked at me.
His face was full of regret.
“No.”
“Daniel.”
He reached toward me.
I pulled away.
“Tell me.”
Mara spoke quietly.
“Your husband’s family believed the Mercer bloodline ended when Daniel disappeared.”
I looked at Daniel.
“But it didn’t.”
“No.”
“Because of Samuel?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It will.”
The woman’s voice lowered.
“Your son carries genetic markers that belong to the Voss family.”
Daniel whispered:
“The same markers my father spent years trying to erase.”
The SUV appeared again behind us.
Closer.
Much closer.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
Unknown sender.
One sentence.
WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.
My blood turned cold.
Daniel saw it.
And for the first time all night…
he looked truly terrified.
“Stop the car.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Stop the car.”
“No.”
“Listen to me.”
The urgency in his voice changed everything.
“They don’t want to kill us.”
The SUV accelerated.
“They want Samuel alive.”
The headlights filled the rear window.
Daniel looked at our son.
“And if they catch us…”
His voice broke.
“They won’t take him from you.”
I held Samuel tighter.
“Then what will they do?”
Daniel stared straight ahead.
“They’ll take him from everyone.”
A sharp turn appeared ahead.
Beyond it was an old abandoned road leading into the forest.
Daniel grabbed the wheel.
And before I could ask what he was doing…
he turned directly toward it.
The black SUV followed.
But what Daniel didn’t know was that someone else had been tracking us too.
Someone who had been waiting twenty-four years for this night.
Someone who knew the truth about Samuel’s birth.
And when the second vehicle emerged from the darkness…
Daniel whispered one name.
“Mom.”
