Chapter 3 - The Woman From His PastRyan called 911.
While they waited, he wrapped Lily in a blanket and carried her into the kitchen.
Evan sat beside her.
“You're safe now,” he whispered.
Lily took his hand.
Ryan watched them.
Then he looked at the photograph again.
Natalie Hayes.
Eight years earlier, Ryan and Natalie had been engaged.
Their relationship had ended abruptly after Natalie disappeared.
Not gradually.
Not after an argument.
She simply vanished.
Ryan had called hundreds of times.
Her apartment had been emptied.
Her phone disconnected.
Eventually, a message arrived.
Don't look for me. I've chosen another life.
Ryan had been devastated.
Two years later, he met Caroline.
Now a little girl was sitting in his kitchen carrying Natalie’s photograph.
Ryan crouched beside her.
“Lily, where is your mother?”
Lily's face changed.
“Caroline said Mommy went away.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“When did Caroline bring you here?”
Lily frowned.
“After Mommy got hurt.”
Ryan felt his stomach tighten.
“What happened to her?”
Before Lily could answer, sirens approached.
Police entered minutes later.
Paramedics examined Lily.
She was dehydrated and underfed but conscious.
Detective Mara Bennett arrived shortly afterward.
She listened carefully.
Then she asked Ryan the question he had been avoiding.
“Where's your wife?”
Ryan looked toward the open back door.
“I don't know.”
Mara's expression hardened.
“We need to find her.”
Then an officer called from the hidden passage.
“Detective?”
Mara walked over.
The officer emerged holding a cell phone sealed inside a plastic bag.
“We found this beneath the blanket.”
The screen was cracked.
But one unsent message remained visible.
May you like
It had been written by Natalie.
Ryan, if you're reading this, Caroline knows what happened to me.
