CHAPTER 1: “The Woman They Said Didn’t Exist”
Daniel Reed’s body moved before his mind fully caught up.
“Let her go.”
His voice cracked—not from weakness, but from something deeper.
Shock.
The man in the white shirt finally turned his head slightly, as if noticing Daniel for the first time.
Not as a threat.
But as an inconvenience.
The grip on the barefoot woman’s shoulder tightened.
She winced.
That was enough.
Daniel stepped forward again.
“Don’t touch her.”
The man smiled faintly.
Not friendly.
Not warm.
Controlled.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
The barefoot woman’s eyes widened.
“Daniel—please—don’t—”
But it was too late.
The name had been spoken.
And now it belonged to reality.
Daniel froze.
“You know my name?”
The woman shook her head rapidly.
“I was told to find you,” she said. “Your sister—she said if anything happened to her, I had to find you first.”
The wind shifted.
The park suddenly felt smaller.
Tighter.
Like the world had closed a door behind him.
“Where is she?” Daniel asked.
The man in white finally stepped fully into view.
Now Daniel saw it clearly.
Not just a stranger.
A handler.
The kind of man who didn’t argue.
He managed outcomes.
“Leave,” the man said calmly. “This doesn’t concern you.”
Daniel laughed once.
It wasn’t humor.
It was disbelief breaking open.
“My sister disappeared for fifteen years,” he said. “And you’re telling me it doesn’t concern me?”
The man tilted his head slightly.
“She chose that.”
The barefoot woman shook harder.
“That’s not true,” she whispered.
Daniel turned sharply to her.
“What did you say?”
Her voice broke.
“She didn’t disappear. She was removed.”
Silence.
Even the wind seemed to pause.
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“Removed… by who?”
The man in white tightened his jaw.
A warning, not spoken—but understood.
But the woman didn’t stop.
“By your family.”
The words hit like a physical impact.
Daniel staggered back half a step.
“No…” he whispered. “That’s impossible.”
But even as he said it—
he knew.
Something in his father’s letters.
Something hidden.
Something intentionally missing.
The man in white shifted his stance.
A signal.
Not to speak.
To end.
And then—
May you like
he moved toward Daniel.
Fast.
