Before he could answer, a black SUV screeched to the curb.
The little girl’s face changed instantly.
“She found me,” she whispered.
The back door flew open, and a woman stepped out wearing dark glasses and a white coat. Daniel looked once—then staggered backward like he’d been hit.
Anna.
Alive.
Older. Paler. But unmistakably Anna.
The woman rushed toward the girl. “Emily, get in the car. Right now.”
The child didn’t move.
Instead, she pointed at Daniel.
“Mommy… I found him.”
Anna’s face drained of color. The glasses slipped from her hand and shattered on the pavement.
Daniel stared at her in disbelief. “You’re dead,” he said hoarsely. “I buried you.”
Anna’s lips trembled. “No… you buried the woman they wanted you to believe was me.”
Daniel shook his head violently. “Who? Who did this?”
But before she could answer, another car stopped behind the SUV.
A man in an expensive suit stepped out, slow and confident, like he owned the street.
Anna went white.
Emily ran behind her mother.
The man smiled coldly at Daniel.
“You were never supposed to meet them.”
Daniel looked from Anna… to the child… then back to the stranger.
Anna grabbed Daniel’s arm with shaking fingers and whispered:
“He’s the reason I disappeared.”
Daniel’s blood turned cold.
“Who is he?”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears.
Then she said the one thing Daniel never expected to hear:
“He’s your brother.”
