“A Little Girl Was Hiding Inside Our Walls—Then She Called Me ‘Daddy’”

Caroline slapped Owen before Ryan could react.

"You liar."

Owen laughed through a split lip. "That's rich."

Ryan locked the bedroom door and called 911. Caroline grabbed his phone.

"If you bring police here before you understand this, you'll lose everything."

Ryan snatched it back. "I just found my supposedly dead brother locked behind my kid's wall. I'm past worrying about appearances."

Owen pushed himself upright. "She's right about one thing. You need to see the papers first."

He reached beneath his shirt and pulled out a plastic pouch taped to his ribs.

Inside were three notarized documents.

Ryan recognized his name immediately.

RYAN MERCER.

His signature sat at the bottom of every page.

He had signed none of them.

The first transferred voting control of Mercer Development into a family trust. The second gave Caroline temporary authority if Ryan was declared mentally unfit. The third authorized the sale of waterfront property worth forty-two million dollars.

"That's not my signature."

Owen met his eyes. "It's mine."

Ryan felt sick.

Caroline crossed her arms. "He came to me. He wanted money."

"You found me," Owen said. "Victor found me."

Ryan looked at Caroline. "Your father?"

Caroline said nothing.

Owen continued. "Victor knew where I'd been for years. He knew I was alive before you married her."

Ryan's stomach dropped.

Caroline's father, Victor Shaw, had been the Mercer family's attorney for almost three decades. He had handled Ryan's inheritance. His father's estate. The old river investigation.

Everything.

Sirens sounded faintly in the distance.

Caroline suddenly became calm.

Too calm.

"When the police get here," she said, "Owen will tell them he broke into our house, threatened me, and kidnapped Emma."

Owen stared at her.

Ryan said, "Why would he do that?"

Caroline looked toward the hall.