Chapter 6

My words left Patrick stunned.

He had not expected the case to take this turn at this point in the investigation.

A father had sold his own daughter for cash, then spent none of that money on his family. Instead, he had turned around and kept another woman on the side.

This behavior went beyond the normal boundaries of human ugliness.

It was pure evil, selfish right down to the bone.

Patrick looked at me with an expression that held equal parts pity and admiration.

He felt pity for my thirteen years of hellish experiences and admired my ability to maintain such a clear, logical mind after surviving it all.

He lowered his voice, as if he needed the answer confirmed. "Is that really true?"

I gave him a steady answer. "Every word."

Then I kept going. "The crippled man was one of the guards who watched over me. He had a bad gambling habit, and he lost money more often than he ever won."

"One night he got drunk. He stared at me for a long moment, and then he started laughing out of nowhere. He said, 'You little brat, you're a walking gold mine.'"

"'Bet you never figured it out. Your daddy sold you off for a clean twenty grand.'"

Twenty thousand dollars was a massive sum.

In that small town thirteen years ago, that amount of money was enough to completely change the fate of an entire family.

Edward could have used it to buy a larger house. He could have started a small business. He could even have paid the medical bills to cure my mother of her chronic stomach ulcers. He chose not to do any of those things.

I continued, "The crippled man told me my father lived large with that cash.

"He said he heard my father bought a house on the south side for his mistress, ate steak dinners every night, and completely forgot about my mother and me.

"He even bragged to their boss that getting rid of a worthless burden like me was the smartest decision he ever made."

Those words acted like poisoned knives. They carved fresh and bleeding wounds into my heart over and over again for the past thirteen years.

I had spent countless hours imagining that Edward harbored some unspoken hardship.

I wondered if someone had blackmailed him or if our family had faced an insurmountable crisis that forced him to make such a desperate choice.

The crippled man's testimony shattered every single one of my pathetic illusions.

Edward faced no secret hardships and suffered no blackmail. He had executed a meticulously planned and brutal transaction to satisfy his own selfish desires.

A profound silence fell over the conference room.

The female officer sitting beside me had tears welling in her eyes, and she quietly offered me a tissue.

I declined her offer because my tears had dried up completely thirteen years ago.

Patrick took a deep breath and stood up from his chair.

"Thank you, Lauren," he said. "The information you provided is absolutely crucial for us to break this case wide open. I am going to interrogate Edward right now. Rest assured that we will not let a single monster walk free this time."

His eyes were steady and full of resolve. He finished speaking and immediately led his team out of the room.

Only Helen, the female officer, and I remained in the conference room.

Helen sat completely frozen like a puppet stripped of its soul.

My revelation had utterly destroyed the core beliefs she had relied on for the past thirteen years.

She had believed in a devoted husband who supposedly went bankrupt and aged overnight, trying to find his missing daughter.

She had trusted a loving father who beat his chest and wept with remorse in front of her.

Every single bit of that image was a complete fabrication.

The entire ordeal was nothing more than a vicious, thirteen-year deception.

Edward had played her for a fool. He had stolen her daughter, robbed her of her youth, and mercilessly exploited every ounce of her love and trust.

"Why?" Helen finally spoke. Her voice sounded as rough as sandpaper. "Why would he do something like this?"

She stared at me with hollow eyes. She seemed to address the question to me, yet she was also asking herself.

I looked back at her and felt absolutely no pity.

How could a good mother completely miss her husband's blatant disgust and violence toward their own daughter?

How could a proper wife fail to see through the lies her husband told in their bed for thirteen straight years?

Her sheer stupidity and cowardice served as the main catalysts for this entire tragedy.

"He did it because he's selfish," I answered with a cold tone. "I'm not a daughter to him. I'm just a product he could sell for cash. And you aren't a wife to him either. You're just an unpaid maid and a convenient shield to hide his crimes."

My words were brutal and direct.

Helen began to shake violently. She buried her face in her hands and finally let out a broken, agonizing wail.

Her cries carried deep regret, absolute despair, and furious anger at her own terrible judgment.

The female officer rubbed her back and offered silent comfort.

I stood up and walked to the window.

The bright sun illuminated the heavy traffic on the street below.

I stared out at a world that felt completely unfamiliar. I had been trapped in the dark for so long that I nearly forgot the warmth of the sun.

But I knew everything would change starting today.

I would hunt down every single monster who pushed me into the abyss and personally drag them right back to hell.

Two hours later, Patrick returned. He looked grim, but a faint spark of excitement showed in his eyes.

"Edward cracked," Patrick said, meeting my gaze. He got straight to the point.

"It's pretty much exactly what you suspected. Thirteen years ago, he was stuck in a dead-end job at the plant, picked up a bad gambling habit, and ended up up to his eyeballs in debt.

"A coworker, nicknamed Corbin, found out about his mess and pitched him an idea. Corbin said he had connections to make 'unwanted' kids disappear for a solid payout.

"Edward took the bait. They planned the whole kidnapping, and Edward walked away with twenty grand."

Corbin. That was a new name in the mix.