My Neighbor Asked Me to Watch Her Daughter for One Hour… She Didn’t Come Back Until Sunrise
Chapter 7
The barn exploded into chaos.
Daniel grabbed Lily.
Claire grabbed Sophie.
Marcus returned fire while Evan pulled the children behind a tractor.
“Stay down!” he shouted.
Bullets struck the barn walls.
Daniel had never been around gunfire before.
Every instinct told him to freeze.
But Lily was crying.
That gave him something else to focus on.
“Lily, look at me.”
She stared at him.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“Are we going to die?”
“No.”
Daniel didn’t know if it was true.
But he said it anyway.
“You’re going to stay beside me.”
Claire crawled toward them.
“Sophie!”
“She’s with me!”
Evan moved toward a side door.
“There!”
They escaped through the back.
Rain poured down.
Everyone ran toward the vehicles.
Hawthorne’s men followed.
Marcus drove the Explorer.
Daniel climbed into the back with Lily.
Claire and Sophie got in beside him.
Evan took the passenger seat.
They sped away.
For several miles nobody spoke.
Finally Daniel said:
“Where are we going?”
“St. Mary’s,” Evan answered.
Daniel looked at him.
“You’ve been there before?”
“Yes.”
“How did you escape?”
Evan looked out the window.
“I didn’t.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“They let me go.”
“Why?”
Evan turned.
“Because they thought I was broken.”
Daniel said nothing.
Evan explained.
“They wanted the files. I gave them enough to believe I had destroyed the originals.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Where are they?”
Evan looked at Sophie.
“Inside the bracelet.”
Daniel remembered the tiny device.
“What exactly is stored there?”
“Every illegal shipment Hawthorne made.”
“Names?”
“Names.”
“Locations?”
“Yes.”
“Payments?”
“Yes.”
“Officials?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared ahead.
“That could destroy the company.”
“It could destroy half the people protecting it.”
The Explorer entered Springfield.
St. Mary’s church appeared at the end of an empty street.
Its doors were open.
They entered.
An elderly priest waited inside.
Father Thomas.
He looked at Evan.
Then Claire.
Then Sophie.
“Thank God.”
Claire hugged him.
Daniel stayed near the entrance.
Something felt wrong.
“Father Thomas?”
The priest looked at him.
“Daniel Carter.”
Daniel frowned.
“You know me?”
Father Thomas smiled sadly.
“Your wife used to talk about you.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Claire looked at him.
“Daniel…”
He turned.
“What does my wife have to do with any of this?”
Claire lowered her eyes.
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Daniel’s heart began pounding.
“My wife?”
Father Thomas stepped forward.
“She helped Evan three years ago.”
Daniel shook his head.
“My wife died before I met you.”
“No,” Father Thomas said.
Daniel stared.
“She died after helping us.”
Silence.
“What are you talking about?”
Father Thomas reached into a cabinet.
He pulled out a sealed envelope.
Daniel recognized the handwriting immediately.
His wife’s handwriting.
His hands began shaking.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your wife gave it to me.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
He and his wife.
Taken years before her death.
On the back:
If Daniel ever finds out, tell him I was trying to protect him.
Daniel looked at Claire.
“What did she know?”
Claire began crying.
“She knew Hawthorne was watching you.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
“My wife wasn’t killed in an accident, was she?”
No one answered.
That silence was enough.
Then Father Thomas said:
“The brakes on her car were tampered with.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Four years of grief suddenly changed shape.
It wasn’t an accident.
Someone had taken his wife.
And now he understood why Claire had come to his door that night.
She hadn’t chosen him randomly.
She had known.
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Evan answered quietly.
“Because Hawthorne believed you were safer believing your wife died by accident.”
Daniel stared at him.
“And now?”
Evan looked toward the church doors.
“Now he knows you’re involved.”
Outside, headlights appeared.
One.
Then another.
Then five.
Father Thomas locked the doors.
“We’re out of time.”
