Chapter 3 - The Number Anna Never Forgot
At 3:17 a.m., Daniel was booked for misdemeanor battery.
Maya could have arranged a private entrance.
Daniel refused.
Reporters waited outside the precinct anyway.
“You are not helping yourself,” Maya said.
“I’m not trying to help myself.”
“That sounds noble. It isn’t. You still have to survive what comes next.”
Daniel stopped before the booking desk.
“What comes next is finding Anna.”
“And the children.”
“Yes.”
“And if Ethan is your son?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Then I have to become someone he has a reason not to fear.”
Maya’s expression softened for half a second.
Then she became a lawyer again.
“You don’t become that person overnight.”
“No.”
“Good. At least we agree on something.”
Daniel was released on his own recognizance before dawn.
The district attorney’s office would decide the final charging posture after reviewing the video and Ethan’s injuries.
Maya drove him directly to juvenile court.
Renee Brooks had requested an emergency protective placement because Anna was missing and no verified legal parent was present.
Ethan and Lily were being kept together in a certified emergency foster home.
Daniel hated it.
He also knew he had no right to object yet.
At the courthouse, Ethan sat beside Renee in a blue borrowed sweatshirt.
Daniel saw the bruise on his cheek.
He almost turned away.
Instead he forced himself to look.
A juvenile court commissioner reviewed the basic facts.
Anna missing.
Children found without guardian.
Possible biological-parent claim by Daniel.
Existing assault allegation.
The commissioner looked over her glasses.
“Mr. Cross, are you requesting immediate placement of either child?”
Daniel’s attorney had prepared him.
“No, Your Honor.”
Ethan glanced at him.
“Why not?” the commissioner asked.
“Because he doesn’t know me, and last night I gave him a reason not to trust me.”
Maya said nothing.
The commissioner nodded slowly.
Daniel continued.
“I am requesting an expedited paternity determination regarding Ethan and permission to participate in the search for his mother through appropriate channels.”
“Not through private intimidation?”
Daniel felt the sting.
“No, Your Honor.”
“Not through corporate security?”
“No.”
“Not through money?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The court ordered DNA collection under county supervision.
Results would take several days.
Daniel did not object.
When the hearing ended, Ethan was taken into a conference room with Renee.
He turned at the door.
“Why do you think you’re my dad?”
Daniel could have said the eyes.
The age.
Anna.
The bracelet.
Instead he said, “Because eight years ago your mother and I had a baby boy.”
Ethan’s face went pale.
“What was his name?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Lucas.”
The boy frowned.
“That’s why the bracelet has an L.”
Daniel’s pulse jumped.
“What?”
Ethan looked toward the evidence envelope Maya was carrying.
“Mom used to call it the lucky bracelet. She said it belonged to somebody who needed to be remembered.”
Daniel’s throat closed.
“Did you ever wear it?”
“I don’t remember.”
Renee touched Ethan’s shoulder.
“We have to go.”
Daniel stepped back.
Ethan followed her.
As he turned, the collar of his sweatshirt shifted.
Behind his right ear was a faint mark.
A crescent.
Daniel gripped the edge of the table.
Maya saw it too.
“That mark,” Daniel whispered.
“Don’t jump ahead.”
“Anna had one.”
Maya looked at him.
“Anna?”
“Yes. Behind her left ear.”
Then Daniel remembered something else.
Anna’s mother had possessed the same pale mark near her hairline.
The mark was not proof Lily was the newborn in the photograph.
It was a family trait.
And suddenly the impossible became possible in another direction.
The bracelet might never have belonged to Lily at all.
Daniel spent the next four hours with Detective Ruiz.
He told her everything.
Eight years earlier, Anna had been Cross Meridian’s director of internal audit.
She had accused senior executives of hiding related-party transactions through shell vendors.
Then $4.8 million disappeared from a company acquisition account.
Digital credentials traced the transfer to Anna.
That same night, she vanished with their six-week-old son, Lucas.
“Who accused her first?” Ruiz asked.
“My father.”
“Did you believe him?”
Daniel looked down.
“Yes.”
“Did Anna deny it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She called me.”
“What did she say?”
“That my father had framed her.”
“And you?”
Daniel heard his younger voice as clearly as if Anna were standing in the room.
Bring Lucas home and turn yourself in.
“You didn’t believe her.”
“No.”
“Did you threaten her?”
Daniel’s silence lasted too long.
Ruiz waited.
“I said if she didn’t bring the baby back, I would make sure she never saw him again.”
The detective’s face changed.
Daniel’s hands curled.
“I was angry.”
“You use that sentence a lot.”
He looked up.
“Yes.”
Ruiz closed her notebook.
“Who is Marcus?”
“My COO.”
“Was he at Cross Meridian eight years ago?”
Daniel froze.
“Yes.”
“What position?”
“Controller.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“So he had access to accounting records?”
“Yes.”
“And the missing $4.8 million?”
Daniel stared at the table.
“Yes.”
Maya’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Then went still.
“What?” Daniel asked.
She ended the call.
“Police reached Anna’s motel.”
“And?”
“Room 214 was ransacked.”
Daniel stood.
“Blood?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Maya looked at Detective Ruiz.
“The motel camera captured Anna leaving three nights ago.”
“With who?”
Maya hesitated.
May you like
Daniel already knew.
“With Marcus Bell.”
