His body stiffened. “Tell me.”
“A woman comes sometimes. Not like the others. She smells fancy. Perfect hair. Clean clothes.” Jasmine frowned. “She cries. But not sad crying. Scared crying.”
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
Perfect hair. Expensive perfume.
Megan saw the shift instantly. “Daniel…”
A name surfaced like something rotten rising from deep water.
Rachel Monroe.
His ex-wife. The woman who never forgave him for leaving. Who couldn’t accept that he’d built a new life, a new family, a happiness she no longer controlled.
“Brown hair?” Daniel asked.
Jasmine nodded. “She watches from outside.”
The pieces fell into place—the flawless paperwork, the untraceable doctor, a tragedy too clean.
“She didn’t want them dead,” Daniel said, anger simmering beneath his calm. “She wanted them erased.”
Jasmine stepped closer to the boys. “She feels like someone who did something bad.”
Daniel crouched in front of her. “You were brave. And you won’t ever face her again. I promise.”
Outside, night swallowed the sky. Somewhere, a secret had just begun to unravel.
Months later, laughter returned—hesitant at first, then real.