Chapter 1

Day twenty-four working part-time as an NPC at the escape room, and the Delgado daughter, who'd booked out the whole place, shoved me off the second floor.

Ten minutes later a husband and wife rushed into the venue, but the first thing they did was rip out the surveillance hard drive.

Nanette Delgado tucked an emergency blanket around me, her voice shaking.

"Desiree Delgado isn't a bad girl. She just wants so badly to help us find our daughter."

Daryl Delgado left a hundred and eighty thousand behind and told the manager to write it up as a mechanical malfunction.

From that day on, Desiree came and booked me every single week.

She'd locked me in the morgue cabinet, dismantled the escape ladder, and forced me to admit on a live stream that I'd lost my footing.

And that couple always came running to clean up her mess.

The seventh time, she strung me up in an abandoned elevator shaft, leaving my arm badly bruised and three fingers on my right hand broken.

I was about to call the police when Nanette burst in and dropped to one knee by the window, begging me not to pursue it.

"Desiree's system and my lost daughter are bound together, one can't exist without the other."

"If anything happens to her, we'll never see my child again as long as we live."

I looked at the strand of white hair at her temple, the one I used to pluck out when I was small, and slowly lowered my phone.

She hugged Desiree in relief and never heard the old baby name I whispered under my breath.

Mom, you searched for me for twelve years. How can you not recognize me lying right here in front of you?

……

The fingerprint went down, and Desiree's tears turned into a smile.

The look she gave me was full of triumph.

"Mom, I knew you'd come save me."

Nanette patted her back gently.

"Don't be scared. It's over now."

My right hand was wrapped in a splint, and even if it healed, I might never be able to use it under strain for long, not for the rest of my life.

But with the settlement agreement in front of me pressed and signed, she really was in the clear.

【Due to hypoglycemia, I carelessly fell into the elevator shaft. No one else was involved.】

Daryl had me press my print to it, then set down a nondisclosure agreement.

"Lisa Sullivan, we'll cover the medical bills."

"I know you're still in college. You need tuition, living expenses."

"Blowing this up won't do you any good at all."

I stared at the agreement and didn't move.

I just looked at Nanette, holding Desiree tight, and my eyes went red.

"You searched for her for twelve years, didn't you?"

Nanette's head shot up.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm the one who— the manager told me."

I lied.

That rainy night twelve years ago, when someone took me away from the amusement park, she'd chased after the car, calling my name over and over.

Suzy.

Later I was put into a shelter, passed along until I ended up with the family I have now.

After my adoptive parents died, I was left with a debt, and it was while sorting through their things that I found the clipping of the old missing-person notice.

It took me a long time to be sure I was their daughter.

I'd thought about just telling her.

But the first time Desiree pushed me down the stairs, she paid Desiree's way out.

The second time Desiree triggered a trap, she pulled the surveillance for Desiree.

Now my fingers were broken, and she still only cared about keeping Desiree safe in her arms.

My right hand was still in a splint. I didn't even have the ability to protect myself.

I couldn't take the gamble.

So I swallowed that word, "Mom."

At least until I knew I was safe, I couldn't let Desiree find out who I was.

Desiree suddenly pressed a hand to her temple.

Nanette held her tighter at once.

"Did you hear something again?"

"It's not hearing."

Desiree frowned, straining to make it out.

"A new lead just appeared in my head."

The ward went silent in an instant.

Daryl leaned in close.

"What is it?"

"After my sister was abducted, she spent half a year at the Sunrise Shelter in Southport."

Nanette's eyes lit up instantly, her voice trembling.

"Yes— we looked into that before. There really is a lost-record file there from the right year, we just weren't sure…"

Desiree threw her arms around her.

"Mom, that's her, that's my sister!"

"I know. Thank you, Desiree, thank you…"

Nanette kissed her hair, crying.

I lowered my head, my left hand gripping the sheet tight.

That was where I'd stayed before I turned twelve, a private shelter running illegally for profit.

There's almost no record of it online, and the staff from back then had all scattered.

Yet Desiree could know it.

Just like the very first time she pushed me down the stairs, she'd known that I'd been abducted all those years ago, not simply lost.

I believed she really did have a system.

I let go of my cuff and pulled the nondisclosure agreement in front of me.

Daryl's expression softened a little.

"Is there anything else you want?"

"I want next semester's living expenses."

Nanette visibly let out a breath and patted my hand.

"That's fine. The manager will settle it with you."

That touch, like a small jolt of current, stirred up a hope in me I shouldn't have had again.

Once I made something of myself in college, I could proudly claim them as my parents.

But the next second, the hand Nanette had just released clenched around mine again.

"Lisa, as long as you cooperate, it won't be long before we find our real daughter."

"When that happens, I'll be sure to have Desiree bring her to thank you and apologize in person."

"Even if she hurts me again?"

No one answered.

Daryl took the signed agreement back.

"Desiree didn't hurt you on purpose. We'll give you compensation enough."

I looked at my swollen fingers in the splint and suddenly gave a small laugh.

"Mr. Delgado, the first six times, did you say that too?"

"A hundred and eighty thousand. Are you giving me three thousand this time?"