The Emergency Order
Chapter 02 - The Emergency Order
Daniel demanded to see the document.
Jonathan refused.
"You'll receive a copy from my attorney."
"They're my children."
"Biologically."
Daniel looked as if he had been struck.
Sophie began crying silently.
Jonathan immediately regretted saying it in front of her.
He knelt beside his granddaughter.
"Sweetheart, go with Aunt Melissa for a moment."
Sophie tightened her grip on Rebecca's photograph.
"No."
"You don't need to hear this."
"I want to stay with Mommy."
Jonathan looked toward the coffin.
There was nothing he could say to that.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"Sophie, please look at me."
Slowly, she did.
For a second, Daniel's expression softened.
Then she asked the question that had been waiting inside her for months.
"Why didn't you answer Mommy?"
Daniel froze.
Jonathan closed his eyes.
The police officer looked away.
Sophie continued.
"She called you from the hospital."
"Sophie—"
"I heard her."
Daniel's face drained of color.
Rebecca had been diagnosed with an aggressive heart condition five months earlier.
The doctors had originally believed treatment could stabilize her.
Then complications came quickly.
Surgery.
Another hospital stay.
A final collapse.
Through all of it, Daniel had been absent.
At least, that was the story Jonathan knew.
Daniel looked toward Jonathan.
"I never received those calls."
Jonathan's jaw tightened.
"Don't."
"I'm telling you the truth."
"You disappeared."
"I didn't disappear."
"You emptied your apartment."
"Because Rebecca told me to leave."
Jonathan stared at him.
"No, she didn't."
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"You think I walked away from my children for no reason?"
"I stopped guessing about your reasons eight months ago."
Daniel reached into his jacket.
The officer immediately moved closer.
"It's a phone."
Daniel pulled out an old device with a cracked screen.
He opened a saved message.
Then held it toward Jonathan.
Rebecca's name appeared at the top.
Beneath it was a message sent eight months earlier.
Daniel, it's over. Don't contact me or the children again. I've told them you're leaving because you don't want this family. Please respect my decision.
Jonathan read it twice.
Then looked at Daniel.
"My daughter never wrote that."
Daniel's anger disappeared.
"What?"
Jonathan looked toward the coffin.
For the first time that morning, uncertainty entered his face.
Because Rebecca had left something else behind.
A letter.
One Jonathan had not yet opened.
May you like
On the envelope she had written:
Dad, open this only if Daniel comes back.
