CHAPTER 2: THE WOMAN WHO NEVER STOPPED SINGING

The hallway remained silent.

Danny could no longer hear the orchestra.

He could no longer hear the laughter from the ballroom.

All he could hear was his own heartbeat.

The elderly cleaner looked at him with confused eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Did I say something wrong?"

Danny slowly stepped closer.

His hands trembled.

"My full name is Daniel Crawford."

The woman's rag fell from her fingers.

"No..."

She shook her head.

"No... that's impossible."

Danny's voice cracked.

"My mother used to sing that lullaby every night."

The old woman stared at him.

Then, with shaking hands, she reached toward his face.

Her fingertips brushed the scar above his right eyebrow.

A tiny scar shaped like a crescent moon.

She burst into tears.

"You climbed onto the kitchen table to reach the cookie jar," she whispered.

"You fell."

"You cried for hours."

"I kissed this scar every night until it healed."

Danny froze.

He had never told anyone how he got that scar.

Not even his closest friends.

Only his mother could have known.

He wrapped his arms around her.

For thirty years...

Mother and son stood together again.

Across the hallway, the wealthy man watching the reunion quietly backed away.

His name was Richard Hale.

Thirty years earlier, he had been Danny's father's business partner.

And he had spent three decades making sure this reunion would never happen.

Danny suddenly looked up.

"You."

Richard stopped walking.

Danny recognized him instantly.

"I've seen your face before."

Richard forced a smile.

"You must be mistaken."

But the old woman suddenly gasped.

Her eyes filled with terror.

"It was him..."

Danny turned.

"What?"

She pointed with a trembling finger.

"He took you away from me."

The entire hallway fell silent.

Security guards instinctively looked toward Richard.

For the first time in thirty years...

The truth had spoken aloud.