Chapter 6: The Truth Inside The Notebook
I played Monica’s voicemail seven times.
Every time, I heard the same thing.
Her voice.
The fear.
The unfinished sentence.
*Daniel isn’t the only one who’s been lying.*
Then silence.
A cut-off message.
A warning.
I sat at my kitchen table with the notebook in front of me, afraid to touch it again.
The thing I wanted most was the truth.
But now that the truth was sitting inches away from me, I wasn’t sure I could handle it.
Because every answer came with another question.
Every secret opened another door.
I looked at Daniel’s handwriting on the page.
The same handwriting that had once written:
*Good morning, beautiful.*
*Don’t forget your lunch.*
*I’m lucky to have you.*
Now it was writing:
*Tara believes everything.*
My stomach turned.
I took pictures of every page.
Then I sent them to Emily.
*Come over. Now.*
She arrived fifteen minutes later wearing sweatpants and carrying her laptop.
She took one look at my face.
“What happened?””
I handed her the notebook.
She didn’t say anything at first.
She just read.
Page after page.
Her expression changed slowly.
Confusion.
Shock.
Anger.
Then something else.
Fear.
“Tara…”
“I know.””
“No.””
She looked up.
“You don’t understand.””
“What?””
She turned the notebook around.
“He’s not just writing about women.””
I looked down.
“What do you mean?””
She pointed.
“He’s writing about events.””
I frowned.
“Events?””
“Yes.””
I moved closer.
She flipped back several pages.
There were dates.
Locations.
Names.
At first, they looked random.
But then I noticed something.
Every date had a connection.
A new city.
A new job.
A new identity.
A new woman.
Emily whispered:
“He wasn’t just keeping track of relationships.””
My throat tightened.
“What was he keeping track of?””
She looked at me.
“His exits.””
The word hit harder than I expected.
Exits.
Like people were places he could leave behind.
Like lives were temporary homes.
I grabbed the notebook.
“No.””
Emily watched me.
“Tara.””
“No. There has to be another explanation.””
“There might be.””
“Because this doesn’t make sense.””
She softened.
“I know.””
I stared at the pages.
Because that was the hardest part.
The man I knew didn’t match the evidence.
But the evidence was starting to look impossible to ignore.
I called the number on Monica’s voicemail.
It went straight to voicemail.
I tried again.
Same thing.
Then I sent a message.
*Where are you?*
No answer.
An hour passed.
Then another.
Nothing.
Finally, Emily looked at me.
“We need to figure out who sent the notebook.””
I nodded.
“Agreed.””
“And not Daniel.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
“You already know what Daniel wants you to think.””
“That the notebook is a trap.””
“Yes.””
“And what do you think?””
She closed the notebook.
“I think everyone around him is hiding something.””
That was the answer I hated.
Because it was true.
Daniel lied.
Monica hid things.
Evelyn knew more than she told me.
And now someone was sending me evidence anonymously.
Nobody was innocent.
Nobody was completely honest.
That afternoon, I received a call from an unknown number.
I answered immediately.
“Hello?””
A woman’s voice spoke.
“Tara?””
I froze.
“Who is this?””
“My name is Rebecca.””
Everything stopped.
The name.
The name I had seen in the notebook.
The name connected to Daniel’s first wife.
“Rebecca Whitmore?””
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.””
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Where are you?””
“I can’t tell you.””
“Why not?””
“Because if Daniel knows I contacted you, everything changes.””
I stood.
“You’re alive.””
A quiet breath.
“Yes.””
The relief was strange.
I didn’t know her.
I had never met her.
But hearing that she was alive felt like finding a missing piece of a broken picture.
“Monica said you disappeared.””
“I wanted people to think I did.””
My heart started beating faster.
“What?””
“I had to.””
“Why?””
Rebecca was quiet.
Then she said:
“Because Daniel wasn’t just lying about being divorced.””
I closed my eyes.
“What was he lying about?””
Her answer came softly.
“Everything.””
I almost laughed.
Because everyone kept saying that.
But somehow, hearing it from her felt different.
“Rebecca, I need you to tell me the truth.””
“I will.””
“Then start with Lily.””
A pause.
“You know about her?””
“Yes.””
“She’s the only thing Daniel ever loved more than controlling his own image.””
The sentence disturbed me.
“Where is she?””
“She’s safe.””
“Good.””
“But she doesn’t know the truth.””
I swallowed.
“What truth?””
“That her father has been pretending to be someone else for years.””
I looked at the notebook.
“What is Daniel?””
Rebecca didn’t answer immediately.
When she did, her voice sounded exhausted.
“He’s someone who learned that if he changes the story often enough, people stop asking what happened before.””
I sat down.
“Why did you leave?””
“Because I found out what he was doing.””
“What was he doing?””
Another pause.
Then:
“Collecting people.””
The phrase made my skin crawl.
“Collecting?””
“Yes.””
“Like what? Pictures?””
“Pictures. Information. Memories.””
“Why?””
“To understand them.””
“Why would he need to understand people?””
Rebecca’s voice became quieter.
“Because understanding people makes it easier to control them.””
The room felt colder.
“Rebecca,” I said, “Monica is missing.””
Silence.
Then:
“She found the files.””
“Yes.””
“That’s why.””
“You think Daniel took her?””
“I don’t know.””
“But?””
“But Daniel isn’t the only person who knew about those files.””
My heart dropped.
“Who else?””
Rebecca hesitated.
“Tara, there’s something you need to understand.””
“What?””
“The notebook you have?””
“Yes.””
“Daniel kept that because he trusted it.””
I frowned.
“What?””
“He believed nobody would ever see it.””
“Why?””
“Because he wrote everything in a code.””
I looked down.
The pages.
The names.
The dates.
“What code?””
“I don’t know all of it.””
“Then how do you know?””
“Because I helped create it.””
The room went silent.
Again.
Another person connected to Daniel.
Another person who knew his secrets.
“You helped him?””
“Yes.””
“When?””
“Before I knew what he was.””
I felt a strange sadness.
Because everyone seemed to have the same story.
They met him.
They believed him.
Then they discovered the truth.
“How do I read it?””
Rebecca sighed.
“Look at the dates.””
I opened the notebook.
“What about them?””
“Some dates aren’t dates.””
I frowned.
“What are they?””
“Coordinates.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
“Locations.””
I flipped through the pages.
Numbers.
Short notes.
Letters.
I suddenly saw what she meant.
Some entries weren’t written like memories.
They were written like instructions.
“Rebecca…”
“Yes?””
“What are these locations?””
Her voice became almost a whisper.
“Places where Daniel left pieces of his old life.””
I felt sick.
“What pieces?””
“Documents.””
“Pictures?””
“No.””
A pause.
“Evidence.””
After the call ended, Emily and I sat in silence.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, she said:
“So the notebook is a map.””
I nodded.
“To what?””
I looked at the pages.
At the hidden locations.
At the years of secrets.
“I don’t know.””
My phone buzzed.
A message.
From Daniel.
*Tara, please don’t go looking for the locations in that notebook.*
I stared.
Another message.
*You don’t know what you’ll find.*
Then:
*Some truths can’t be undone.*
Emily saw my face.
“What did he say?””
I showed her.
She frowned.
“How does he know?””
I didn’t answer.
Because I already knew.
Someone was watching.
Someone had been watching for a long time.
Then another message arrived.
Not from Daniel.
From Rebecca.
*I need to tell you something before you go any further.*
A second message followed.
*The first location in the notebook isn’t about Daniel.*
I waited.
The third message appeared.
*It’s about you.*
My heart stopped.
I looked at the notebook.
At the first coordinate.
At the first date.
A date from three years ago.
The month before I met Daniel.
The month before he entered my life.
And suddenly, I understood.
May you like
I wasn’t the person who discovered Daniel’s secrets.
I was the reason he had created them.
