CHAPTER 8 — The Woman in the Greenhouse
The music box slipped from Emma's trembling hands.
It landed softly on the dusty carpet, the haunting melody still echoing through the abandoned music room.
No one moved.
Marcus stared at the radio.
"Repeat that."
Static crackled.
Then the guard's shaken voice returned.
"...The body is in the east greenhouse."
Marcus swallowed.
"Are you certain it's Claire Bennett?"
"I... I think so, sir."
Daniel didn't wait another second.
"Let's go."
The Ashford greenhouse stood nearly two hundred yards from the main mansion.
Once Richard Ashford's favorite retreat, it had been abandoned after his death.
The glass structure disappeared beneath climbing ivy and overgrown roses.
Morning mist still clung to the panes.
As Daniel approached, he noticed something immediately.
Three security guards stood outside.
None of them dared enter.
Marcus pushed open the heavy iron door.
The scent of damp soil and orchids filled the air.
Then everyone saw her.
A woman lay motionless beside an old stone fountain.
Dark hair.
Black clothing.
White gloves.
Exactly the same outfit seen on the surveillance footage.
Emma stopped breathing.
"It's her..."
The woman from the hidden corridor.
Claire Bennett.
Or so it appeared.
Daniel slowly knelt beside the body.
Years of business negotiations had taught him to remain calm under pressure.
But this...
This was different.
He reached toward the woman's neck.
Ethan stopped him.
"Don't."
Daniel looked up.
"Crime scene."
Ethan carefully pulled on fresh gloves.
He examined the body without touching it.
Then his expression changed.
"What?"
Daniel asked.
Ethan looked at the woman's face.
"This isn't right."
Marcus frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Ethan leaned closer.
"No lividity."
"No rigor."
Daniel immediately understood.
"She's not dead?"
Ethan nodded.
"I don't think she ever was."
He carefully lifted one eyelid.
The pupil reacted instantly.
Marcus blinked.
"She's alive."
Almost on cue...
The woman's lips trembled.
A faint breath escaped.
Emma rushed forward.
"Claire!"
Daniel caught her arm.
"Wait."
Claire's eyelids fluttered open.
For several long seconds...
She stared directly at Emma.
Recognition filled her exhausted eyes.
Tears rolled silently down her cheeks.
She whispered only two words.
"...Little Orchid."
Emma froze.
That name.
Somewhere deep inside her mind...
She had heard it before.
Claire suddenly tried to sit up.
Pain shot through her body.
She gasped.
Daniel supported her carefully.
"Easy."
Claire looked around frantically.
"They know..."
Daniel leaned closer.
"Who?"
"They know I came back."
Her breathing became uneven.
"You have to leave."
Marcus frowned.
"Who's after you?"
Claire grabbed Daniel's sleeve with surprising strength.
"Not here."
"They're watching."
Daniel looked around instinctively.
The greenhouse seemed empty.
Only flowers.
Trees.
Broken stone pathways.
Then...
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
"The camera."
Everyone turned.
High above the greenhouse entrance...
A tiny black dome camera hid among hanging vines.
Marcus stared.
"That camera isn't ours."
Daniel's expression darkened.
"They're watching us."
Within seconds...
Security officers searched the greenhouse.
Marcus climbed a ladder and removed the hidden camera.
He handed it to Ethan.
Ethan examined the device.
"No recording storage."
Marcus looked confused.
"So?"
"It's live-streaming."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Can you trace it?"
Ethan shook his head.
"Not immediately."
"But whoever installed this..."
"...knows we're here."
Claire closed her eyes.
"I told you."
"They're always watching."
An ambulance arrived minutes later.
Daniel insisted Claire be treated inside the mansion instead of a public hospital.
"If this conspiracy reaches as far as I think..."
"...a hospital isn't safe."
The estate's private medical suite was prepared immediately.
Dr. Samuel Harris, the longtime Ashford family physician, began examining Claire.
Daniel, Emma, Ethan, and Marcus waited outside.
Twenty agonizing minutes later...
The doctor emerged.
His face was unusually pale.
Daniel stood.
"Well?"
Dr. Harris hesitated.
"She'll survive."
Emma exhaled with relief.
"But..."
Daniel noticed.
"What?"
The doctor looked at Claire's chart.
"Someone has been slowly poisoning her."
Silence.
Marcus frowned.
"What kind of poison?"
"I don't know yet."
"But..."
He looked toward Emma.
"It's the same toxin..."
"...found on Victoria's glass."
The hallway became deathly quiet.
Emma whispered,
"That's impossible."
Dr. Harris nodded.
"I thought so too."
"But the chemical markers match."
Daniel's mind raced.
If Claire had been poisoned with the same substance...
Then Victoria hadn't been the intended victim.
The poison existed long before the dinner.
Which meant...
The dinner had only been part of a much larger plan.
Inside the medical suite...
Claire slowly regained consciousness.
Daniel entered alone.
She smiled weakly.
"You've become..."
"...so much like your father."
Daniel remained standing.
"My father lied to me."
Claire shook her head.
"No."
"He protected you."
Daniel didn't respond.
Instead, he placed the old photograph on the bedside table.
"Tell me."
"Why is Emma in this picture?"
Claire looked at it for a long time.
Then quietly answered,
"Because she was never supposed to survive."
Daniel's heartbeat slowed.
"What do you mean?"
Claire closed her eyes.
"Project Orchid wasn't created to erase memories."
Daniel frowned.
"The files say otherwise."
"The files are lies."
She opened her eyes again.
"The memory drug..."
"...was only the side effect."
Daniel stared at her.
"What was the real purpose?"
Claire whispered the answer.
"To identify children..."
"...who carried the Orchid Gene."
Daniel had never heard the term.
"What gene?"
Claire looked toward the closed door to make certain no one else could hear.
"A rare genetic mutation."
"It makes certain people..."
"...highly resistant to neurotoxins."
Daniel frowned.
"So Emma..."
Claire nodded.
"Emma survived chemicals that killed every other child."
Daniel felt cold.
"That's why she became Subject Seventeen."
Claire looked away.
"No."
"She became Subject Seventeen..."
"...because Victoria chose her."
At that exact moment...
Emma stood outside the door.
She hadn't meant to listen.
But hearing her own name had stopped her.
Her breathing became shallow.
Victoria...
Had chosen her?
Why?
Claire continued.
"Victoria believed the Orchid Gene could be weaponized."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"My mother wanted to create biological weapons?"
Claire shook her head slowly.
"No."
"She wanted power."
"Imagine..."
"...a poison that kills everyone..."
"...except the people you choose."
Daniel felt sick.
Claire's voice cracked.
"Richard wanted to end the research."
"I helped him."
"We smuggled Emma out."
Daniel looked stunned.
"To the orphanage?"
Claire nodded.
"It was the only place Victoria would never search."
Outside the room...
Emma's world shattered.
Everything she had believed about her childhood...
Had been a lie.
She wasn't abandoned.
She had been hidden.
Suddenly...
Every light inside the mansion went out.
Darkness swallowed the hallway.
Emergency alarms blared.
Marcus shouted from downstairs.
"Power outage!"
Ethan's voice followed immediately.
"No!"
"This isn't a blackout!"
Daniel rushed to the door.
"What is it?"
Ethan looked toward the security monitors.
"They hacked the system!"
Emergency backup lights flickered red.
Then every screen inside the security room displayed the same message.
White letters.
Black background.
RETURN SUBJECT SEVENTEEN.
The words disappeared.
A new message appeared.
OR EVERYONE DIES.
The mansion fell silent.
And somewhere outside...
Hidden beyond the estate walls...
May you like
Someone smiled.
Because the hunt for Emma had officially begun.
