CHAPTER 10-The Secret Inside Rachel
The room remained dark.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because everyone was trying to understand the same impossible sentence.
"The Bennett bloodline did not begin with Grant."
"It began with you."
Rachel stood frozen.
Her arms tightened around Maddie.
Her daughter's small hands were wrapped around her waist.
The only thing keeping her grounded.
"That is a lie."
Her voice came out weak.
But Adrian Hayes only laughed softly through the speakers.
"Is it?"
Grant stepped forward.
"You stay away from her."
Hayes ignored him.
"Rachel, you have spent your entire life believing you were ordinary."
The screen turned back on.
A file appeared.
RACHEL MARIE CARTER
Her birth information.
Her medical records.
Her childhood history.
Rachel stared.
"No."
Michael moved closer.
"What is it?"
Rachel couldn't answer.
Because she didn't know.
She had never seen these documents before.
Hayes continued.
"Your parents thought they were protecting you."
Rachel felt her stomach tighten.
"My parents?"
A pause.
"Yes."
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
A young couple holding a baby.
Rachel.
She recognized them immediately.
Her parents.
But there was something else.
A stamp on the document.
A logo.
Evergreen Fertility Center.
Rachel stopped breathing.
"My parents never went to a fertility clinic."
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew what to say.
Grant looked at her.
"Rachel..."
She shook her head.
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"This isn't possible."
Hayes spoke again.
"Your parents were told you were born naturally."
Rachel stared at the screen.
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying your entire childhood was built on a carefully created story."
Her knees almost gave out.
Grant caught her.
Rachel pushed him away.
Not because she hated him.
Because she was overwhelmed.
"Why?"
Her voice cracked.
"Why would anyone do this to me?"
Hayes answered:
"Because you were the missing piece."
The room suddenly became silent.
Then the lights came back on.
A door at the end of the hallway opened.
Adrian Hayes walked in.
Everyone froze.
He looked older.
Much older.
But his eyes were exactly the same.
Cold.
Calculating.
Rachel immediately pulled Maddie behind her.
Grant stepped in front of them.
"You shouldn't have come here."
Hayes looked at him.
"Actually, Grant."
A small smile appeared.
"I have been here the entire time."
Michael's expression changed.
"You planned all of this."
Hayes looked at him.
"I created all of this."
Claire shook her head.
"You created suffering."
"No."
Hayes looked around the room.
"I created evolution."
Rachel felt disgust.
"You kidnapped my daughter."
"I protected her."
"You terrified her."
"Temporary fear is insignificant compared to permanent progress."
Grant moved toward him.
But Michael stopped him.
"Not yet."
Grant looked angry.
"He's standing right there."
Michael whispered:
"He wants you angry."
Hayes smiled.
"Your brother always understood me better."
Grant looked at Michael.
"Why?"
Michael looked away.
"Because I spent years inside his world."
They moved to a secured room inside the facility.
Hayes did not resist.
That frightened Rachel more.
A man like him should have been afraid.
But he wasn't.
He acted like he had already won.
They sat across from him.
Rachel kept Maddie beside her.
"Start talking."
Hayes looked at Rachel.
"You want the truth?"
"Yes."
"Then you need to accept that the truth is not always kind."
Rachel stared.
"I already know that."
Hayes nodded.
"Good."
He opened a folder.
Inside were records.
Many records.
"Thirty years ago, I began studying inherited traits."
Grant looked disgusted.
"You mean experimenting."
Hayes ignored him.
"I discovered something."
"What?"
"Certain genetic combinations produced unusual results."
Rachel frowned.
"Results?"
"Intelligence."
"Health."
"Adaptability."
Michael laughed bitterly.
"You mean you wanted perfect children."
Hayes looked at him.
"Not perfect."
A pause.
"Resilient."
Rachel looked at the files.
"Why me?"
Hayes turned to her.
"Because your family had a rare genetic marker."
Rachel felt cold.
"My family?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
Hayes smiled.
"The Carter family."
Rachel froze.
Her maiden name.
Carter.
"You knew my family?"
"Your grandfather was one of my earliest subjects."
Rachel stepped back.
"No."
"He agreed to participate."
"My grandfather would never."
Hayes looked at the file.
"He did."
A pause.
"Because he believed he was helping future generations."
Rachel felt sick.
Everyone had believed they were helping.
Everyone had trusted someone.
And everyone had been used.
Then Hayes revealed the truth about Maddie.
Rachel expected the worst.
But nothing prepared her.
"Maddie was not selected because of Grant."
Grant looked confused.
"What?"
Hayes looked at him.
"She was selected because of both of you."
Rachel's heart stopped.
"Both?"
Hayes nodded.
"Grant carries my genetic line."
A pause.
"And Rachel carries the Carter line."
Michael leaned forward.
"So Maddie is..."
Hayes smiled.
"The first child created from both successful branches."
Nobody spoke.
The meaning was horrifying.
Maddie wasn't an accident.
She wasn't a mistake.
She was the result of decades of planning.
Rachel stood.
"You are sick."
Hayes looked at her calmly.
"Perhaps."
"But you know what makes humanity progress?"
Rachel stared.
"What?"
"People willing to do what others are afraid to do."
Grant's voice was cold.
"You destroyed families."
Hayes looked at him.
"And yet you became a loving father."
A pause.
"Tell me, Grant."
"Would you erase Maddie if you could?"
Grant didn't answer.
Because the question was cruel.
Hayes knew it.
Rachel knew it.
Maddie knew none of it.
And that was what mattered.
Later that night, after Hayes was taken into custody, Rachel sat beside Maddie in a hotel room.
She watched her sleep.
Again.
Always watching.
Always afraid.
Grant entered quietly.
"He is gone."
Rachel nodded.
But she didn't look up.
"Are you okay?"
She almost laughed.
"No."
Grant sat beside her.
"Me neither."
For a while, they said nothing.
Then Rachel whispered:
"What if she grows up and finds out?"
Grant looked at Maddie.
"She will."
Rachel looked at him.
"What?"
"We can't protect her by lying."
The words surprised her.
Because they were exactly what she had wanted him to understand five years earlier.
Truth.
Even when painful.
Grant continued:
"But we decide how she learns it."
Rachel held his hand.
For the first time in a long time, they were fighting the same battle.
The next morning, Detective Harris arrived.
He looked serious.
"We need to talk."
Rachel immediately became alert.
"About Hayes?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
The detective placed a file on the table.
"We searched his facility."
Grant opened it.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Then he saw something.
His face changed.
"What?"
Rachel looked.
The file contained a list.
Names.
Subjects.
Dates.
And at the bottom...
A recent entry.
Rachel's blood turned cold.
Because the final subject wasn't Maddie.
It wasn't Grant.
It wasn't Michael.
It was someone else.
Someone still alive.
Someone close to them.
Detective Harris looked at them.
"We believe Adrian Hayes had another person helping him."
Rachel stared at the name.
And the person written on the page destroyed everything.
May you like
Because the assistant who had helped Hayes continue the experiment was:
Evelyn Bennett.
