CHAPTER 10 — THE SECOND CHILD
The darkness lasted three seconds.
But Emily felt every one of them.
Three seconds of silence.
Three seconds of confusion.
Three seconds before the emergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Dim.
Unsteady.
Thomas grabbed Emily's shoulder.
“Stay between me and Victoria.”
Daniel immediately moved to the other side.
Victoria raised her gun.
“There's another exit.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
Emily stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas looked toward the tunnel behind them.
“They sealed it.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Victoria checked the magazine.
“Then we don't fight.”
Thomas nodded.
“We disappear.”
Emily almost laughed.
“Disappear?”
Her voice trembled with anger.
“That seems to be the only thing you're good at.”
Thomas looked at her.
She immediately regretted it.
But he didn't become angry.
Instead, he said quietly—
“You're right.”
Emily looked away.
“I spent twenty years wondering why you left me.”
Thomas's voice softened.
“I didn't leave you.”
“You disappeared.”
“To keep you alive.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every person who knew the truth became a target.”
Emily looked at Victoria.
“You knew.”
Victoria nodded.
“I learned when I was nineteen.”
“And you never told me?”
“I tried.”
Emily frowned.
“When?”
“Three times.”
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“Your husband stopped me.”
Emily turned toward Daniel.
Daniel looked stunned.
“What?”
Victoria continued.
“He didn't know why he was stopping me.”
Emily stared at Daniel.
“What is she talking about?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't remember.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Because you were following instructions.”
Thomas interrupted.
“Victoria.”
She stopped.
Thomas looked at Emily.
“This is the part I was afraid of.”
Emily felt her chest tighten.
“Afraid of what?”
Thomas reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small black envelope.
He handed it to Emily.
“Open it.”
Emily stared at the envelope.
Her name was written across it.
In her father's handwriting.
She opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
A hospital room.
A woman lying in bed.
Margaret.
Young.
Exhausted.
Holding a newborn baby.
Emily stared at the photograph.
“That’s Victoria.”
Thomas nodded.
Emily turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
DECEMBER 25, 2006.
Then another line.
“THE FIRST CHILD.”
Emily looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas's face was pale.
“It means Victoria wasn't the first child born from that affair.”
Emily stopped breathing.
“What?”
Thomas didn't answer.
Victoria looked confused.
“Dad?”
Thomas looked toward her.
Then at Emily.
“I thought the second child died.”
Emily's fingers went numb.
“Who?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Your mother gave birth to twins.”
Silence.
Emily stared at him.
“Twins?”
Victoria stepped backward.
“No.”
Thomas nodded.
“You and Victoria were born on the same day.”
Emily shook her head.
“That isn't possible.”
“I have the records.”
“Then why don't I remember?”
“Because you were separated immediately.”
Victoria whispered—
“Why?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Victor.”
Emily felt dizzy.
“He took one child?”
Thomas nodded.
“He took you.”
Emily's eyes widened.
Victoria stared at Emily.
“No.”
Thomas's voice broke.
“Victoria was raised by Margaret.”
He looked at Emily.
“You were raised under another name.”
Emily couldn't speak.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then who raised Emily?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Your parents.”
Daniel froze.
“My parents?”
“Richard and Margaret.”
Emily's entire body went cold.
She looked at Thomas.
“Are you saying…”
Thomas nodded.
“You married your own half-sister.”
Emily stared at Victoria.
Victoria stared back.
Then Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
Emily blinked.
“What?”
Thomas looked at Daniel.
“That's not what happened.”
Daniel exhaled sharply.
Thomas continued.
“Victoria is your half-sister.”
He looked at Emily.
“But you are not Margaret's daughter.”
Emily couldn't understand.
“Then whose daughter am I?”
Thomas hesitated.
And that hesitation frightened her more than anything else.
“Your mother was someone Victor killed.”
The tunnel seemed to shrink around her.
“Who?”
Thomas looked down.
“Her name was Anna Carter.”
Emily's lips parted.
“Carter?”
Thomas nodded.
“My younger sister.”
Emily stared at him.
“Your sister?”
“Yes.”
Thomas swallowed.
“Victor killed her because she discovered what he was doing.”
Emily felt tears forming.
“Then I'm…”
“My niece.”
Thomas's voice was barely audible.
“And the legal heir Victor has been trying to find for twenty years.”
Daniel stepped back.
Everything suddenly connected.
Project 36.
The marriage.
The trust.
The offshore account.
The condition requiring Emily and Victoria to survive.
The forged documents.
Victor's obsession.
Emily whispered—
“That's why he needs me.”
Thomas nodded.
“He needs your bloodline.”
“But why?”
Thomas looked at Daniel.
“Because Carter Holdings wasn't built the way everyone thinks.”
He pulled another document from his coat.
It was an old corporate charter.
Emily read the first paragraph.
Her eyes widened.
“Control passes through…”
She stopped.
Thomas finished the sentence.
“Anna's descendants.”
Daniel stared at the document.
“So Emily owns the controlling rights.”
“Not exactly.”
Thomas pointed to another clause.
“Emily controls them only while Victoria is alive.”
Emily looked at Victoria.
“And if she dies?”
Thomas's face hardened.
“Victor gains the right to challenge the trust.”
Victoria whispered—
“So that's why he wants us dead.”
Thomas nodded.
“But there's something worse.”
Emily looked at him.
“What?”
Thomas turned toward the tunnel entrance.
“He doesn't want to kill both of you.”
A distant sound echoed through the passage.
Footsteps.
Thomas lowered his voice.
“He wants one of you to disappear.”
Emily understood immediately.
“So he can control the other.”
Thomas nodded.
“And he already has a plan.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“Project 36.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
Emily stepped toward him.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You were selected.”
“I know.”
“You married me because they told you to.”
Daniel looked into her eyes.
“I married you because I loved you.”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“But you knew about the debt.”
“Yes.”
“The money.”
“Yes.”
“The documents.”
Daniel nodded.
“But I didn't know why.”
Thomas stepped between them.
“He's telling the truth.”
Emily looked at her father.
“How do you know?”
“Because I wrote the directive.”
Emily froze.
“You ordered him to be placed in my life.”
Thomas nodded.
“And I also ordered them to leave him alone.”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“Why?”
Thomas answered—
“Because I knew one day you would have to choose between money and Emily.”
Daniel's eyes hardened.
“And you wanted to know what I'd choose.”
Thomas nodded.
“You chose her.”
Emily stared at Daniel.
He didn't look away.
“I would choose you again.”
Before Emily could respond, a loud metallic crash echoed from the hangar.
Victoria raised her weapon.
Thomas whispered—
“They're inside.”
Daniel looked at him.
“How do we get out?”
Thomas pointed toward a maintenance ladder.
“Up.”
They climbed.
At the top was a narrow observation room overlooking the hangar.
Emily looked down.
Five armed men entered.
Then Richard.
He walked slowly.
His face was exhausted.
Behind him stood a tall man in a dark suit.
Emily couldn't see his face.
Until he stepped beneath the red light.
Victor Hale.
Older.
But alive.
He looked directly upward.
Directly at Emily.
And smiled.
Richard looked at him.
“She's there.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
He raised his eyes.
“She is exactly where I expected her to be.”
Emily's blood ran cold.
Victor smiled wider.
“Because Thomas always made the same mistake.”
Richard frowned.
“What mistake?”
Victor answered—
“He believed he was protecting his daughter.”
Then Victor looked at Daniel.
“And he never realized…”
His smile disappeared.
“…that I had been protecting the man who would marry her.”
Daniel went completely still.
Emily looked at him.
Victor's final words echoed through the hangar.
“Daniel Carter was never my enemy.”
A pause.
“He was my insurance.”
Then the hangar doors slammed shut.
And every exit locked.
Emily realized—
They hadn't found Victor.
May you like
Victor had found them.
And he had been waiting for this moment for twenty years.
