Chapter 14: The Man Victoria Was Meeting
My father's car disappeared into the night.
I stood at the window, frozen.
Behind me, Emma whispered:
“He took Anna.”
“No.”
I turned.
“He wouldn't.”
Emma's expression was unreadable.
“You still want to believe that?”
“He's my father.”
“He's also the man who hid your daughter for twenty years.”
I had no answer.
Sarah entered the room.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“We found the vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Twenty minutes from here.”
I grabbed my jacket.
“Let's go.”
Sarah blocked me.
“Not yet.”
“That's my daughter.”
“And that's exactly why you need to think.”
She handed me a photograph.
My father's vehicle was parked outside an abandoned office building.
Beside it stood Thomas.
And beside Thomas—
Victoria.
I stared.
“You said she was warning Emma.”
Sarah shook her head.
“We were wrong.”
Emma looked at the photograph.
“No.”
“What?”
“That isn't Victoria meeting Thomas.”
“Then who is she meeting?”
Emma pointed to the woman standing behind them.
I looked closer.
A gray-haired woman.
Same face as the photograph from the farmhouse.
Emma's sister.
The woman everyone believed had died twenty years earlier.
I stared.
“Who is she?”
Emma whispered:
“Rachel.”
We arrived at the building fifteen minutes later.
The place was abandoned.
Sarah's team surrounded it.
We entered through the back.
Inside, the lights were on.
A table.
Four chairs.
A folder.
And a single cup of coffee.
Still warm.
Sarah touched it.
“Someone was here.”
Robert picked up the folder.
Inside was one photograph.
Victoria.
Thomas.
Rachel.
My father.
All four sitting together.
The date was today's date.
I looked at Robert.
“They planned this.”
He nodded.
A sound came from upstairs.
Footsteps.
We ran.
The second floor was empty.
Then a door slammed at the end of the corridor.
I kicked it open.
Victoria stood inside.
Alone.
She looked exhausted.
Her face was bruised.
I lowered my weapon.
“Where is Anna?”
She looked at me.
“With your father.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then why were you meeting him?”
“Because I was trying to stop him.”
“From doing what?”
She looked at Emma.
“From killing her.”
Emma stepped forward.
“You knew where I was.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I was ordered to.”
“By whom?”
Victoria looked at me.
“Your grandfather.”
My jaw tightened.
“He's dead.”
“No.”
I stared.
“He died years ago.”
Victoria shook her head.
“That's what everyone was told.”
I felt the air leave the room.
“You're saying my grandfather is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She whispered:
“Under the Carter estate.”
Nobody spoke.
Even Sarah looked stunned.
Victoria continued.
“He never left.”
“Why?”
“He built a private facility beneath the property.”
“For what?”
“To control everything.”
“The trust?”
“Yes.”
“Project Daughter?”
“Yes.”
“My father's disappearance?”
“Yes.”
“Emma?”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“Then who has been running everything?”
Victoria looked at me.
“Your grandfather.”
I shook my head.
“Impossible.”
“He was the one who ordered me to marry you.”
My chest tightened.
“You were paid.”
“Yes.”
“To monitor me.”
“Yes.”
“To control Lily.”
Victoria's face broke.
“No.”
“Then why did you hurt her?”
She started crying.
“I didn't.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“I never hurt Lily.”
I thought of the bruises.
The locked closet.
The medicine.
The threats.
“You did.”
“No.”
“Lily said you did.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Then someone made her believe I did.”
I felt a chill.
“Who?”
She whispered:
“Rachel.”
Emma froze.
“My sister?”
“Yes.”
Victoria explained.
After Emma disappeared, Rachel had secretly returned.
She had been working with my grandfather.
She had access to the house.
She knew Lily's routines.
She knew how to manipulate cameras.
She knew Victoria's schedule.
“She framed you,” I said.
Victoria nodded.
“Every time Lily was hurt, I was somewhere else.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night you came home early.”
I stared.
“You tried to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you say nothing?”
“Because Rachel was in the house.”
I remembered the shadow outside the kitchen.
The covered camera.
The medicine.
Someone else had been there.
Victoria reached into her coat.
Pulled out a phone.
“Watch this.”
She played a video.
The nursery.
Lily sleeping.
The timestamp showed 2:17 a.m.
The door opened.
A woman entered.
Rachel.
She walked toward Lily.
The video stopped.
I stared at Victoria.
“Where's the rest?”
“Encrypted.”
“Who has the key?”
“Thomas.”
I looked at her.
“You trust Thomas?”
“No.”
“Then why work with him?”
“Because he wants Rachel stopped too.”
A gunshot shattered the window.
Victoria dropped.
Sarah shouted:
“GET DOWN!”
We hit the floor.
Another shot.
The glass wall exploded.
Robert dragged Victoria behind a desk.
I covered Emma.
Sarah moved toward the window.
“Sniper!”
We crawled into the hallway.
Then the building's fire alarm started.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Someone had started a fire downstairs.
We ran.
Outside, I saw a black SUV speeding away.
Thomas was driving.
And in the back seat—
Anna.
I ran after it.
“ANNA!”
The vehicle disappeared.
I stood in the street.
Emma collapsed beside me.
“No.”
I grabbed her.
“We'll get her.”
She looked at me.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“Rachel isn't trying to take Anna.”
“Then what?”
Emma whispered:
“She wants Lily.”
We returned to the Carter estate.
The police had secured the perimeter.
Lily was safe.
At least for the moment.
She was asleep in the guest room.
I sat beside her.
Her hand held Bunny.
I watched her breathe.
Then I noticed something.
A tiny red mark behind her ear.
I touched it.
Sarah came in.
“What is it?”
“I don't know.”
She examined it.
“Maybe a tracking device.”
My blood ran cold.
We scanned Lily.
Nothing.
Then I noticed the mark again.
It wasn't a device.
It was ink.
A symbol.
Two circles joined together.
The same symbol from Project Daughter.
Robert looked at it.
“This is a designation.”
“What designation?”
He opened an old document.
SUBJECT A/B — DUAL INHERITANCE.
I stared.
“Lily and Anna.”
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
Robert hesitated.
“Both girls were intended to control the trust together.”
I looked at Lily.
“Then why does everyone keep trying to separate them?”
“Because if they remain together, no one else can control the trust.”
I understood.
The girls weren't the prize.
Their unity was.
At 3:04 a.m., my phone rang.
Victoria.
“Daniel.”
“Where are you?”
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Your father's location.”
“Where?”
“Under your childhood home.”
I froze.
“My house?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I'm standing at the entrance.”
“What?”
“I need you to come alone.”
“No.”
“Daniel…”
“I'm not making that mistake.”
A pause.
Then Victoria whispered:
“Your grandfather is alive.”
I looked at Lily.
May you like
“And he has Anna.”
The line went dead.
