Chapter 16: The Truth About Lily’s Mother
The red lights flashed across the underground facility.
SUCCESSION TRIAL INITIATED.
A mechanical voice repeated the words.
Then the steel doors locked.
I grabbed Lily's hand.
Anna stood beside Emma.
Sarah moved toward the nearest control panel.
“It's sealed.”
Robert checked his phone.
“No signal.”
I looked at Edward.
“You did this.”
He leaned on his cane.
“No, Daniel.”
He smiled.
“You did.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The system recognizes only you.”
A screen lit up.
PRIMARY HEIR: DANIEL CARTER
BIOLOGICAL DESCENDANTS: TWO
SUCCESSION DECISION REQUIRED
Below it appeared two names.
LILY CARTER
ANNA CARTER
I felt sick.
Edward whispered:
“One must be designated primary.”
“No.”
“Then the system remains locked.”
“I don't care.”
“You will.”
The screen changed.
A countdown appeared.
23:59:59
Robert stepped closer.
“What happens when it reaches zero?”
Edward looked at him.
“The trust transfers according to the contingency clause.”
“To whom?”
Edward smiled.
“The Vale Foundation.”
I understood.
“If I don't choose, they get everything.”
“Everything,” Edward said.
“Including the girls?”
“No.”
He looked at Lily.
“Only their inheritance.”
I shook my head.
“You're lying.”
“I have never lied about the important things.”
I laughed.
“You lied about my father.”
“No.”
“My birth.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You lied about almost everything.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Perhaps.”
Then Emma stepped forward.
“Edward.”
He looked at her.
“You owe Daniel the truth.”
His face changed.
“I've told him enough.”
“No.”
Emma took a breath.
“He needs to know who Lily really is.”
I turned toward her.
“What do you mean?”
Emma looked at Lily.
“She's not the child you think she is.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Lily squeezed my hand.
Emma knelt beside her.
“She is your daughter.”
I frowned.
“Then what are you saying?”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
“I carried her.”
“Yes.”
“She was born from your genetic material.”
“Yes.”
“But…”
Emma's voice broke.
“I am not her biological mother.”
Silence.
I looked at Lily.
Then Emma.
Then Edward.
“What?”
Emma wiped her tears.
“I was the woman who raised her inside my body.”
I couldn't understand.
“You carried her.”
“Yes.”
“But whose egg?”
Emma looked at Edward.
“Your mother’s.”
I stared.
“My mother?”
Edward nodded.
“Your mother died before you were born.”
I shook my head.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
Edward looked at me.
“She died during childbirth.”
My chest tightened.
“Then how…”
“Her eggs were preserved.”
I stared at him.
“And you used one?”
“Yes.”
“For Project Daughter?”
“Yes.”
“So Lily…”
“Is genetically descended from your mother.”
I felt dizzy.
“But Anna?”
“The same embryo.”
I looked at the girls.
“They're genetically identical.”
“Yes.”
I finally understood.
My daughters weren't just heirs.
They were the final biological link between my mother's line and mine.
Edward had created them because he wanted to preserve his bloodline.
But there was still one question.
“Why Emma?”
Edward looked at her.
“Because she loved you.”
I turned.
Emma's face was wet with tears.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“From the beginning?”
“No.”
“Then when?”
“The night Lily was born.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“I found out afterward.”
“What did you find?”
“A note.”
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out an old envelope.
I recognized the handwriting.
My father's.
She handed it to me.
I opened it.
Daniel,
If Emma survives, protect her.
She knows the truth now.
Lily is yours.
But the child you believe is yours is not the only child who was created.
I looked up.
Emma whispered:
“I knew there was another baby.”
“And you stayed?”
“I tried to.”
“What happened?”
“Your grandfather took Anna.”
I looked at Edward.
“You stole her.”
He shook his head.
“I protected her.”
“From what?”
“From you.”
I stared.
“Why me?”
“Because you were being watched.”
“By the Vales?”
“Yes.”
“And Anna was leverage.”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“You made my daughter disappear to protect me.”
Edward nodded.
“I made you hate me so you'd stay away.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That worked.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“It made you weak.”
My fists tightened.
“You have no right to say that.”
“I know.”
For the first time, Edward's voice sounded tired.
“I made mistakes.”
“You destroyed families.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed Emma.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed me.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward Lily.
“But I never wanted to destroy them.”
I didn't know whether to believe him.
Then Sarah spoke.
“Daniel.”
She pointed toward the screens.
The countdown had changed.
21:14:08
“We don't have time.”
I looked at the control panel.
“What happens if we destroy it?”
Robert shook his head.
“The trust activates immediately.”
“Then what do we do?”
Emma stepped closer.
“We don't play.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“We change the rules.”
She pointed toward the legal document.
“The succession protocol requires a choice.”
“Yes.”
“But it doesn't specify that the choice must be between the children.”
Robert grabbed the document.
“Wait.”
He read it.
Then again.
His expression changed.
“You're right.”
“What?”
“The system requires designation of an heir.”
“And?”
“It doesn't say the heir has to be one of the two.”
I looked at Edward.
He smiled.
“Now you're thinking like a Carter.”
We entered a new designation.
LILY CARTER AND ANNA CARTER — JOINT HEIRS.
The system rejected it.
INVALID.
Robert tried again.
CO-HEIRS.
INVALID.
Edward laughed quietly.
“You can't beat the system.”
I stared at the screen.
Then I remembered the photograph.
My childhood drawing.
Two circles.
Two children.
Holding hands.
And underneath:
I WILL KEEP THEM SAFE.
I suddenly understood.
The system wasn't looking for one heir.
It was looking for a command.
A command written into the original trust.
I looked at Robert.
“What's the exact language?”
He searched the documents.
“There.”
I read it.
The Carter inheritance shall remain indivisible unless the primary heir voluntarily separates the bloodline.
I looked at Emma.
“The bloodline.”
She nodded.
“The girls together.”
I typed:
PRIMARY HEIR: CARTER BLOODLINE.
The system paused.
Then:
ACCEPTED.
The countdown disappeared.
The doors unlocked.
Everyone stared.
I turned toward Edward.
“You lost.”
He smiled.
“No.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“You just activated something much worse.”
Every screen went black.
Then one final message appeared.
VALE RESPONSE PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Edward whispered:
“They know.”
