Chapter 17: Victoria Runs
We barely made it out of the underground facility.
The moment the doors opened, alarms began screaming.
Sarah pushed everyone toward the exit.
“Move!”
Emma held Anna.
I carried Lily.
Robert ran beside us.
Edward remained behind.
I stopped.
“You're coming.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“I'm not leaving you here.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because they are coming for me.”
“Then we'll face them together.”
He smiled.
“You've spent your whole life trying to save people who didn't deserve it.”
He looked at Lily.
“Save the ones who do.”
Before I could answer, the door slammed shut.
We ran.
Outside, the night air hit me.
I took a breath.
For the first time in hours, there was no concrete ceiling above us.
But freedom lasted only seconds.
A black SUV appeared at the end of the driveway.
Sarah raised her weapon.
“Get behind the vehicles!”
The SUV stopped.
The driver's door opened.
Victoria stepped out.
Her hands were raised.
“Don't shoot.”
Sarah aimed.
“Turn around.”
Victoria obeyed.
No weapon.
No Thomas.
No disguise.
Just Victoria.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
I walked toward her.
“Where's Thomas?”
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Where is Rachel?”
“Gone too.”
I stared at her.
“Then why are you here?”
Victoria looked at Lily.
“Because I came to say goodbye.”
Lily tightened her grip around me.
“Why?”
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I'm leaving.”
I stepped closer.
“Running?”
“Yes.”
“From what?”
“Everyone.”
She looked toward the underground entrance.
“Your grandfather knows the truth now.”
“What truth?”
“That I helped Emma escape.”
I froze.
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
Emma stepped forward.
“You didn't help me.”
Victoria looked at her.
“Yes, I did.”
Emma stared.
“You sent Thomas after me.”
“To make him think I was stopping you.”
Silence.
Victoria continued.
“I put the wrong coordinates into the system.”
“That was you?”
“Yes.”
“You saved me.”
“I tried.”
Emma looked at her for a long moment.
Then whispered:
“Why?”
Victoria smiled sadly.
“Because I loved Daniel.”
My chest tightened.
“I never knew.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
She looked at me.
“Your grandfather paid me to marry you.”
“I know.”
“But he never knew I stopped following his orders.”
I stared.
“When?”
“The day Lily was born.”
She looked at my daughter.
“I saw you holding her.”
Her voice broke.
“And I couldn't help them hurt her.”
I didn't know what to say.
Victoria took a small flash drive from her pocket.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?”
“Payments. Orders. recordings. names.”
She handed it to Sarah.
“It proves I wasn't the person hurting Lily.”
Sarah took it.
“Why give it to us?”
“Because I'm done running.”
She turned.
I caught her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“Away.”
“You can't just disappear.”
“I know.”
“Then stay.”
Victoria looked at me.
“Daniel…”
“You owe Lily the truth.”
She nodded.
“I do.”
She knelt.
Lily watched her cautiously.
Victoria whispered:
“I hurt you.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“I should have protected you better.”
“You didn't hurt me.”
Victoria looked at me.
Then at Emma.
“What?”
Lily whispered:
“Rachel did.”
Victoria began crying.
“I know.”
Lily stepped forward.
“You were scared.”
Victoria nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought everyone would die.”
Lily hugged her.
Victoria broke.
She held Lily for several seconds.
Then stood.
“I have to go.”
I watched her walk toward the SUV.
“Victoria.”
She turned.
“Thank you.”
She smiled.
Then drove away.
Three hours later, Sarah decrypted the flash drive.
The first file contained surveillance footage.
Rachel.
Entering the nursery.
The date matched the night Lily had been injured.
Another file showed Rachel entering the hidden room.
Another showed her meeting Thomas.
Then we found something worse.
A recording of my grandfather.
His voice was unmistakable.
“Rebecca, you will marry Daniel.”
Victoria's younger voice answered:
“And if I refuse?”
“Your father goes to prison.”
“You promised.”
“I changed my mind.”
Silence.
Then Edward said:
“Daniel must never remember the facility.”
Victoria whispered:
“And the children?”
“One will become heir.”
“And the other?”
“Insurance.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the screen.
Sarah opened another file.
A document.
PROJECT DAUGHTER — FINAL PHASE.
The objective:
SEPARATE THE TWINS BEFORE THEIR EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY.
I felt sick.
“How old are they?”
“Four,” Robert said.
I looked at him.
“Then we have fourteen years.”
“No.”
Sarah shook her head.
“What?”
“They weren't planning to wait.”
She opened another document.
TRANSFER DATE: IMMEDIATE.
I stared.
“Transfer?”
“Anna was scheduled to be moved.”
“To where?”
Sarah looked at the final page.
Her expression changed.
“Mexico.”
My blood went cold.
“Who authorized it?”
She turned the page.
My father's name.
I stared.
“My father?”
“No.”
Sarah pointed beneath it.
AUTHORIZED BY: DANIEL CARTER.
I froze.
“That isn't my signature.”
“It is.”
I looked at the document.
The signature was perfect.
But I hadn't signed it.
Someone had forged it.
Again.
And then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice whispered:
“Your father didn't take Anna.”
“Who are you?”
“He sent her away.”
“Where?”
“You're looking in the wrong country.”
“What does that mean?”
The man laughed.
“Ask Victoria where she really went.”
The line disconnected.
I looked toward the driveway.
Victoria's SUV was gone.
But something else was missing.
Her flash drive.
The one Sarah had been holding.
I looked at Sarah.
“Where is it?”
She checked her desk.
“It was here.”
The door behind us slowly opened.
Nobody was standing there.
Only a note on the floor.
I picked it up.
Five words.
Victoria never left alone.
I looked at Emma.
Her face went white.
“Daniel…”
“What?”
“She took Anna.”
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Emma pointed toward the hallway.
Lily was gone.
I ran.
“LILY!”
No answer.
The guest room was empty.
The window was open.
On the bed lay Bunny.
And beside it—
a photograph.
Victoria standing beside a black SUV.
Holding Lily.
On the back, one sentence:
If you want your daughter back, come alone.
I stared at it.
Then my phone buzzed.
A location appeared.
The Carter estate.
The same underground facility.
And beneath the address:
Your father is waiting.
I looked at Emma.
She was already reaching for the door.
I grabbed my gun.
This time, I wasn't going alone.
May you like
Because whoever had taken Lily had made one fatal mistake.
They had given me a reason to stop being afraid.
