Chapter 6: The Girl Behind the Wall
The scream tore through the cellar.
"Daddy!"
Ethan's blood turned to ice.
He instinctively moved toward the staircase.
Michael grabbed his arm.
"Wait."
"Let go of me."
"They're expecting you."
"My daughter is up there!"
Michael's grip tightened.
"The girl they're holding isn't Sophie."
Ethan stared at him.
"You just said that."
"And I'm telling you to listen."
Another scream echoed through the mansion.
"Daddy! Help me!"
Ethan ripped his arm free.
He ran.
Michael cursed and followed.
Celeste carried Sophie behind them.
They burst through the hidden passage and entered the mansion's kitchen.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
Ethan looked around.
"Where are they?"
Michael pointed toward the main staircase.
"Second floor."
They rushed upstairs.
Ethan heard crying.
He followed the sound.
It came from behind his wife's bedroom.
The hidden room.
Ethan shoved the bookshelf aside.
A narrow doorway appeared.
He entered.
The room beyond was unlike anything he had ever seen.
It wasn't a bedroom.
It was a nursery.
A small bed stood against the wall.
There were children's books.
Toys.
Clothes.
Photographs.
And on the far wall were dozens of pictures of two little girls.
Sophie.
And another child who looked almost identical.
Ethan's breath caught.
"Lily."
A voice answered from the corner.
"Daddy?"
Ethan spun around.
A little girl stood behind the bed.
She was six years old.
Same height as Sophie.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Same small birthmark beneath her left ear.
But there was something different about her.
Fear.
She was terrified.
Ethan slowly approached.
"I'm Ethan."
The girl stared at him.
"I know."
"Where are the people who brought you here?"
She pointed toward the closet.
"They left."
Ethan opened it.
Empty.
Michael entered the room.
He looked at Lily.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
Then she looked at Sophie.
The two girls stared at each other.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Finally Sophie whispered:
"You're the girl from my dreams."
Lily's eyes widened.
"You dream about me too?"
Sophie nodded.
"Mommy said you were waiting."
Lily began to cry.
"She told me she'd come back."
Ethan knelt between them.
"What did she tell you?"
Lily looked toward the ceiling.
"She said one day Daddy would find us."
Ethan swallowed.
"Who is your daddy?"
Lily looked at him.
Then said:
"You."
Ethan's heart stopped.
"No."
Lily shook her head.
"Mommy said you're my real father."
Silence.
Celeste covered her mouth.
Michael looked away.
Ethan stared at the child.
"This can't be."
Lily reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a small bracelet.
A silver bracelet Ethan recognized instantly.
He had bought it for Emily when they first started dating.
He had engraved three words on it.
ALWAYS FIND ME.
Ethan's hands trembled.
"Where did you get that?"
"Mommy gave it to me."
"When?"
"Before she left."
Ethan looked at Michael.
"You knew."
Michael nodded.
"Emily discovered the truth."
"What truth?"
"You're Lily's biological father."
Ethan looked at Sophie.
Then Lily.
His entire world shifted.
"Then who is Sophie?"
Michael took a breath.
"Your daughter."
Ethan frowned.
"Both?"
Michael nodded.
"Both."
Ethan stared at him.
"How?"
Michael looked toward Celeste.
She finally spoke.
"Because the babies were born to the same mother."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
Celeste's eyes filled with tears.
"Emily gave birth to twins."
Ethan couldn't breathe.
"No."
"Two girls."
"Emily never told me."
"Because she was told one of them would be killed."
Ethan looked at Sophie and Lily.
Twins.
His daughters.
Suddenly everything made sense.
The second baby.
The hospital.
The identity switch.
The DNA reports.
The inheritance.
But one question remained.
"Why did everyone keep Lily hidden?"
Michael answered.
"Because one of the twins carried the genetic marker Meridian needed."
Ethan looked at Lily.
"Which one?"
Michael's expression darkened.
"Neither."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
"The marker isn't in the girls."
Michael looked directly at Ethan.
"It's in you."
Ethan stepped backward.
"Then why did they switch the babies?"
"To make everyone believe Lily was the heir."
"But she isn't."
"No."
Michael pointed at the wall.
"Look."
Ethan walked over.
A chart had been pinned to the wall.
At the top was Ethan's name.
Under it were two branches.
SOPHIE.
LILY.
Then beneath them was another name.
ETHAN'S FATHER.
Ethan stared.
Michael continued.
"Your father created Meridian because he discovered a genetic condition in his own family."
"What condition?"
"Something rare."
"Explain."
"The condition causes people carrying a particular gene sequence to develop extraordinary resistance to several diseases."
Ethan looked at him.
"And my father wanted to sell it?"
"Not exactly."
Michael lowered his voice.
"He wanted to control it."
Ethan stared at the chart.
"Why?"
"Because whoever controlled the bloodline could control the pharmaceutical patents connected to it."
Ethan suddenly understood.
Money.
Billions.
Power.
Generations of manipulation.
"And Sophie?"
Michael shook his head.
"She was never the target."
"Lily?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Michael looked at Ethan.
"You."
Before Ethan could respond, the lights went out.
Again.
Lily screamed.
Sophie grabbed Ethan's hand.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
"Ethan."
The same calm voice.
The man behind everything.
"You finally found the twins."
Ethan shouted:
"Who are you?"
A soft laugh.
"Still asking?"
The speakers crackled.
Then a photograph appeared on the hidden room's monitor.
Ethan's father.
Standing beside another man.
Ethan recognized him immediately.
His breath stopped.
It was Dr. Keller.
The doctor who had signed Sophie's birth certificate.
The man Ethan had trusted for years.
The man Emily had warned him about.
But there was something else.
A third person stood beside them.
A woman.
Ethan stared.
His mother.
She was alive.
Ethan's knees weakened.
"No..."
Michael whispered:
"That's impossible."
The voice returned.
"Your mother has been alive for eighteen years."
Ethan looked at him.
"You knew?"
Michael shook his head.
"No."
The photograph changed.
His mother was sitting in a hospital room.
And beside her stood Emily.
Emily was holding a newborn baby.
Ethan's hands began shaking.
There was a timestamp on the photograph.
The same night Sophie and Lily were born.
Then another image appeared.
Emily was crying.
She was handing one of the babies to his mother.
Ethan couldn't understand.
"Why?"
The voice answered.
"Because your mother was the only person who knew which child carried the bloodline."
Ethan looked at the twins.
Sophie was crying.
Lily was holding her hand.
The voice continued.
"And she chose wrong."
Ethan's heart pounded.
"Which one?"
Silence.
Then:
"Neither."
A new photograph appeared.
This time, it showed Emily standing in a hospital hallway.
Holding a third newborn.
Ethan stared.
There was no way.
"No..."
Michael stepped closer to the screen.
"What is that?"
The voice laughed.
"The child who was actually born that night."
Ethan's face went pale.
"There's a third baby?"
The voice answered:
"Not anymore."
The screen went black.
Then the front door of the mansion exploded inward.
Armed men stormed the foyer.
Michael grabbed Ethan.
"We have seconds."
"Where are we going?"
"Down."
They rushed toward the floor.
"What?"
Michael pointed beneath the nursery.
"There is another level."
Ethan looked at him.
"How do you know?"
Michael's expression was grim.
"Because that's where Meridian kept the children."
Ethan stared.
"What children?"
Michael looked at Sophie and Lily.
"The ones who never made it home."
And from somewhere beneath the mansion...
they heard a baby's cry.
Ethan froze.
It was faint.
But unmistakable.
A newborn.
Crying beneath the floor.
Michael whispered:
"That's impossible."
Ethan looked down.
The sound came again.
Stronger this time.
May you like
A baby was alive underneath them.
And someone had been keeping it hidden for six years.
