Chapter 7 - Ryan couldn't speak.Daniel stood in the doorway wearing a dark coat soaked by rain.
There was almost no difference between the man in the old photographs and the stranger standing before him.
Except for one thing.
The eyes.
Daniel's eyes looked almost black.
“Dad?”
Daniel smiled.
“You finally remember.”
Ryan raised the gun Mason had given him.
“Don't move.”
Daniel laughed softly.
“Still the obedient one.”
“Where's Lily?”
Daniel's smile disappeared.
“Safe.”
“Where's Noah?”
“Also safe.”
“Where are they?”
Daniel ignored the question.
“You've always been protective of children.”
Ryan's grip tightened.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
“Our daughter.”
“No.”
Daniel glanced at Emily.
“You told him she died?”
Emily whispered, “I had to.”
Daniel nodded.
“That was the first lie.”
Ryan stared.
“First?”
Daniel stepped inside.
Mason raised his weapon.
“Daniel Carter, you are under arrest.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You still work for people who don't know what I built.”
Mason frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel smiled.
“You'll learn.”
Then he looked at Ryan.
“Do you know why Lily called you Daddy?”
Ryan said nothing.
“Because she remembers you.”
“I've never met her.”
“You met her before she was born.”
Daniel walked toward the kitchen wall.
“You were here six years ago.”
Ryan followed.
“I remember the hospital.”
“No.”
“You were manipulated.”
Daniel touched the wall.
“Memory isn't a photograph, Ryan.”
He tapped his temple.
“It's architecture.”
Ryan's stomach tightened.
“What did you do to me?”
Daniel smiled.
“Nothing you didn't ask me to do.”
Ryan recoiled.
“I would never.”
“You begged me.”
Emily started crying.
“Daniel, stop.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You should tell him.”
“Tell me what?”
Emily shook her head.
Daniel continued.
“You weren't losing your memory because of trauma.”
Ryan stared.
“Then why?”
“Because I erased it.”
Ryan's breath stopped.
Mason looked between them.
Daniel explained calmly.
“You were six when Mara disappeared.”
Ryan's eyes flickered.
“You watched me take her.”
Another memory.
A basement.
Mara screaming.
Ryan pounding on a locked door.
His father holding him back.
Daniel's voice.
“If you remember this, she'll die.”
Ryan stumbled.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You traded your memories for her life.”
Ryan looked at Emily.
“What happened?”
Emily couldn't look at him.
“You grew up believing Mara never existed.”
Daniel nodded.
“And years later, you married Emily.”
Ryan swallowed.
“She knew?”
“She was part of the experiment.”
Ryan's world turned upside down.
Emily cried.
“I was twenty-three.”
“You worked for him?”
“I thought he was trying to save children.”
“You hid my daughter.”
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
Daniel laughed.
“You still believe that story?”
Emily froze.
Ryan noticed.
“What story?”
Daniel looked toward the kitchen.
“The girl behind the wall isn't Lily.”
Ryan stared.
“What?”
“Her name is Mara.”
“That child is six.”
“No.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“She was six when the experiment began.”
Ryan couldn't understand.
Daniel walked to the vent.
“You've been calling her your daughter.”
Ryan whispered, “Because she is.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She's your sister.”
Silence.
The house seemed to stop breathing.
Ryan turned toward the passage.
The little girl stood there.
Lily.
Or Mara.
Her face was wet with tears.
She looked at Daniel.
Then Ryan.
And said:
“Daddy lied.”
Daniel's smile faded.
“About what?”
The girl's eyes hardened.
“About everything.”
Then the basement lights turned on.
May you like
One by one.
And from the laboratory came the sound of a machine starting.
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