Chapter 12 - Jonathan felt as though the room had tilted.“Me?”
Richard nodded.
“You were created for this.”
Jonathan stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you know what your father built.”
Richard raised the knife slightly.
“You think your life is normal?”
Jonathan shook his head.
“No.”
“You think your memories are yours?”
Jonathan's jaw tightened.
“Stop.”
“You think you married, worked, raised a child, and somehow stayed outside your family's games?”
Richard smiled.
“You were part of the program before you were born.”
Jonathan felt a pressure behind his eyes.
He saw flashes.
A laboratory.
Bright lights.
A woman holding a baby.
A man's voice.
He will be the protector.
Another voice.
And if he fails?
Then we use the girl.
Jonathan dropped to one knee.
Mara rushed toward him.
“Jonathan!”
He held his head.
“No.”
Richard continued.
“You weren't supposed to know.”
“Know what?”
“That Emma was never the objective.”
Jonathan looked up.
“Then what was?”
Richard pointed toward the basement.
“The vault.”
Celeste entered the room.
“Richard, enough.”
He turned.
“You should have stayed silent.”
Celeste's expression hardened.
“You've destroyed everything.”
Richard laughed.
“You destroyed it when you took the baby.”
Celeste stepped toward him.
“I saved them.”
“No.”
Richard looked at Emma.
“You saved yourself.”
Jonathan stood.
“Enough.”
Richard pressed the knife closer to Sofia.
“Come no closer.”
Jonathan stopped.
“You want the vault.”
“Yes.”
“Then let her go.”
“No.”
“I know the combination.”
Richard smiled.
“You don't.”
Jonathan looked toward Lydia.
She nodded.
“Yes, he does.”
Everyone turned.
Lydia stepped forward.
“It's encoded in his memory.”
Jonathan stared.
“What memory?”
“The night your mother died.”
The room went silent.
Lydia continued.
“She left you the key.”
Jonathan remembered the brass key.
“Lantern.”
“Yes.”
“What opens it?”
Lydia looked at Emma.
“Not a door.”
Jonathan's face changed.
“Then what?”
“A choice.”
Richard sneered.
“You still think this is about money.”
Jonathan looked at him.
“What is it about?”
Richard pulled back the knife.
“The vault contains evidence that can destroy half the families on this continent.”
Jonathan stared.
“Evidence of what?”
“Child trafficking.”
Mara gasped.
Richard continued.
“Illegal adoptions. Identity swaps. Blackmail. Political deals. Corporate transfers.”
Celeste whispered,
“People will go to prison.”
“People will disappear.”
Jonathan looked at the room.
“So that's why everyone wanted Emma.”
Richard nodded.
“She is proof.”
Jonathan frowned.
“How?”
“She was the first child transferred under Operation Lantern.”
Jonathan stared at Emma.
“Then what makes Sofia important?”
Richard looked at her.
“She can prove the original identity.”
Mara stepped forward.
“But why kill her?”
“Because a witness can destroy everything.”
Sofia suddenly spoke.
“I know the truth.”
Everyone turned.
Richard stared.
Sofia looked at Jonathan.
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The hospital.”
Jonathan felt a shock.
“What do you remember?”
Sofia answered,
“There were two nurses.”
Mara held her breath.
“One gave me to Celeste.”
Jonathan asked,
“And the other?”
Sofia's eyes moved toward Lydia.
“She took the other baby.”
Lydia stiffened.
Sofia continued.
“She gave her to a man.”
“Who?”
Sofia pointed.
At Jonathan.
He froze.
“No.”
Sofia began crying.
“You were there.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“I don't remember.”
“You held her.”
Jonathan closed his eyes.
A memory.
A baby placed in his arms.
His father's voice.
Take this one.
Another voice.
And the other?
Leave her.
Jonathan opened his eyes.
He remembered.
Everything.
He had held both babies.
He had been forced to choose.
And he had chosen Emma.
The other baby had been taken away.
Sofia.
Jonathan looked at her.
“I was a child.”
“You were twenty-seven.”
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“That's why I don't hate you.”
Richard stared at Sofia.
“What did you say?”
Sofia looked directly at him.
“I remember what you did next.”
Richard's face changed.
Sofia whispered,
“You killed my mother.”
Lydia went still.
Jonathan looked at her.
“Your mother?”
Sofia nodded.
“Not Lydia.”
Everyone froze.
Sofia pointed toward the hallway.
“The woman who raised me.”
Jonathan's heart stopped.
“Who?”
Sofia spoke one name.
“Celeste.”
The room went silent.
Jonathan looked at Celeste.
Celeste burst into tears.
Richard's expression became unreadable.
Then the mansion alarm began again.
This time the red lights came on.
Lydia looked toward the monitor.
“They're here.”
“Who?”
She whispered,
“The families.”
Jonathan looked toward the windows.
Cars were surrounding Blackwood.
Dozens of them.
Celeste grabbed Emma.
“Run.”
Jonathan drew closer to Sofia.
But Richard was already smiling.
“You don't understand.”
Jonathan stared.
“What?”
Richard pointed toward the doorway.
“The people outside aren't here to save anyone.”
Then the doors opened.
Men in black suits entered.
May you like
And behind them walked Jonathan's mother.
Dead for eight years.
