Chapter 11 - The Wife Who StayedDaniel couldn't move.
Vanessa stood thirty feet away, gun in hand.
Her face was expressionless.
“Drop him.”
Daniel stared.
“You shot Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was going to kill you.”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
Blood was soaking through his shirt.
“Is he dying?”
“I don't know.”
She lowered the gun.
“Give me Lily.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
“I am not your enemy.”
“You shot my brother.”
“To stop him.”
“Then why are you here?”
Vanessa's face finally cracked.
“Because I was the one who activated the house.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“I knew someone was watching. I staged the birthday scene to force the surveillance network to reveal itself.”
“You used Lily.”
“I protected her.”
“You terrified her.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I chose you.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You were ordered to.”
“At first.”
She lowered the gun.
“Then I stayed because I fell in love with you.”
Daniel said nothing.
Vanessa continued.
“When Lily was born, I discovered what Orpheus intended.”
“What?”
“They believed Echo could be passed genetically.”
“It can.”
“Yes.”
“But they were wrong about one thing.”
“What?”
“It isn't Lily's DNA that unlocks Echo.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then what?”
“Yours.”
Silence.
Adrian groaned.
Daniel looked down.
His brother was barely conscious.
He whispered:
“Not his.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
Adrian smiled weakly.
“Both.”
Daniel's heart sank.
Adrian continued.
“Echo needs two signatures.”
“Whose?”
“The twins.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
She nodded.
“That is why they kept Adrian alive.”
“And Lily?”
“Leverage.”
Adrian coughed.
“There's one more.”
“What?”
“The third signature.”
Daniel frowned.
“Who?”
Adrian looked at Lily.
“Your daughter.”
Daniel felt dizzy.
Three generations.
One system.
One family.
Suddenly the old documents made sense.
The genetic experiments.
The surveillance.
The marriage.
The birthday party.
Everything had been engineered around Lily.
The question was why.
Daniel turned to Vanessa.
“Who is controlling this?”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“Your grandfather.”
Daniel stared.
“My grandfather is dead.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“Where is he?”
She looked upward.
“In the original Stellan estate.”
“The one abandoned twenty years ago?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
COME HOME.
Another followed.
ALL THREE OF MY KEYS ARE ALIVE.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
BRING THEM.
The sender was saved under one name.
ELIAS.
Daniel looked toward Evan.
Evan whispered:
“Your grandfather.”
The building shook again.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Vanessa grabbed Lily.
“We have to go.”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“We're not leaving him.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Go.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
Adrian gave him a faint smile.
“Because he wants all of us together.”
Daniel realized the trap.
The grandfather wasn't calling them home.
He was gathering his keys.
And Daniel knew, with absolute certainty, that the birthday party had never been about the cake.
May you like
It had been the signal.
The first move.
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