Chapter 6 - The Secret of Her BloodRachel couldn't breathe.
The little girl in the photograph was unmistakably her.
The woman was her mother.
But the third detail was impossible.
Her real father?
She had never questioned who her father was.
At least, she thought she hadn't.
Her aunt had always told her he died before she was born.
But now everything felt unstable.
Daniel found her ten minutes later.
She was sitting beneath the church window, clutching the pendant.
He dropped to his knees beside her.
“Are you hurt?”
Rachel shook her head.
“My mother was here.”
“I know.”
“She disappeared.”
“I found blood near the side entrance.”
Rachel stared at him.
“Daniel.”
He saw the pendant.
“What is that?”
She handed it over.
His eyes widened.
“That's my father.”
“I know.”
“There was someone else.”
Rachel pointed to the little girl.
“My mother said she knew your family.”
Daniel studied the photograph.
Then he noticed handwriting on the back.
His face changed.
“What?”
“This handwriting.”
“What?”
“I've seen it before.”
“Where?”
“In my father's files.”
He turned the pendant over.
There was a second line beneath the message.
Ask Daniel who really owns the Moretti name.
Rachel looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Instead, he pulled out his phone.
“I'm calling someone.”
“Who?”
“An old attorney.”
The call connected.
Daniel asked:
“Do you have records concerning my father's estate from seventeen years ago?”
The attorney paused.
“What kind?”
“Anything involving inheritance changes.”
Silence.
Then:
“There was one sealed amendment.”
Daniel stared at Rachel.
“Why was it sealed?”
“I can't discuss it without reopening the file.”
“Open it.”
“Daniel…”
“Open it.”
The attorney agreed.
Hours later, a courier delivered the file.
Daniel opened it.
Rachel watched.
One document.
One signature.
One hidden clause.
Daniel read it twice.
Then sat down.
Rachel grabbed the paper.
“What?”
She read.
Her own name appeared.
Rachel Morgan.
Listed as a protected beneficiary.
Not of Daniel's father's estate.
Of Daniel's.
The date was seventeen years ago.
Rachel's hands shook.
“I don't understand.”
Daniel stared at the document.
“Neither do I.”
“Why would your father list me as a beneficiary before we met?”
“I don't know.”
Rachel looked at the next page.
There was a note.
If anything happens to Elise Morgan, ensure Rachel Morgan remains protected under the Moretti trust.
Rachel stared.
“So your father knew me.”
“Before you were born.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Then he knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel's phone rang.
Victor.
Daniel answered.
Victor said only:
“Stop reading the trust documents.”
“Why?”
“You don't know what you're opening.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“Tell me the truth.”
Victor paused.
Then whispered:
“Rachel is not just connected to Project Mercy.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“How?”
Victor's answer came like a knife.
“Her birth was part of it.”
The call ended.
Rachel looked at Daniel.
“What did he say?”
Daniel remained silent.
Rachel's voice trembled.
“Tell me.”
He finally spoke.
“He said your birth was part of Project Mercy.”
Rachel stood.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Then find out.”
Daniel nodded.
He had never seen Rachel look so frightened.
Not because she was weak.
Because she had just realized her entire life might have been constructed around a secret she had never been told.
That night, they returned home.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
Rachel went upstairs.
Daniel stayed in the study.
At midnight, he found another envelope on his desk.
Inside was a hospital birth record.
Rachel's.
The father's name had been blacked out.
But underneath the black ink, Daniel could see one letter.
M.
And beside it was a hospital code.
The same code used in Project Mercy.
Daniel searched the old ledger.
The code appeared under one name.
His father.
But there was something else.
A second handwritten notation:
Subject R-M6 genetically compatible.
Daniel's blood ran cold.
Then Rachel entered the study.
“Daniel?”
He turned.
She saw the document in his hand.
“What is that?”
He couldn't lie to her.
He handed it over.
Rachel read the page.
Her eyes stopped on the erased father's name.
She looked up.
“There's only one person in my life whose name starts with M.”
Daniel's face hardened.
Rachel whispered:
“My mother once told me never to ask why she disappeared.”
She stared at the record.
“Maybe she disappeared because she was protecting me from my father.”
Daniel said nothing.
Because at that moment, a message appeared on his phone.
Stop searching.
Then another.
Your wife isn't the victim.
May you like
Then a third.
She's the key.
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