CHAPTER 13 THE WOMAN WHO WASN'T GRACE
The lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the vault.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then Lily screamed.
“Mommy!”
Grace dropped to her knees and reached for her.
“I'm here!”
Lily threw herself into Grace's arms.
Nathan immediately stepped between them and the darkness.
His weapon was raised.
“Who said that?”
No answer.
Only the sound of breathing.
Slow.
Close.
Then the woman's voice came again.
“Grace…”
It sounded exactly like her.
Same voice.
Same rhythm.
Same frightened whisper.
Grace's face went white.
“That isn't me.”
Nathan looked at her.
“I know.”
The emergency lights flickered.
For half a second, the room appeared.
Then darkness again.
Edward shouted:
“Everyone stay together!”
A gunshot exploded.
Someone screamed.
Nathan grabbed Grace and Lily.
“Down!”
Another shot.
Metal sparked against the wall.
Thomas shouted:
“Who's firing?”
Nobody answered.
Then the lights came back.
Nathan looked around.
One guard lay unconscious.
Another had vanished.
Alexander was gone.
And the red folder was missing.
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Where's the file?”
Everyone looked around.
Gone.
Eleanor stared toward the far wall.
Her expression changed.
“No…”
Nathan followed her gaze.
A hidden door stood open.
Eleanor whispered:
“She took it.”
“Who?”
Eleanor looked at Grace.
“The woman who has been pretending to be dead.”
Grace's blood ran cold.
“You know her.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Eleanor swallowed.
“Emily.”
Nathan froze.
“She's alive?”
“Yes.”
Grace stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
Eleanor pointed toward the hidden door.
“She took the file.”
Nathan started toward it.
Thomas grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Nathan turned.
“What?”
Thomas shook his head.
“It's a trap.”
Nathan pulled away.
“My sister has my mother's file.”
“She wants you to follow her.”
“Then I'll follow.”
Thomas blocked him.
“You don't know what she became.”
Nathan stared.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Emily isn't the victim you think she is.”
Grace looked at him.
“You're saying she works for Alexander?”
“No.”
Thomas's voice lowered.
“She works for herself.”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“That's impossible.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Your sister disappeared twenty years ago.”
“She was seventeen.”
“Yes.”
“She was a child.”
“She stopped being one a long time ago.”
Nathan stared at the hidden door.
“What did they do to her?”
Thomas looked away.
“Nothing.”
Nathan frowned.
“Then what?”
“She volunteered.”
Silence.
Grace whispered:
“Volunteered for what?”
Thomas answered:
“The heir program.”
Nathan's face changed.
“No.”
Thomas nodded.
“Emily was the first woman to volunteer.”
Richard suddenly stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
Nathan turned.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Richard's face was pale.
“Emily believed the Cole family was building something important.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“She believed that?”
“She was young.”
“She was your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And you let them take her?”
Richard's voice broke.
“I couldn't stop her.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You didn't try.”
Richard glared.
“You weren't there.”
“I was.”
The two brothers stared at each other.
Nathan stepped between them.
“Enough.”
He looked at Thomas.
“Tell me everything.”
Thomas sighed.
“Emily volunteered to carry the first experimental heir.”
Nathan's eyes widened.
“Daniel.”
Thomas nodded.
Nathan looked toward the boy.
Daniel was standing beside Emma, terrified.
“He's Emily's son.”
“Yes.”
Nathan stared at Daniel.
The little boy looked back.
Nathan suddenly understood why Alexander had called Daniel a prototype.
“Emily carried him.”
“Yes.”
“And then what happened?”
Thomas's voice became quiet.
“Emily discovered what the program really was.”
“She tried to escape.”
Alexander found her.
“What did he do?”
Thomas looked toward the hidden door.
“He gave her a choice.”
Nathan waited.
“Work for him.”
Thomas swallowed.
“Or watch Daniel die.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Nathan clenched his fists.
“She chose Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“That's why she's working for them.”
Thomas nodded.
Nathan stared into the darkness.
“She isn't evil.”
“No.”
“She was forced.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
Nathan looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“She has been running the program for fifteen years.”
Silence.
Grace's face hardened.
“She experimented on children?”
Thomas nodded.
Nathan's expression turned cold.
“Then she's not taking Lily.”
He stepped toward the hidden door.
“She won't get near my daughter.”
THE SECRET CORRIDOR
Nathan entered the hidden passage.
Grace followed.
Then Edward.
Thomas stayed behind with Eleanor, Richard, Emma, and Daniel.
The corridor was narrow.
Old.
There were photographs along the walls.
Nathan stopped at the first.
It showed Emily at seventeen.
Smiling.
Holding a newborn baby.
Daniel.
The next photograph showed Emily at twenty.
Wearing a white medical coat.
The next showed her at twenty-five.
Standing beside Alexander.
Then another.
Emily signing documents.
Another.
Emily entering the underground facility.
Another.
Emily holding a newborn child.
Nathan stared.
“How many?”
Edward answered:
“Twenty-three.”
Nathan's stomach twisted.
“Twenty-three children?”
Edward nodded.
“Some survived.”
“Some didn't.”
“Yes.”
Nathan looked at the photographs.
His sister had spent years inside this nightmare.
But she hadn't merely survived it.
She had become part of it.
They reached a steel door.
Nathan opened it.
A laboratory appeared.
Empty.
Except for one chair.
And a monitor.
The monitor activated.
Emily appeared on the screen.
She looked older.
Her hair was short.
Her face was thin.
But her eyes were the same.
Nathan stared.
“Emily.”
She smiled.
“Hello, brother.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“Where is the file?”
“In my possession.”
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you aren't ready.”
Nathan stepped toward the screen.
“You don't get to decide that.”
Emily smiled sadly.
“You've always been impatient.”
“You've been hiding for twenty years.”
“So have you.”
“What does that mean?”
“You thought Grace disappeared because Father forced her to.”
Nathan froze.
Emily continued.
“He did.”
“But there was another reason.”
Grace stepped forward.
“What?”
Emily looked directly at her.
“You weren't supposed to be Grace.”
Grace stared.
“What?”
Emily's expression became serious.
“The woman Nathan knew as Grace Carter wasn't supposed to survive the delivery.”
Nathan's face changed.
“What are you talking about?”
Emily continued:
“Five years ago, the Cole family arranged for Grace's death.”
Grace shook her head.
“I survived.”
“No.”
Emily smiled.
“You survived because someone else died in your place.”
Grace's breathing stopped.
Nathan whispered:
“Who?”
Emily looked toward Grace.
“Her twin.”
Grace's face went blank.
“I don't have a twin.”
Emily laughed softly.
“That's what they told you.”
Nathan looked at the screen.
“You're saying Grace had a twin?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Emily's expression became unreadable.
“You're looking at her.”
Grace stepped backward.
“No.”
Emily continued:
“The woman who raised Lily wasn't the original Grace Carter.”
Nathan stared at Grace.
“Then who are you?”
Grace began shaking her head.
“I don't know.”
Emily's voice softened.
“You were given Grace's memories.”
Silence.
Nathan couldn't breathe.
“What?”
Emily continued:
“The procedure was experimental.”
Grace touched her head.
“No…”
“They transferred memories.”
“No.”
“They changed your identity.”
Grace's knees weakened.
Nathan caught her.
Emily looked at Lily.
“And Lily was implanted with the same genetic marker.”
Nathan stared.
“Why?”
Emily's face became cold.
“Because Lily was never meant to be a child.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
“She was designed as a key.”
Grace clutched Lily.
“No.”
Emily continued:
“She was created to open the vault.”
Nathan looked at the three children.
Emma.
Daniel.
Lily.
Three heirs.
Three keys.
Three pieces of a system built by the Cole family.
But then Emily said something that made Nathan's heart stop.
“The plan failed.”
“Why?”
Emily smiled.
“Because Lily developed something they never predicted.”
Nathan whispered:
“What?”
Emily looked directly into the camera.
“Free will.”
The screen flickered.
Then her face disappeared.
A countdown appeared.
00:30.
Nathan looked around.
“What is that?”
Edward grabbed his arm.
“Run.”
The laboratory doors slammed shut.
Gas began pouring from the ceiling.
Grace grabbed Lily.
Nathan kicked the door.
Nothing.
The monitor turned back on.
Emily appeared one last time.
Her expression was filled with tears.
“I am sorry, Nathan.”
He stared.
“Emily!”
She whispered:
“Find the original Grace.”
The screen went black.
Then one final message appeared:
SHE IS STILL ALIVE.
Nathan stared.
“Who?”
The answer appeared beneath it.
GRACE CARTER.
Grace looked at Nathan.
Confused.
Terrified.
“If I'm not Grace…”
Her voice broke.
“Then who am I?”
Nathan didn't have an answer.
But somewhere beyond the sealed laboratory, a woman's footsteps began approaching.
Slowly.
One step at a time.
And then a voice whispered through the door:
May you like
“Because I am.”
The door handle began turning.
