Chapter 11 - The alarm continued screaming.I covered my daughter's ears.
"Stay with me."
She nodded.
Ethan ran to the control panel.
"The system is locked."
"Can you disable it?"
"I'm trying."
Daniel approached.
I stepped between him and my daughter.
"Don't."
He stopped.
"I'm not going to hurt her."
"You've lied too much for me to believe anything."
He looked broken.
"I know."
The intercom clicked.
Thomas spoke again.
"Bring the girl downstairs."
I shouted toward the speaker.
"Why can she open the vault?"
Silence.
Then Thomas laughed.
"Because Richard designed it using her genetic signature."
My stomach tightened.
"Why her?"
"Because he knew the ledger had to be protected from everyone except his true heir."
I looked at the girl.
"My daughter."
Thomas continued,
"Your father spent his life preparing for the day someone would come for the money."
"What money?"
"The Carter Foundation isn't a charity."
Ethan looked at me.
"What is it?"
Thomas answered.
"A network."
My daughter squeezed my hand.
"What kind of network?"
Thomas didn't answer.
The lights flickered.
Then every screen in the house came alive.
Documents appeared.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Politicians.
Executives.
Judges.
Foreign accounts.
The list went on.
Ethan stared.
"This is enormous."
Thomas's voice came again.
"Your father stole from them."
I looked at Daniel.
"What did he do?"
"He moved the money."
Daniel spoke quietly.
"Then he tried to escape."
Thomas continued.
"He failed."
The basement door opened automatically.
A cold draft moved through the house.
There was no basement entrance on the original floor plan.
But now a section of the kitchen floor had shifted.
Stone steps appeared.
My daughter stared downward.
"That's where they took me."
I looked at her.
"What?"
"When I was little."
"Who?"
"Your father."
My heart broke.
"You remember?"
She nodded.
"Not everything."
"What do you remember?"
"A dark room."
"Anything else?"
"A woman."
"Who?"
"Laura."
My breath caught.
"Your grandmother?"
She shook her head.
"She told me not to be afraid."
I felt dizzy.
"Laura knew."
"Yes."
Ethan looked at me.
"This means your mother knew the truth."
I couldn't think.
Then I understood.
My mother had helped protect my biological daughter.
She had never abandoned me.
She had been trying to undo what my father did.
I took the first step down.
Ethan grabbed my shoulder.
"Don't."
"We need answers."
"We need backup."
"There isn't time."
My daughter took my hand.
"I'll go."
"No."
"If I'm the key, they need me."
I looked at her.
"You don't know what is down there."
She whispered,
"I've been there before."
We descended.
The basement was enormous.
Concrete walls.
Steel doors.
Rows of cabinets.
Monitors.
And one circular vault.
At the center was a biometric scanner.
My daughter approached it.
The scanner lit up.
"Identity required."
She placed her palm against the glass.
A green light appeared.
MATCH CONFIRMED.
The vault door unlocked.
But before it opened, another voice came from behind us.
Jacqueline.
"Don't."
I turned.
She was standing on the stairs.
"Why?"
She was crying.
"Because your father lied about the vault."
"What do you mean?"
"The ledger isn't inside."
Thomas's voice suddenly came from the ceiling.
"Jacqueline."
She looked up.
"They're listening."
She nodded.
"I know."
I stared at her.
"Where is it?"
She looked at me.
Then at my daughter.
"Inside you."
I felt my stomach drop.
"What?"
"Your father embedded the access code into your birth records."
Ethan frowned.
"That makes no sense."
"It does."
She reached into her coat.
"Your blood."
She pulled out a tiny metal key.
"The code is activated by both daughters."
I looked at her.
"Both?"
She nodded.
"Sophie and the girl."
My mind raced.
The two children.
The switch.
The records.
The vault.
Everything suddenly connected.
My daughter looked frightened.
"What's my name?"
I stared.
"What?"
"Who am I?"
I didn't know.
Not really.
Her entire identity had been stolen.
I looked at Jacqueline.
"What did you name her?"
She whispered,
"Anna."
Anna.
My daughter.
Anna.
I touched her cheek.
"Anna."
She closed her eyes.
Then the vault opened.
Inside was a single black box.
No money.
No ledger.
Just a phone.
The phone turned on by itself.
A video began playing.
My father's face appeared.
Older.
Tired.
Terrified.
"Emily."
I froze.
"If you're watching this, Thomas found the vault."
My father looked directly into the camera.
"There is one thing I never told you."
He took a breath.
"You were never the target."
He paused.
"Anna was."
The video changed.
A photograph appeared.
Thomas.
Daniel.
Jacqueline.
And another man.
My father pointed toward him.
"That man is the reason I stole you."
The screen froze.
I knew the man.
I had seen him before.
He was the stranger from the office.
Marcus.
May you like
Then my father's final words appeared.
"Your mother is alive."
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