Chapter 10 - Darkness swallowed the house.Daniel pulled Claire and Emma against the wall.
“Stay behind me.”
Something crashed upstairs.
Marcus turned on his flashlight.
A shadow moved across the hallway.
Then silence.
Claire whispered:
“Where's Helena?”
No answer.
Evelyn stepped forward.
“She knows the house.”
Marcus grabbed her.
“Stay back.”
Suddenly a door slammed.
Emma screamed.
Daniel ran toward the sound.
They found a hidden stairway behind a bookshelf.
At the bottom was a basement.
Claire descended first.
She stopped.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Hundreds.
Photos of Emma.
As a baby.
As a toddler.
At the playground.
Sleeping.
Eating.
Walking.
Claire felt sick.
“They watched her.”
Marcus looked at the files stacked beneath the photographs.
“Not just watched.”
He opened one.
Medical records.
School reports.
DNA tests.
Claire saw her name.
Then Daniel's.
Then someone else's.
ADRIAN HALE.
Daniel clenched his fists.
“Why would he test Emma's DNA?”
Marcus read further.
“To prove she wasn't Claire's daughter.”
Claire frowned.
“What?”
Marcus nodded.
“That's impossible.”
He opened another report.
“Unless the samples were swapped.”
Evelyn suddenly sat down.
“I knew it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Then why didn't you say anything?”
“Because I didn't know which records were real.”
Marcus found another document.
The date was four years earlier.
The hospital DNA test showed:
Mother: Claire Bennett
Child: Emma Carter
Probability: 99.99%
Daniel stared.
Then he looked at a second report.
Same sample.
Different result.
Mother: Unknown
He looked confused.
Marcus explained.
“They replaced the blood sample.”
Claire whispered:
“Why?”
Marcus turned to Evelyn.
“To make it legally appear Claire wasn't Emma's mother.”
Daniel slammed the file shut.
“They erased Claire.”
“They tried,” Evelyn said.
“But failed.”
Claire stepped backward.
A sudden memory surfaced.
The woman in blue scrubs.
The red door.
A syringe.
Someone saying:
“She'll remember eventually.”
Claire's breath caught.
“I didn't lose my memories naturally.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“No.”
“What did they do?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“They drugged you.”
Daniel went still.
“Who?”
“Helena arranged it.”
Marcus looked horrified.
“Your own sister?”
“She thought Claire would remember everything.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“How many times?”
“Three.”
Daniel's voice became cold.
“Three?”
“Yes.”
“What happened after each one?”
“You forgot more.”
Claire looked at her hands.
“You destroyed my life.”
“I tried to save it.”
“No.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“You decided I didn't deserve to remember my own child.”
Before Evelyn could answer, a voice came from the darkness.
“Correct.”
Helena stepped into the room.
She held a gun.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Drop it.”
Helena laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
She pointed at Emma.
“She's not the real threat.”
Claire stared.
“Then what is?”
“You.”
Helena pulled out a folder.
“Your memories contain something my brother needs.”
“What?”
“The location.”
“Location of what?”
Helena smiled.
“The original trust documents.”
Marcus went still.
Helena continued.
“Your father-in-law didn't hide the trust in a bank.”
She looked at Claire.
“He hid the access code inside your memory.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
Claire shook her head.
“I don't know anything.”
“Oh, you do.”
Helena smiled.
“You just don't remember yet.”
She fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Daniel tackled Helena.
Marcus grabbed Emma.
Claire ran.
They escaped through a side door into the garden.
But Helena didn't follow.
Instead, she shouted:
“Go ahead!”
Claire stopped.
Helena stood in the doorway.
“Because every memory you recover brings you closer to the truth.”
Claire stared.
Helena laughed.
“And the truth is something your husband isn't ready to hear.”
Daniel froze.
“What truth?”
Helena looked directly at him.
“Your father wasn't killed in an accident.”
Silence.
“Someone murdered him.”
Daniel's face went blank.
Helena smiled.
“And your mother knows who did it.”
She disappeared inside.
Evelyn covered her face.
Daniel turned slowly toward her.
“Mom.”
She couldn't look at him.
“Did you know?”
May you like
Evelyn whispered:
“Yes.”
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