Chapter 10 - The Eighth ChildWe reached the Vale estate at midnight.
Snow covered the driveway.
The mansion was dark.
Too dark.
Not one window showed light.
Marcus carried the baby from the hospital.
Claire stayed with him.
Daniel moved beside me.
For the first time in months, I understood why he had disappeared.
He had been running from a war I hadn't known existed.
We entered through the underground garage.
Daniel used the key.
A steel door opened.
Beyond it was a corridor.
White walls.
Bright lights.
No windows.
At the end stood the nursery.
Seven cribs.
Empty.
The air smelled like disinfectant.
Marcus looked at the empty rooms.
“Where did they take them?”
Daniel shook his head.
“We have to find the database.”
A monitor turned on.
Adrian's face appeared.
“Welcome home.”
Marcus raised his gun.
“Show yourself.”
Adrian laughed.
“You still think this is personal.”
The screen displayed a genetic chart.
“Your child has a rare sequence.”
Daniel looked at me.
“What sequence?”
Adrian answered,
“The one your grandfather had.”
I frowned.
“My grandfather?”
“He was one of the original researchers.”
I felt my blood freeze.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Adrian explained.
My maternal family had once worked in a genetic research program.
The project was shut down after an ethics investigation.
The lead researcher disappeared.
My grandfather.
He had destroyed every sample.
Or so everyone believed.
He hadn't destroyed them.
He had hidden them.
Inside his own descendants.
My DNA.
Adrian wanted it.
Not for wealth.
Not for inheritance.
For the genetic sequence that could stabilize a hereditary treatment.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“You created all those babies trying to reproduce it.”
“Correct.”
“And failed.”
“Until Khloe.”
I looked at my stomach.
Adrian continued.
“Her child carries the exact sequence naturally.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“You're not taking my child.”
Adrian smiled.
“I don't need to.”
A door opened behind us.
We turned.
Evelyn was standing there.
She held a small black case.
“Adrian wants the child.”
Marcus lifted his gun.
“So do you?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I want you to know the truth.”
She opened the case.
Inside was a handwritten notebook.
My grandfather's notebook.
Page after page of genetic research.
But one page had been marked.
A photograph was attached.
My mother.
My heart stopped.
She was standing beside Daniel.
Twenty-five years earlier.
I looked at Daniel.
“You knew my mother?”
He swallowed.
“She helped your grandfather.”
Marcus stared at him.
“And she knew about the program?”
Daniel nodded.
Then he said something that made my entire body go numb.
“Your mother didn't die in the accident.”
I stared.
“She disappeared.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“When?”
“The year before Khloe met me.”
I felt the room spin.
“My whole life was built on a lie.”
Evelyn looked away.
Then a scream came from the upper floor.
A baby's scream.
Then another.
Then another.
Marcus turned.
“The children.”
We ran.
At the top of the stairs, we found seven bassinets.
Seven babies.
All alive.
All crying.
And beside them stood Isabella.
Her wrists were bleeding.
She looked at me.
“I found them.”
Marcus rushed toward her.
“Where is Adrian?”
Isabella pointed to a locked room.
“He's inside.”
Daniel moved toward it.
Isabella grabbed my arm.
“Khloe.”
“What?”
“Don't open that door.”
“Why?”
May you like
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because your mother is inside.”
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