Chapter 12 - The Daughter Who Wasn't Supposed to ExistMy mother told us everything.
Or almost everything.
Twenty-six years earlier, my grandfather had created an experimental embryo using genetic material from himself and an unknown donor.
The embryo was unstable.
My mother was the only woman whose body could carry it.
She became pregnant.
But something happened.
The embryo developed into twins.
One survived.
The other did not.
At least, that was the story.
I stared at her.
“Where is the second child?”
My mother looked at Marcus.
Then at Daniel.
Finally, she said,
“Your twin survived.”
The room went silent.
I laughed because the alternative was screaming.
“No.”
My mother cried.
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was taken.”
“By who?”
“Adrian.”
My heart pounded.
“Why?”
“She had the genetic sequence.”
“And I didn't?”
“You did.”
She swallowed.
“But your sister had it more strongly.”
Marcus asked,
“Where is she?”
My mother looked toward the basement.
“She's been here.”
Cold spread through my body.
“Here?”
“She was the first child Adrian experimented on.”
Daniel looked horrified.
“What happened to her?”
My mother shook her head.
“I don't know.”
We searched the entire estate.
The police found hidden rooms.
Old medical equipment.
Dozens of files.
Then we found a photograph.
Two baby girls.
One bracelet read KHLOE.
The other read KARA.
My twin.
A police officer opened a database.
Kara's record was listed as terminated.
But another file existed.
KARA VALE, CURRENT STATUS: ACTIVE.
The last known location was a private psychiatric hospital.
No.
I refused to let that description define anything about her.
We drove there before sunrise.
The hospital was abandoned.
The doors were chained.
Inside, the corridors smelled like mold.
We found one room with a scratched message on the wall.
KHLOE, DON'T TRUST THE WOMAN WHO RAISED YOU.
I looked at my mother.
She began crying.
“I had no choice.”
“Did you know I was alive?”
“I knew.”
“Did you choose me?”
She couldn't answer.
Then I heard footsteps.
A woman emerged from the darkness.
Same eyes as mine.
Same jaw.
Same small scar above the eyebrow.
She looked at me.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then she whispered,
“Khloe?”
I began to cry.
“Kara?”
She smiled.
But there was terror in her eyes.
She stepped closer.
Then she looked at my stomach.
“You're pregnant.”
I nodded.
Kara's face drained of color.
“Then you have to leave.”
“Why?”
She looked behind me.
“Because Adrian wasn't working alone.”
Marcus drew his weapon.
“What do you mean?”
Kara whispered,
“Evelyn was only the beginning.”
A shadow moved at the end of the hallway.
Kara grabbed my wrist.
“We have maybe sixty seconds.”
“Before what?”
May you like
She looked at Marcus.
“Before your husband is arrested for a murder he didn't commit.”
