Chapter 7 - The Marriage Was a LieI left the hospital without telling anyone.
I drove home through a gray Chicago morning, barely aware of the streets.
Our house looked normal.
That was the cruel part.
Our wedding photograph still stood on the hallway table.
My favorite blue couch.
His books.
Our kitchen.
Eight years of furniture arranged around a lie.
I went straight to his office.
I opened every drawer.
Nothing.
Then I remembered the locked cabinet he never let me touch.
I searched for the key.
I found it inside an old watch box.
The cabinet opened.
Inside were folders.
One was labeled:
H. TURNER
I stopped.
My own name.
I opened it.
Birth certificate.
Medical records.
Academic records.
Residency evaluations.
Bank statements.
My hands trembled.
Why did my husband have all of this?
Then I found something that made my blood run cold.
A DNA report.
My eyes scanned the page.
Subject: Hannah Elise Carter
I wasn't Hannah Carter.
I had been born Hannah Elise Morgan.
Carter was my mother's maiden name.
But the report contained another name.
Subject comparison: Jonathan Vale.
I stared at it.
Jonathan Vale.
The name of a man my mother had always refused to discuss.
I opened the next folder.
Photographs.
My childhood.
My medical school graduation.
My residency.
Someone had been documenting me for years.
At the bottom of the file was a single sentence.
PROJECT ORCHID
I searched the term online.
Nothing.
I searched my hospital database.
Access denied.
Then the house alarm sounded.
I froze.
Someone was inside.
Footsteps moved upstairs.
I quietly closed the cabinet.
My phone vibrated.
Detective Bennett.
I answered.
"Mrs. Turner, where are you?"
"Home."
"Get out."
"Why?"
"We found your husband's insurance records."
My stomach tightened.
"What about them?"
"He wasn't the original beneficiary."
"Who was?"
A pause.
"You."
I blinked.
"That makes no sense."
"The policy was changed to Khloe eleven months ago."
"Exactly."
"Before that, you were the beneficiary."
I heard a door upstairs.
"Detective, someone is in my house."
"I'm sending officers."
Too late.
The footsteps were coming down the stairs.
I grabbed a heavy lamp.
The figure appeared.
Male.
Black jacket.
Mask.
He moved toward me.
I swung.
He ducked.
The lamp shattered against the wall.
He grabbed my wrist.
Then stopped.
He stared at me.
And I recognized his eyes.
Dr. Harris.
He pulled off the mask.
"Hannah."
I stepped back.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to warn you."
"You broke into my house."
"I didn't have a choice."
"Why?"
He looked toward the locked cabinet.
"Because someone is coming for what's inside."
"What?"
He walked to the cabinet.
"What did you find?"
I didn't answer.
He looked at me.
"Did you find Project Orchid?"
I stared.
"You know what it is."
His face collapsed.
"God help us."
"What is Project Orchid?"
May you like
He whispered,
"You."
