Chapter 13 - The entire mansion seemed to hold its breath.The voice came from hidden speakers in every room.
“Your mother told you Daniel Hart was your father.”
I looked at Daniel.
He was pale.
The voice continued.
“She was wrong.”
Daniel shouted,
“Don't listen to him.”
I stared at him.
“Is it true?”
“Claire…”
“Are you my father?”
“Yes.”
The speakers crackled.
“Half true.”
Silence.
The detective looked around.
“Trace the signal.”
Officers rushed toward the control room.
The voice returned.
“Your biological father is someone else.”
Daniel lowered his head.
I felt something break inside me.
“Who?”
The answer came immediately.
“Peter Sterling.”
Maya gasped.
Adrian stared at the speaker.
“That can't be.”
“Why?”
“Because Peter died before I was born.”
A soft laugh came through the speakers.
“That's what Charles told you.”
The detective shouted,
“Peter Sterling, you're under arrest!”
Laughter.
Then the lights went off.
Again.
This time, the house was completely black.
Something crashed upstairs.
Someone screamed.
The emergency lights came on.
Maya was gone.
“Where's Maya?”
Nobody answered.
The detective ordered a search.
I ran toward the staircase.
A blood trail led down the hallway.
Then stopped.
No body.
No Maya.
Nothing.
I heard Adrian behind me.
“Claire.”
I turned.
He was holding a photograph.
“I found this.”
It was old.
Charles.
Peter.
My mother.
And a baby.
I recognized the baby.
Me.
But the date on the photograph was impossible.
It was taken before I was born.
I stared at Adrian.
“What is this?”
“I don't know.”
Then I noticed something.
My mother was pregnant.
There was another woman standing beside her.
Evelyn.
And she was holding a newborn baby.
The baby wasn't me.
“That's Emma.”
Adrian nodded.
“So why does my mother have this photograph?”
Daniel appeared behind us.
“Because she wasn't pregnant with you.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Claire, listen to me.”
“No.”
“She carried Emma.”
I stared at him.
“Then where did I come from?”
Daniel's silence was unbearable.
Finally he whispered,
“Peter.”
My blood ran cold.
“What are you saying?”
“Your mother was forced into a genetic program.”
The detective arrived.
“What program?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Charles and Peter were trying to create heirs they could control.”
My stomach turned.
“That's insane.”
“It happened.”
“How?”
“Embryos.”
I felt dizzy.
“Stop.”
Daniel continued.
“You were created from Peter's genetic material and your mother's.”
I stepped backward.
“That means…”
“Yes.”
“I'm Peter's daughter.”
Daniel nodded.
“But not his only one.”
The detective frowned.
“Emma.”
Daniel nodded.
“Claire and Emma are biological sisters.”
I looked at the photograph again.
The baby in Evelyn's arms.
The child in the photograph.
Me.
Everything connected.
The women Charles had watched.
The hidden rooms.
The ledger.
The obsession with my DNA.
Peter wasn't dead.
And he had been using Charles to control the Sterling family from the beginning.
Then Evelyn suddenly shouted,
“Down!”
A bullet shattered the glass behind me.
Everyone dropped.
Another shot.
The detective fired toward the balcony.
A shadow disappeared.
Officers rushed upstairs.
I crouched beside Adrian.
He looked at me.
“You're not safe here.”
“No kidding.”
He grabbed my hand.
“We have to leave.”
“Where?”
He leaned close.
“There's a place beneath the chapel.”
“We already searched it.”
“Not the first room.”
“What first room?”
He whispered,
“The one behind your mother's photograph.”
My heart raced.
We ran.
Back to the old chapel.
Back to the hidden system.
But this time, we found something we had missed.
A second scanner.
It recognized my face.
The wall opened.
Inside was a nursery.
Two cribs.
Two photographs.
One labeled CLAIRE.
The other EMMA.
And between them was a note.
I picked it up.
My mother's handwriting.
I never had two daughters.
I read the next line.
I had one daughter and one replacement.
My hands froze.
Adrian looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
Then we heard footsteps behind us.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Someone entered the nursery.
A man's voice whispered,
“Now you know.”
I turned.
Peter Sterling stood in the doorway.
May you like
Alive.
Smiling.
