Chapter 13 - THE ESCAPEBrandon pulled me toward the back door.
“Take the babies.”
I grabbed both girls.
We ran.
The house alarm screamed.
Another shot exploded through the window.
We reached the garage.
Brandon pushed open the side door.
A car waited outside.
Lauren was behind the wheel.
“Get in!”
We jumped inside.
She drove.
Fast.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Then Lauren said:
“They found you.”
“Who?”
“The men connected to Daniel.”
I looked at Brandon.
“Why do they want the twins?”
He answered quietly.
“Because they think the genetic mutation is valuable.”
“How valuable?”
“Enough to kill for.”
We drove for hours.
Eventually we reached a safe house.
The babies slept.
I couldn't.
I sat at the window.
Brandon stood behind me.
“Emily.”
“Don't.”
“I know I don't deserve your forgiveness.”
“No.”
“I know everything I've done.”
“You don't know everything.”
He looked at me.
“I just learned that my entire marriage began as a lie.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“You monitored me.”
“Yes.”
“You helped Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“You signed documents.”
“Yes.”
“You stole my money.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You were protecting the secret.”
He nodded.
Then he reached into his pocket.
A small key.
“What is that?”
“A storage unit.”
“What's inside?”
“The rest of Daniel's files.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because there was one thing in there that terrified me.”
“What?”
He put the key on the table.
“Your mother's diary.”
I stared at him.
“My mother?”
“She knew Daniel.”
I felt numb.
“My mother died twelve years ago.”
“She left something.”
I took the key.
The next morning, we opened the storage unit.
There were boxes.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Letters.
Then I found the diary.
I opened it.
The first pages were normal.
Then I reached a date from twenty-nine years earlier.
My mother wrote:
Daniel promised the child would be safe.
I turned the page.
He says Emily must never know the truth.
Another page.
The embryo is not the danger. The gene is.
I stopped.
Then:
If Daniel ever finds the mutation, he will never stop.
My hands shook.
The final entry was only three lines.
Richard knows.
Margaret knows.
And Brandon will know one day.
I looked at Brandon.
“How could my mother have known that?”
He looked terrified.
Then Lauren opened another box.
Inside was a photograph.
My mother.
Margaret.
And Daniel.
All together.
Standing in front of the fertility clinic.
I looked closer.
There was another person in the photo.
A young doctor.
I recognized him.
Thomas Keller.
But there was something written on the back.
THE FOUR PEOPLE WHO STARTED EVERYTHING.
Lauren looked at me.
“Your mother, Margaret, Daniel, and Keller.”
I turned the photograph over.
Underneath the names was a fifth.
A name crossed out.
Richard Collins.
My legal father.
May you like
And beside his name was one final word.
KILLED.
