Chapter 4: The Firstborn
The gun was pointed directly at my stomach.
I couldn't breathe.
My hands instinctively covered the twins.
Margaret stepped in front of me.
“Elias, don't.”
So that was his name.
Elias.
My supposedly dead father-in-law.
He barely glanced at her.
“You were always sentimental, Margaret.”
“She's not part of this anymore.”
“She became part of it the moment she married my son.”
I stared at him.
“Where is Travis?”
Elias smiled.
“You've asked that question several times.”
“Answer me.”
“He's alive.”
“Bring him here.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Travis has finally understood his place.”
My stomach twisted.
“What did you do to him?”
Elias tilted his head.
“Your husband made a choice.”
“What choice?”
“To protect you.”
I almost laughed.
“Protect me?”
The image of Travis shoving my hand away flashed through my mind.
“Your son left me alone while I was in labor.”
“Yes.”
“You locked me in this house.”
“Yes.”
“You've been watching me for months.”
“Yes.”
“And you expect me to believe any of this was to protect me?”
Elias smiled.
“No.”
He lowered the gun slightly.
“I expect you to believe it was necessary.”
A sudden pain tore through my abdomen.
I doubled over.
Margaret caught me.
“She's having another contraction.”
Elias looked at his watch.
“Then we're running out of time.”
“Time for what?”
He looked at my belly.
“Delivery.”
Margaret's eyes widened.
“You're going to take her now?”
“That's the plan.”
“You can't.”
“I already have.”
He snapped his fingers.
Two men appeared behind him.
Both wearing black.
One carried a medical bag.
The other carried restraints.
My blood turned to ice.
“No.”
Elias looked at me.
“Don't make this difficult.”
I backed away.
“You're not taking my babies.”
“They aren't yours alone.”
“They are my children!”
“And they are the continuation of something much older than you understand.”
Margaret grabbed my hand.
“Run.”
We moved at the same time.
Margaret shoved the nearest man.
He stumbled.
I ran.
Or tried to.
At thirty-eight weeks pregnant with twins, running was more of a desperate, painful shuffle.
I made it three steps.
Then another contraction hit.
I collapsed against the wall.
“Claire!”
Margaret lunged toward me.
The second man grabbed her.
She fought violently.
“LET HER GO!”
Elias walked toward me.
Slowly.
Calmly.
Almost casually.
He crouched beside me.
“Do you know what makes you different from your mother?”
I glared at him.
“I don't care.”
“You're stronger.”
He reached toward my belly.
I slapped his hand away.
“Don't touch me.”
He smiled.
“That's exactly what she used to say.”
I froze.
“You knew my mother.”
“I knew her very well.”
“What happened to her?”
“She betrayed us.”
“What did you do to her?”
His expression hardened.
“She stole something.”
“What?”
“You.”
My breath caught.
Elias stood.
“Your mother escaped with you when you were six. She disappeared for years.”
“Then how did you find me?”
He smiled.
“Your husband.”
I felt sick.
“Travis?”
“He brought you to us.”
“No.”
“He didn't know what he was doing at first.”
I shook my head.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
He pulled a phone from his pocket.
He tapped the screen.
A video began playing.
Travis appeared.
He was sitting in a dark room.
His face was bruised.
His hands were tied behind his back.
I stopped breathing.
“Travis…”
His eyes looked directly into the camera.
“Claire…”
His voice was weak.
“If you're watching this, I'm sorry.”
I started crying.
Elias paused the video.
“Keep watching.”
He pressed play.
Travis swallowed.
“I thought my father was dead.”
He looked down.
“I was wrong.”
The video continued.
“He came back six years ago.”
My entire body went numb.
Six years.
That meant Elias had been alive before I ever met Travis.
“He told me things about my family that I didn't believe.”
Travis continued.
“Then he showed me records.”
A document appeared on the screen.
My name was visible.
My maiden name.
My birth date.
My mother's name.
And beneath it was a line marked:
SUBJECT: CLAIRE MORGAN
I stared.
“What is that?”
Elias said nothing.
The video continued.
Travis looked terrified.
“My father told me Claire was the last surviving descendant.”
The video cut.
A second document appeared.
It contained medical records.
My pregnancy.
My ultrasounds.
My blood tests.
Everything.
I stared at Elias.
“You've been monitoring my pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the twins are genetically significant.”
“Significant to who?”
“To us.”
I shook my head.
“You're insane.”
Elias smiled.
“Perhaps.”
Then Travis appeared again.
This time his voice was barely audible.
“But there's something my father didn't tell me.”
Elias suddenly reached for the phone.
The screen went black.
“That's enough.”
I stared at him.
“What didn't Travis know?”
Elias didn't answer.
“WHAT DIDN'T HE KNOW?”
He turned away.
I saw something on his wrist.
A scar.
Three small parallel lines.
The same mark I'd seen in the photograph of my mother.
My heart stopped.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You weren't just involved with her.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You were with her.”
Silence.
Margaret looked at Elias.
“You promised you'd never tell her.”
“I promised nothing.”
I felt dizzy.
“What was my mother to you?”
Elias finally looked at me.
“Your mother was my sister.”
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
My father-in-law was my mother's brother.
My entire family tree had been a lie.
“You're my uncle.”
“Yes.”
“And you married my husband's mother into this family.”
“Yes.”
I backed away.
“Then Travis…”
Elias's expression changed.
For the first time, something almost like pity appeared in his eyes.
“Travis is your cousin.”
My stomach turned.
“No.”
Margaret whispered:
“Claire…”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Elias stepped closer.
“That is why the marriage had to happen.”
I stared at him in horror.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Travis knew?”
“No.”
I remembered the wedding.
The photographs.
The promises.
The way Travis had looked at me.
Was any of it real?
I couldn't think.
Then something inside my stomach shifted violently.
I gasped.
The twins moved.
Both at once.
Margaret looked at me.
“Claire?”
I grabbed my belly.
“They're coming.”
Elias looked at his watch.
Then he smiled.
“Perfect.”
A scream tore through me.
My water broke again.
This time there was blood.
Margaret's face changed instantly.
“She needs a hospital!”
Elias nodded.
“Exactly.”
He turned to his men.
“Prepare the car.”
I looked at him.
“You said you were taking my babies.”
“I am.”
“Then why the hospital?”
His smile disappeared.
“Because the firstborn must be delivered alive.”
I stared at him.
“The firstborn?”
He leaned toward me.
“You're carrying twins.”
He whispered:
“And only one of them is supposed to leave the hospital with you.”
Before I could respond, a deafening crash came from upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Another crash.
Then shouting.
One of Elias's men ran toward the stairs.
Seconds later, we heard a gunshot.
Then another.
Elias's face changed.
“Who is that?”
Margaret smiled through her tears.
“Someone you forgot about.”
A figure appeared at the top of the basement stairs.
Blood covered his shirt.
His face was bruised.
His wrists were bound.
But he was standing.
It was Travis.
He looked directly at me.
“Claire.”
Then he looked at Elias.
And his expression became pure hatred.
“You lied to me.”
Elias raised his gun.
Travis slowly lifted both hands.
“I know everything now.”
“What do you know?”
Travis looked at me.
Then at my belly.
Then back at his father.
“I know which twin you actually want.”
Elias went completely still.
Travis smiled.
“And I know why.”
Then the basement lights suddenly came back on.
And everyone saw the same thing.
A tiny red mark had appeared on my belly.
Exactly where one of the twins was moving.
Elias stared at it.
His face went white.
“No…”
May you like
Travis whispered:
“It's started.”
