Chapter 7 - For several minutes, nobody spoke.I couldn't process the words.
Your father stole you.
From whom?
Why?
And how could Richard possibly know?
Evelyn sat across from me.
Her face had gone white.
“You knew.”
She didn't answer.
“You knew.”
“I knew there was another child.”
“My child?”
“No.”
I stood.
“Then tell me whose baby that was.”
Evelyn looked away.
“That was your mother's first daughter.”
I felt my knees weaken.
“Then who was Elena?”
“You.”
I stared at her.
“Then why does the photograph say Elena?”
“Because your name was Elena when you were born.”
“What?”
“Your father changed it.”
“Why?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“To protect you.”
I almost laughed.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
I snatched the birth records.
“Protected me from what?”
Evelyn finally told me.
My mother had given birth to twins.
Two girls.
Elena.
And Sofia.
But only one child left the hospital.
The other disappeared.
My father claimed the second baby died.
But there was no death certificate.
No grave.
No autopsy.
Nothing.
I stared at Evelyn.
“Where is my sister?”
“We don't know.”
Richard did.
That was the terrifying part.
He had shown me photographs.
He knew about the second child.
He knew about the Blue File.
Which meant somebody had been feeding him information for years.
Then Claire interrupted.
“There is something you need to see.”
She placed a folder in front of me.
It contained financial records.
Twenty-two years of transfers.
Small payments.
Then larger ones.
All going to the same offshore account.
Beneficiary:
Sofia Vance.
I looked at Evelyn.
“Nora.”
She nodded.
“That was Nora's first name.”
I stared at the numbers.
“Who was she paying?”
Claire pointed to the final page.
A monthly payment had continued until last month.
Recipient:
Elena S.
My heart stopped.
“What is this?”
“We don't know.”
Claire tapped the account number.
“But the routing trail leads to a private clinic in Monterey.”
A clinic for high-risk pregnancies.
I looked at my own stomach.
“She's pregnant?”
“No.”
Claire shook her head.
“Not anymore.”
We drove to the clinic that night.
The doctor refused to talk at first.
Then Evelyn showed him my father's signature.
His face changed.
“You're Sophia's daughter.”
I nodded.
He closed the door.
Then whispered:
“Your sister came here twice.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“Why?”
“She wanted medical records.”
“What records?”
The doctor looked at me.
“Yours.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“She said her sister had been given away.”
I felt dizzy.
“She knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared.”
“Again?”
The doctor nodded.
“But she left this.”
He opened a drawer.
Inside was a small audio recorder.
My hands shook as I pressed play.
A woman's voice filled the room.
Older.
Calmer.
But familiar.
My voice.
Or something frighteningly close to it.
“My name is Sofia Hayes.”
I froze.
She continued.
“I was born seven minutes before my sister.”
My heart hammered.
“If you're listening to this, Dad failed to tell you the truth.”
A pause.
“Richard knows where I am.”
I looked at Claire.
The recording continued.
“He thinks I'm his ally.”
My blood ran cold.
“He's wrong.”
Then the voice whispered:
“I'm the person who helped your husband plan the helicopter.”
Everyone in the room froze.
I almost dropped the recorder.
The woman's voice continued.
“I helped him because I needed him to believe I was on his side.”
A pause.
“Your husband didn't marry you to steal Hayes Technologies.”
“He married you because you're the key to finding something your father hid.”
Then she gave the name.
“Project Orion.”
The recording stopped.
The doctor stared at me.
“What is Project Orion?”
Evelyn answered.
“A company that officially never existed.”
I looked at her.
“What did it do?”
She swallowed.
“It wasn't a company.”
“What was it?”
“A program.”
“What kind?”
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“Genetic succession.”
I couldn't understand.
“Why would my father have a genetic program?”
“Because the trust wasn't protecting money.”
“It was protecting blood.”
Suddenly every piece connected.
The shares.
The trust.
My father's secrecy.
Richard's obsession.
My sister.
The baby growing inside me.
I touched my stomach.
“What does my baby have to do with Project Orion?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“That,” she said quietly, “is what Richard is trying to find out.”
Then Claire's phone rang.
She answered.
A few seconds later she whispered:
“Richard just bought the clinic.”
I turned.
“What?”
“He bought the entire building.”
A cold silence settled over the room.
He hadn't been looking for the Blue File anymore.
May you like
He was looking for me.
And now he knew exactly where we were.
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