Chapter 13: The Girl in the Photograph
“Mommy!”
Lily's scream tore through the night.
Anna collapsed onto the pavement.
I caught her before her head struck the ground.
“Anna!”
Blood spread across her coat.
Lily was screaming beside me.
I pressed my hand against Anna's shoulder.
“Stay with me!”
Anna's eyes fluttered.
“Daniel…”
“Don't talk.”
“Listen.”
Her voice was barely audible.
“Take Lily.”
“I have her.”
“No.”
She grabbed my wrist.
“Take Lily and run.”
A second gunshot cracked through the darkness.
The police vehicles erupted into chaos.
People shouted.
Doors slammed.
Someone yelled:
“Get down!”
I pulled Lily behind the SUV.
Elias was still standing twenty yards away, his hands bound.
Detective Collins had a weapon pointed toward the armed men.
And my father stood calmly between them.
Thomas didn't look frightened.
He looked amused.
“Enough!”
His voice carried across the road.
Everyone stopped.
He looked directly at me.
“Daniel, bring me the girl.”
I tightened my arms around Lily.
“No.”
Thomas sighed.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“That child isn't your daughter.”
“She is.”
“You've been calling her Lily for eight years.”
“And?”
“You never questioned why Anna never showed you her original birth certificate.”
My heart skipped.
I looked at Anna.
She was struggling to breathe.
Thomas continued.
“Ask her.”
I looked down.
“Anna?”
She shook her head.
“Don't listen to him.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“Daniel…”
“Is she Lily?”
Anna closed her eyes.
That was enough.
My stomach dropped.
Thomas smiled.
“You see?”
I looked at Lily.
She was crying silently.
“Daddy…”
I pulled her closer.
“I'm here.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Give her to me.”
“No.”
“Then your wife dies.”
I looked at Anna.
Her face was pale.
Blood continued spreading beneath her.
Thomas raised his weapon.
“Ten seconds.”
“Don't!”
“Ten.”
Elias suddenly shouted:
“Daniel!”
I looked toward him.
He was staring at Lily.
“Don't give her to him!”
Thomas turned.
“Silence.”
Elias screamed:
“She's the key!”
Thomas shot him in the leg.
Elias collapsed.
“Elias!”
I started forward.
Collins tackled one of the armed men.
Everything exploded into chaos.
I grabbed Lily.
“Run!”
We ran.
Behind us, gunfire erupted.
I pushed through the trees.
Branches tore at my face.
Lily held my hand.
“Daddy, where are we going?”
“Anywhere away from them.”
“Is Mommy coming?”
I couldn't answer.
We reached an old service road.
A black sedan waited there.
The driver's door opened.
Detective Collins stepped out.
“Get in!”
I froze.
“You?”
“Now!”
I pulled Lily inside.
Collins accelerated before I had closed the door.
Gunshots struck the rear windshield.
She swerved onto the highway.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I'm fine.”
“Anna?”
“She was alive when I left.”
“Elias?”
“Alive.”
“Then why did you leave them?”
“To save you.”
I stared at her.
“Where are we going?”
“To the old Carter estate.”
My heart dropped.
“That's where Thomas wants us.”
“Exactly.”
“What?”
She looked at me through the mirror.
“Because he thinks we don't know what's there.”
“What is there?”
“The original records.”
“What records?”
“Your birth.”
I frowned.
“I know who my parents are.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You know who raised you.”
The road disappeared beneath the car.
I stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
“Your identity was changed too.”
My throat tightened.
“I'm Daniel Carter.”
“No.”
“Then who am I?”
She didn't answer.
“Tell me.”
“You need to see the records first.”
I grabbed the dashboard.
“I've had enough secrets.”
“So have I.”
She looked at me.
“I spent twenty years protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From the truth.”
The estate appeared in the distance.
An enormous abandoned mansion surrounded by dead trees.
I remembered it.
Not from photographs.
From memory.
A child running through the halls.
A red door.
A woman screaming.
A baby crying.
And a man shouting:
“Take Daniel downstairs!”
I grabbed my head.
Collins looked at me.
“What happened?”
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The basement.”
She nodded.
“That's where we're going.”
We entered through the side door.
The house smelled of dust and rain.
Lily held my hand tightly.
“Daddy…”
“I'm here.”
“Have I been here before?”
I looked at her.
“I don't know.”
She stared down the hallway.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I remember.”
She pointed toward a staircase.
“That way.”
Collins raised her weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
We followed Lily.
She led us downstairs.
Without hesitation.
At the bottom was a steel door.
She stopped.
“Here.”
Collins stared at her.
“How do you know?”
Lily touched the door.
“I dreamed about it.”
I inserted the silver key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a laboratory.
Medical machines.
Computers.
Old photographs.
And dozens of glass containers.
Most were empty.
One wasn't.
I froze.
Inside was a small hospital bracelet.
LILY CARTER.
Beside it:
SUBJECT 17.
Another container contained:
EMILY CARTER.
SUBJECT 18.
I stared.
“They were real.”
Collins nodded.
“They were both real.”
“But where are they?”
A computer screen suddenly activated.
A video began playing.
Anna appeared.
She looked younger.
Pregnant.
She sat in front of the camera.
“If you're watching this, Daniel, then everything failed.”
I stepped closer.
Anna continued.
“Your father will tell you that Lily is Subject 17.”
She shook her head.
“He's lying.”
My heart raced.
“Subject 17 isn't a child.”
The video changed.
A newborn baby appeared.
Then another.
Anna's voice continued.
“Subject 17 is the identity.”
I frowned.
“Subject 18 is the body.”
The screen changed again.
Two babies.
Identical.
“Your father created the subjects by separating identity from biological inheritance.”
Collins whispered:
“What?”
Anna continued.
“Both girls carry part of the genetic key.”
I stared at Lily.
“What key?”
The video showed a DNA sequence.
“Together, they unlock the Carter Trust.”
My stomach turned.
“That's why they want them.”
Anna's face became serious.
“Neither girl can access the trust alone.”
The video ended.
I looked at Collins.
“So they need both.”
“Yes.”
“Where is the other girl?”
She didn't answer.
I turned.
“Where is Emily?”
Collins looked at the two containers.
“That's what Thomas has been hiding.”
A sound came from behind us.
The basement door slammed shut.
I spun around.
Thomas stood there.
Armed men surrounded him.
And beside him was Anna.
Alive.
But her hands were tied.
I stared.
“How?”
Thomas smiled.
“You thought you escaped.”
Anna looked at me.
“Daniel, listen to me.”
Thomas raised his gun.
“Don't.”
He walked toward Lily.
I stepped in front of her.
Thomas stopped.
“Move.”
“No.”
“You've spent your entire life protecting a child who isn't yours.”
“She is my daughter.”
Thomas smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
He pointed toward the laboratory.
“Open the last chamber.”
An armed man entered a code.
A glass door opened.
Inside was a teenage girl.
Sixteen or seventeen.
Dark hair.
Anna's eyes.
My eyes.
She looked directly at me.
Then whispered:
“Dad?”
I couldn't breathe.
Lily stared at her.
The girl stepped out.
She looked at Lily.
Then smiled.
“Hi, sister.”
Lily whispered:
“Emily?”
The girl nodded.
Thomas looked satisfied.
“Now we have both.”
I stared at Emily.
“How old are you?”
She looked at Thomas.
He smiled.
“Sixteen.”
I felt sick.
“That's impossible.”
Thomas laughed.
“Not if she was born eight years before the child you raised.”
I looked at Lily.
Then Emily.
Two sisters.
Two identities.
One secret.
And suddenly I understood the real plan.
They didn't want Lily because of her inheritance.
They wanted both girls because together they could unlock the Carter Trust.
But then Emily looked at me.
Her expression changed.
She whispered:
“Dad…”
Then she pointed at Thomas.
“Don't trust him.”
Thomas's smile disappeared.
Emily continued:
“He isn't your father.”
Silence.
Thomas raised his gun.
Emily screamed:
“Daniel, he's the man who killed your real father!”
A shot rang out.
The lights exploded.
The room went completely dark.
And in the darkness, someone grabbed Lily and dragged her away.
“DADDY!”
I lunged toward her.
My hand caught only her sleeve.
The fabric tore.
Then she was gone.
I heard Thomas laughing.
And from somewhere beneath the laboratory came another voice.
A voice I had never heard before.
“Bring Subject 17 to me.”
The basement floor suddenly opened.
Lily disappeared into the darkness.
May you like
I screamed her name.
Then I jumped after her.
