Chapter 7 - THE SISTER IN THE HOUSEThe mansion suddenly felt enormous.
Every hallway.
Every closed door.
Every photograph.
All of it had become suspicious.
I turned toward my mother.
"Where is she?"
She couldn't answer.
My father said:
"Her name is Amelia."
The name struck me.
Amelia.
I remembered hearing it as a child.
There had been a girl in old family photographs.
A girl slightly younger than me.
Then she disappeared.
My parents had always told me she was a cousin.
She wasn't.
"She's my sister?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't I know?"
My mother began crying.
"Because Daniel took you from each other."
I stared at the fake Ethan.
"Who are you?"
He smiled.
"Julian."
The name landed softly.
"Julian Mercer."
Daniel's son.
My supposed brother.
My father's adopted mistake.
He continued:
"Your sister has been here for years."
"Where?"
He pointed toward the mansion.
"Second floor."
I walked back to the house.
My parents followed.
We reached the second floor.
There were old family portraits along the hallway.
I had never paid attention to them.
Now I did.
There.
A photograph from 2008.
Me.
Ethan.
My parents.
And a little girl.
Amelia.
But there was something wrong.
The girl wasn't smiling.
She was looking directly at the camera.
As if she knew something.
I entered the room behind the painting.
A hidden door.
My father sighed.
"She was kept here."
"Why?"
"Protection."
The door opened.
Inside was a small bedroom.
Books.
A desk.
A computer.
And a woman standing at the window.
She turned.
I stopped breathing.
She looked like my mother.
But her eyes were mine.
"Claire?"
I couldn't speak.
She smiled sadly.
"I've waited a long time to meet you."
I stepped forward.
"You're Amelia."
She nodded.
"My sister."
"Yes."
I stared at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried."
"When?"
"When you left."
"Those letters?"
She nodded.
"They intercepted them."
Everything clicked.
The fake letters.
The false messages.
The missing years.
Someone had systematically erased our family from itself.
Amelia walked toward me.
"Claire, there is something you need to know."
"What?"
"Daniel never wanted the Iron Dagger archive."
"Then what does he want?"
She hesitated.
"You."
I laughed.
"Why?"
"Because you're the only person who knows the final key."
"I don't know any key."
"You do."
She pointed at my head.
"The memory they couldn't erase."
I stared at her.
"The seven numbers."
She nodded.
"They are not coordinates."
"Then what are they?"
"A cipher."
"For what?"
"The archive."
Suddenly, the house lights went out.
Amelia grabbed my arm.
"He's here."
"Who?"
She whispered:
"Daniel."
Gunfire erupted downstairs.
My father shouted.
My mother screamed.
I drew my weapon.
Amelia ran toward the door.
I followed.
We reached the staircase.
Julian stood below.
He was holding a pistol.
Across from him stood my father.
Daniel's voice echoed from the darkness.
"Good evening, Claire."
A man stepped into view.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Scar across his cheek.
The exact same face from the photograph.
My dead uncle.
Adrian Vale.
Daniel Mercer.
Alive.
He smiled.
"You've grown."
I aimed at him.
"You ruined my life."
"No."
He shook his head.
"Your father did."
"Why did you frame me?"
"Because you found me."
"Found what?"
He took out a folder.
Inside was the original Iron Dagger ledger.
"I wasn't stealing from the government."
He looked at my father.
"I was exposing them."
I frowned.
"What?"
"Your father was part of a much larger operation."
My father shouted:
"Don't listen to him!"
Daniel smiled.
"Of course he doesn't want you to know."
He looked at me.
"The ledger doesn't show what I stole."
He held up the documents.
"It shows what they stole."
"Who?"
Daniel's smile vanished.
"The people who control this country from behind closed doors."
I shook my head.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Not yet."
He threw a file onto the stairs.
It slid toward me.
I opened it.
Photographs.
Military officers.
Senators.
Judges.
Corporate executives.
And one photograph that made my hands go numb.
General Marcus Hale.
Standing beside Daniel.
Thirty years earlier.
I looked up.
"Hale worked with you."
Daniel nodded.
"For years."
My father stared at the photograph.
"That's impossible."
Daniel laughed.
"Your father still believes generals are honest."
I looked at Amelia.
She was crying.
Daniel noticed.
"Tell her."
Amelia shook her head.
"No."
"Tell her what happened to the real Ethan."
Amelia looked at me.
"The real Ethan is alive."
I stopped breathing.
"Where?"
Amelia whispered:
"He's the one who has been protecting you."
My phone rang.
General Hale.
I answered.
He said one sentence.
"Colonel, do not trust anyone in that house."
Then I heard a gunshot.
The line went dead.
Daniel smiled.
May you like
And from outside the mansion...
sirens began to scream.
