Chapter 3: The Cry Beneath the Floor
“Clara…”
The voice drifted up from beneath the basement.
Soft.
Female.
Almost affectionate.
But Clara knew that voice.
Her face became completely white.
“No.”
Ethan tightened his grip around her.
“Who is it?”
Clara stared into the darkness beneath the hidden staircase.
“That’s her.”
“Who?”
“My doctor.”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
Daniel's expression had changed.
“You know her?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Her name is Dr. Evelyn Cross.”
Clara shook her head.
“No. That's not possible.”
“Why?”
“She died.”
Ethan frowned.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
A baby cried beneath them.
Everyone went silent.
Then the cry came again.
Louder.
Closer.
Clara's eyes filled with tears.
“That sounds like Noah.”
Ethan's heart slammed against his chest.
“Noah is dead.”
Clara looked at him.
“You don't know that.”
“I saw the medical records.”
“You saw what your mother wanted you to see.”
Before Ethan could answer, a gunshot exploded upstairs.
The entire house shook.
Daniel grabbed the lantern.
“We have to move.”
Ethan helped Clara toward the hidden staircase.
She could barely walk.
Another contraction hit.
She screamed and collapsed against him.
“Ethan!”
He caught her.
“I'm here.”
“I can't…”
“Yes, you can.”
“No, Ethan. I can't do this.”
He knelt beside her.
“You're not doing it alone.”
For a moment, the noise upstairs disappeared.
There was only Ethan and Clara.
Eight months of pregnancy.
Three days of terror.
Eighteen months of missing memories.
And a child whose existence had been erased from Ethan's mind.
Then Daniel shouted:
“They're coming!”
A shadow appeared at the top of the basement stairs.
A man in black stepped into view.
He raised a gun.
Daniel fired first.
The shot struck the man's shoulder.
He fell backward.
“Move!”
Ethan carried Clara down the hidden staircase.
The passage was narrow.
Damp.
Cold.
The walls were made of old stone.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
Daniel followed behind them, holding the gun.
“Where does this lead?”
“Under the house.”
“To where?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Ethan stopped.
“To where?”
Daniel finally looked at him.
“An underground clinic.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“My mother built it?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel's face hardened.
“The Parker family.”
Ethan stared at him.
“What?”
“Your family has been using this place for decades.”
Ethan shook his head.
“My family owns a construction company.”
“That’s the story.”
“What are you saying?”
Daniel pointed toward the wall.
“Look.”
Ethan raised the lantern.
There were dozens of photographs pinned beneath the stone.
Women.
Pregnant women.
Children.
Medical charts.
Ethan walked closer.
His blood ran cold.
One photograph showed Clara.
She was sitting in a hospital bed.
Her stomach was flat.
She was holding a newborn.
Noah.
Beside her stood Margaret.
And behind them stood Dr. Evelyn Cross.
Ethan stared.
“This is eighteen months ago.”
Daniel nodded.
“Three days after Noah was born.”
“What happened?”
“Your mother took him.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Ethan grabbed him.
“Why?”
Daniel pushed his hand away.
“Because Noah wasn't an ordinary child.”
Clara looked at them.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel stared at her.
“His blood.”
Clara's expression changed.
“What about it?”
“It's rare.”
“How rare?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Your son has a genetic mutation that your family has spent years searching for.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“This is insane.”
Daniel didn't react.
“Your mother wasn't interested in the baby because he was your son.”
He looked at Clara.
“She wanted his blood.”
Clara's hand instinctively moved to her stomach.
“What about this baby?”
Daniel's face became grim.
“We don't know yet.”
A sound came from deeper inside the tunnel.
Metal scraping against metal.
Ethan raised the lantern.
At the end of the passage was a steel door.
Someone had scratched words into it.
NOAH IS ALIVE.
Clara covered her mouth.
Ethan walked toward it.
“Who wrote that?”
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever wrote it wanted you to find it.”
Ethan stared at the words.
Then he noticed something beneath them.
A date.
The date was tomorrow.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked at it.
His face changed.
“We're already too late.”
“What?”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
For the first time, Ethan noticed a tiny green light flashing on the screen.
A tracking signal.
“They know we're here.”
The steel door suddenly unlocked.
Click.
Ethan stepped back.
The door opened by itself.
Beyond it was a brightly lit corridor.
Clean white walls.
Medical equipment.
Security cameras.
The hidden clinic.
Clara stared.
“I was here.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You remember?”
“Pieces.”
She touched her head.
“I remember being strapped to a table.”
She began shaking.
“I remember screaming.”
“What happened?”
“They told me not to fight.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Cross.”
Clara's eyes widened.
“She said the baby wasn't ready.”
Ethan frowned.
“Which baby?”
Clara looked at her own stomach.
“I don't know.”
A woman's voice came through the speakers.
“Welcome back, Clara.”
Clara froze.
The lights flickered.
Then a screen mounted on the wall turned on.
Dr. Evelyn Cross appeared.
Older than Ethan remembered from the photograph.
But unmistakably alive.
She smiled.
“Ethan, I'm sorry you had to learn everything this way.”
Ethan stepped toward the screen.
“Where is my son?”
Dr. Cross smiled.
“You mean Noah?”
“Yes.”
“Would you like to see him?”
The screen changed.
A small room appeared.
A crib stood in the center.
Ethan stopped breathing.
Inside the crib was a little boy.
About eighteen months old.
Dark hair.
Round cheeks.
He was sitting quietly with a stuffed rabbit in his arms.
Clara began sobbing.
“Noah…”
The little boy looked toward the camera.
Then smiled.
Ethan's knees almost gave out.
He had no memory of this child.
But his heart recognized him.
“Open the door.”
Dr. Cross shook her head.
“You can't take him yet.”
“Open it!”
“You haven't heard the whole truth.”
“I don't care!”
“You should.”
The screen split into two images.
One showed Noah.
The other showed Clara's unborn baby.
Dr. Cross said:
“They're connected.”
Ethan stared.
“What?”
“Your first child was only the beginning.”
Clara shook her head.
“What are you doing to my baby?”
Dr. Cross smiled.
“Nothing.”
Then she said:
“Your baby is doing something to Noah.”
The screen changed.
Noah suddenly began crying.
A medical monitor beside him started beeping.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
The heartbeat became faster.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Then Clara gasped.
Her own stomach moved.
Hard.
Violently.
She grabbed Ethan.
“Ethan!”
The baby inside her kicked again.
At exactly the same moment, Noah screamed.
The two heartbeats appeared on the monitor.
They were synchronized.
Daniel looked horrified.
“That shouldn't be possible.”
Dr. Cross spoke calmly.
“It shouldn't.”
She leaned closer to the camera.
“Unless they are twins.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
Clara's eyes widened.
“Twins?”
Dr. Cross smiled.
“Not ordinary twins.”
She looked directly at Ethan.
“Because eighteen months ago, your wife didn't give birth to one child.”
The screen went black.
Then one final sentence appeared.
SHE GAVE BIRTH TO TWO.
Ethan stared at the words.
“No…”
Clara slowly shook her head.
“I would remember.”
Daniel whispered:
“You were drugged.”
Ethan turned toward him.
“What are you saying?”
Daniel's eyes filled with dread.
“Your mother didn't erase one memory.”
He looked at Clara.
“She erased an entire birth.”
Suddenly, the corridor lights turned red.
An alarm began screaming.
Dr. Cross's voice returned through the speakers.
“Ethan, if you want Noah alive…”
A pause.
“…you need to find the second child before your mother does.”
The speakers went silent.
Ethan stared at Clara.
“The second child…”
Clara looked down at her pregnant stomach.
Then she whispered:
“What if…”
Her face drained of color.
“What if the second child is the baby I'm carrying now?”
A gunshot echoed from the corridor behind them.
Daniel turned.
“They're here.”
At the far end of the white hallway, Margaret stepped into the red emergency light.
And beside her stood a man Ethan had never seen before.
The man was holding a newborn baby.
Margaret smiled.
“Ethan.”
She lifted the child slightly.
“You've been looking for your family.”
Her eyes moved toward Clara.
“You just didn't realize how many pieces were missing.”
Then the baby opened its eyes.
May you like
And Ethan recognized those eyes immediately.
They were his.
