Chapter 3 - THE DNA REPORTI couldn't hear anything after that.
Not the buzzing lights.
Not Ethan breathing.
Not the footsteps beyond the door.
Only one sentence repeated inside my skull.
I lied about who her father is.
I turned toward Ethan.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
“Who is Lily's father?”
He looked at me with an expression I couldn't read.
“You need to hear it from Sarah.”
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
“No.”
I grabbed his jacket.
“You're going to tell me right now.”
The door opened.
Two armed men entered.
Ethan shoved me sideways.
The first man raised his weapon.
Ethan attacked him.
The hallway erupted into chaos.
I ran.
Not because I was brave.
Because somewhere inside this building was my daughter.
I reached the third floor.
A glass wall separated a conference room from the corridor.
Sarah was inside.
She looked exhausted.
Older somehow.
Across from her sat Evelyn.
And beside Evelyn was Lily.
My daughter was sitting in a chair with a stuffed rabbit in her lap.
I slammed against the glass.
“LILY!”
She looked up.
Her face lit with relief.
“Daddy!”
Sarah stood.
“Daniel, listen to me.”
I pointed at Lily.
“Open the door.”
Evelyn calmly pressed a button.
The door unlocked.
I grabbed Lily and pulled her against my chest.
She buried her face into me.
“I knew you'd come.”
My throat tightened.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Did they do anything to you?”
“No.”
I looked at Sarah.
“Tell me the truth.”
She closed her eyes.
“I never wanted you to find out like this.”
“Who is Lily's father?”
Evelyn answered.
“Daniel is.”
I stared at her.
“You don't get to speak.”
Sarah looked at me.
Then she whispered:
“You are Lily's father.”
Relief hit me so violently it almost made me collapse.
“But…”
She swallowed.
“You aren't her biological father.”
The room went silent.
Lily was still in my arms.
I couldn't breathe.
“Then who?”
Sarah looked at Ethan.
He had entered the room behind me.
“Ethan.”
I slowly turned.
Ethan didn't deny it.
My entire body went cold.
“You?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Sarah's eyes filled with tears.
“A man named David Mercer.”
I frowned.
“My brother?”
She nodded.
I stared at her.
My brother David had disappeared nine years ago.
We had been told he died in a car accident.
I had never even seen his body.
“David is alive?”
“No.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Sarah walked toward me.
“Lily was conceived through an embryo created years before you and I met.”
My mind raced.
“Why?”
“Because of Project Lucent.”
Evelyn spoke quietly.
“Your family has a genetic mutation that makes certain neurological treatments possible.”
I looked at Lily.
“No.”
“You don't understand,” Sarah said. “Your family was selected.”
“Selected for what?”
“Experiments.”
I stared at her.
“And you knew?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
She started crying.
“Before our wedding.”
The words hit harder than the gunshot.
I took a step back.
“You married me because of this?”
“No.”
“You lied to me for eight years.”
“Yes.”
“You let your mother take my daughter into a secret facility.”
“I was protecting her.”
“From what?”
Sarah whispered:
“From her own blood.”
Suddenly, Ethan shouted.
“DOWN!”
The windows exploded.
Glass filled the room.
I threw myself over Lily.
Evelyn screamed.
Gunfire ripped through the conference room.
Someone had opened fire from the opposite building.
Ethan dragged Sarah behind a concrete pillar.
I crawled with Lily across the floor.
A bullet struck the chair where she'd been sitting.
She began sobbing.
“Daddy…”
“I've got you.”
Then I saw Evelyn.
She was not hiding.
She was standing beside the shattered window.
Holding something in her hand.
A remote.
She pressed a button.
Every monitor in the room came alive.
One image appeared.
A photograph of a newborn baby.
Then another.
And another.
Eight babies.
Eight names.
Eight birth dates.
Lily was number seven.
I stared.
“What's number eight?”
Evelyn turned toward me.
Her face was expressionless.
“Your son.”
My blood stopped.
“I don't have a son.”
May you like
She looked at me.
“You did.”
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