Chapter 11 - Darkness swallowed the mansion.Clara heard footsteps.
Then a scream.
“LILY!”
She reached for her sister.
Nothing.
Lily was gone.
Clara panicked.
“Where is she?”
Liam grabbed her.
“Stay here.”
“No!”
He moved through the darkness.
Gunshots erupted upstairs.
Bobby shouted.
Marcus disappeared.
Tommy grabbed a flashlight.
Then found something.
A red ribbon.
Lily's.
Clara recognized it instantly.
“She was here.”
A hidden door stood behind a painting.
Tommy opened it.
Inside was a narrow staircase.
They descended.
At the bottom was a massive underground room.
Screens lined the walls.
Files filled shelves.
And in the center stood an old metal chair.
Lily was sitting in it.
A man stood behind her.
Gray hair.
Silver eye.
Clara knew him immediately.
Her father.
He turned.
“Welcome.”
Clara's voice shook.
“Let her go.”
“She is safe.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“She came willingly.”
Lily looked at Clara.
“I was trying to help.”
Clara's heart broke.
She rushed forward.
Liam held up a hand.
“Don't.”
Her father smiled.
“He understands.”
Clara stared.
“Understands what?”
“That Lily has been remembering.”
“Remembering what?”
“Everything.”
He walked toward the monitors.
One screen showed Lily as a baby.
Another showed her at age two.
Another at four.
Clara felt sick.
“You've been watching her.”
“For six years.”
“Why?”
“Because she carries information no one else possesses.”
Liam stepped forward.
“What information?”
Her father looked at him.
“Your father's location.”
Liam's face hardened.
“He's alive?”
“Yes.”
“And where is he?”
Her father smiled.
“You'll have to ask Lily.”
Clara looked at her sister.
Lily's eyes were distant.
She whispered:
“A red door.”
Everyone went silent.
“What red door?”
Lily pointed at the wall.
“Behind the church.”
Liam turned toward Tommy.
“There is no church behind the old church.”
Tommy shook his head.
“There is one.”
“Where?”
“Below it.”
Liam's expression changed.
“The tunnel.”
Her father nodded.
“Exactly.”
Clara finally understood.
The ledger was not about money.
It was a map.
A map leading to a hidden facility.
A place where Lily's memories had been stored.
Clara stared at her father.
“What did you do to her?”
“I made sure she remembered.”
“You experimented on a child.”
“I gave her the ability to survive.”
“She was six.”
“She was the key.”
Liam stepped forward.
“You're finished.”
Her father smiled.
“Not yet.”
He pushed a button.
A steel door slammed shut between Liam and Clara.
Clara screamed.
“Liam!”
He slammed his shoulder against the door.
“Clara!”
Her father moved behind her.
“You trusted him.”
Clara turned.
“You're insane.”
He smiled.
“Maybe.”
Then the monitors changed.
A live feed appeared.
Ray Caldwell was standing inside Clara's apartment.
Holding a photograph.
And he was talking to someone off camera.
Clara squinted.
Then recognized the person.
Tommy.
Alive.
Standing beside Ray.
May you like
Her brother turned toward the camera.
And smiled.
