CHAPTER 9 — THE HOUSE WHERE MY FATHER DIED
Ryan stared at the key in his palm.
The metal was cold.
Old.
Its tiny tag carried an address he hadn't seen in more than two decades.
His childhood home.
The house where his father had supposedly died.
The house Evelyn had sold shortly after the funeral.
The house Ryan hadn't visited since he was thirteen.
Maya looked at the address.
“That's your old house.”
Ryan nodded.
“That's where Dad died.”
Emma immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Ryan looked at her.
“What?”
“That's where everyone was told he died.”
Ryan stared at the key.
“Then what happened there?”
Emma lowered her voice.
“That's what the key is for.”
Ryan's phone vibrated.
Another message.
YOU HAVE THIRTY MINUTES.
Then another.
COME ALONE.
Ryan looked at Maya.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You're not going.”
“My mother is being held.”
“By your father.”
“Exactly.”
“Which means he'll be expecting you.”
Ryan looked at Oliver.
His son was still unconscious.
His tiny chest rose and fell beneath the blanket.
Ryan's expression hardened.
“I can't sit here.”
Maya grabbed his hand.
“You don't have to sit here.”
Ryan looked at her.
“We go together.”
Emma interrupted.
“No.”
Ryan turned.
“Why?”
“Because he specifically said alone.”
“I don't care.”
“He'll hurt your mother.”
Ryan froze.
Emma continued.
“He'll hurt her the moment he knows someone followed you.”
Maya shook her head.
“So what are we supposed to do?”
Emma looked at the blue blanket.
“Take the key.”
Ryan stared at her.
“You know what's inside that house.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn't there.”
Ryan frowned.
“Then how do you know?”
Emma's eyes moved toward the hallway.
“Because my mother told me.”
Ryan's heart tightened.
“Claire.”
Emma nodded.
“Before she died.”
Ryan looked at the photograph again.
“Tell me everything.”
Emma took a slow breath.
“My mother believed Daniel had discovered something about Noah.”
“What?”
“A genetic mutation.”
Ryan waited.
Emma continued.
“He thought it made Noah dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?”
“He believed Noah could pass it to future generations.”
Ryan frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It didn't to my mother either.”
“Then why was Daniel afraid?”
“Because he wasn't afraid of the mutation itself.”
Emma paused.
“He was afraid of what the research would reveal.”
Ryan's stomach tightened.
“What would it reveal?”
Emma looked directly at him.
“That Daniel had been experimenting on his own children.”
Ryan felt sick.
Maya covered her mouth.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Ryan shook his head.
“My father was a doctor.”
“Exactly.”
“He would never…”
Emma interrupted.
“He did.”
Silence.
Ryan looked at the key.
“Why didn't my mother stop him?”
“She tried.”
“Then why did she lie to me?”
“Because Daniel threatened her.”
“With what?”
Emma looked at Oliver.
“With you.”
Ryan's breathing stopped.
“He threatened to take you.”
“How?”
“He had people inside the hospital.”
Ryan suddenly remembered the nurse.
The silver necklace.
The altered records.
The missing twenty minutes after his birth.
His stomach twisted.
“Was I taken?”
Emma nodded.
“For how long?”
“We don't know.”
“Who took me?”
“Daniel.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“And then?”
Emma's voice became quiet.
“Your mother found out.”
Ryan opened his eyes.
“What did she do?”
“She stole you back.”
Ryan stared at her.
“She stole me?”
“Yes.”
“From my father?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“She changed the records.”
Ryan looked at the hospital file.
Suddenly, the altered birth record made sense.
The name Claire.
The name Noah.
The missing information.
But there was still one question.
“If Evelyn changed my records, why would Oliver's record show Claire as his mother?”
Emma's expression changed.
“That is the part we don't understand.”
Ryan felt a chill.
“What do you mean?”
Emma looked at the blue blanket.
“The blanket wasn't originally Oliver's.”
Ryan stared at her.
“Whose was it?”
“Noah's.”
Ryan's heart pounded.
“Then how did it get to Oliver?”
“I don't know.”
Maya whispered:
“Maybe someone wanted us to find it.”
Ryan looked at her.
“That's exactly what scares me.”
Thirty minutes later, Ryan stood outside the old Whitmore house.
The storm had weakened.
But the sky remained black.
The house looked exactly as he remembered.
Same stone walls.
Same porch.
Same upstairs window where he used to wait for his father to come home.
Ryan stared at it.
Memories flooded back.
His father's voice.
His mother's crying.
The night police arrived.
The funeral.
The closed casket.
Everything.
Ryan walked toward the front door.
It was unlocked.
He pushed it open.
The smell hit him immediately.
Dust.
Wood.
Something damp.
The house had been abandoned for years.
He stepped inside.
His phone vibrated.
UPSTAIRS.
Ryan looked at the staircase.
He climbed.
Each step creaked beneath his weight.
At the top was his old bedroom.
The door was slightly open.
Ryan pushed it.
Inside, almost everything had been removed.
Except one thing.
A wooden chest.
It sat beneath the window.
Ryan recognized it immediately.
His father's chest.
The same chest Evelyn had forbidden him from touching.
Ryan approached.
The key in his hand suddenly felt heavier.
He inserted it.
Click.
The lock opened.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Photographs.
Medical files.
Hospital bracelets.
And a VHS cassette.
Ryan picked up the first photograph.
His father stood beside a newborn baby.
Noah.
Another photograph.
Evelyn holding a baby.
Ryan.
Another.
Maya holding Oliver.
Ryan's hands froze.
That photograph had been taken three years ago.
But Maya was asleep.
Oliver was a newborn.
And standing in the doorway behind them was a man.
Ryan zoomed in.
Daniel.
He had been there.
The entire time.
Ryan dropped the photograph.
His phone vibrated.
PLAY THE TAPE.
Ryan looked at the VHS cassette.
There was an old television in the corner.
He found a player beneath it.
His hands shook as he inserted the tape.
The screen flickered.
Static.
Then an image appeared.
A hospital room.
Twenty-two years ago.
Daniel stood beside a newborn baby.
A woman was crying.
Claire.
Ryan's heart stopped.
Claire was alive.
She was holding the baby.
Daniel looked at the camera.
“We have to do this now.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“He'll die if we don't.”
“That's my son.”
“He's a threat.”
“He's a baby!”
Daniel grabbed her arm.
Claire screamed.
The camera shook.
Then another person entered the room.
Evelyn.
Ryan stopped breathing.
His mother walked toward them.
She was holding another baby.
Ryan.
Daniel looked at her.
“You brought him?”
Evelyn nodded.
Claire stared at the second baby.
“What are you doing?”
Evelyn began crying.
“I'm sorry.”
Daniel took the baby from her.
Claire screamed.
“No!”
The tape cut to static.
Ryan stood frozen.
Then the screen returned.
Another scene.
Evelyn was running down a hospital corridor.
She was holding a baby.
His baby.
Ryan.
Behind her, Daniel shouted:
“STOP!”
Evelyn ran.
The footage ended.
Ryan stared at the blank screen.
His entire body trembled.
He wasn't imagining it.
He had been taken.
His identity had been changed.
But the worst part was still unclear.
Why?
Why had Daniel taken him?
Why had Evelyn stolen him back?
And what had happened to Noah?
Ryan searched the chest again.
At the bottom was one final file.
The cover read:
PROJECT NOAH.
He opened it.
The first page contained a single sentence.
Subject Noah Whitmore was never the experiment.
Ryan's eyes moved to the next line.
His blood froze.
Subject Ryan Whitmore was.
The floor seemed to disappear beneath him.
Then he heard footsteps behind him.
Ryan slowly turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
Older face.
But unmistakable.
Daniel Whitmore.
Ryan's father.
Alive.
Daniel looked at his son.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Ryan whispered:
“You lied to me.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You took me.”
“No.”
“You experimented on me.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“Then tell me the truth.”
Daniel looked at the file in Ryan's hand.
“You weren't supposed to find that.”
Ryan raised it.
“Why?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Because the real experiment wasn't your body.”
Ryan frowned.
“Then what?”
Daniel looked terrified.
“Your identity.”
Ryan stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel took one step closer.
“Ryan, you were never supposed to grow up as Ryan Whitmore.”
A sound came from downstairs.
The front door slammed.
Daniel's face changed.
“Someone followed you.”
Ryan turned toward the hallway.
“Who?”
Daniel whispered:
“Your mother.”
Then every light in the house turned on.
And from downstairs came Evelyn's voice.
“Ryan!”
Daniel grabbed his son's arm.
“Don't let her see you.”
Ryan stared at him.
“Why?”
Daniel's eyes were full of fear.
“Because she didn't come here to save you.”
A gunshot exploded downstairs.
Ryan froze.
Daniel pushed him behind the wall.
Then another shot.
And Evelyn screamed.
“RYAN, RUN!”
Ryan looked at his father.
For the first time in his life, Daniel looked genuinely terrified.
“She's here,” he whispered.
“Who?”
Daniel pointed toward the stairs.
“The person who started all of this.”
And a woman's voice answered from below:
“Ryan...”
It wasn't Evelyn.
It wasn't Claire.
May you like
It wasn't Emma.
It was Maya.
:::
