Chapter 14 - Dust filled the corridor.Claire coughed.

Lily cried.

Adrian grabbed her hand.

“Stay with me.”

The emergency lights flickered.

Marcus tried the blast door.

“It's sealed.”

“How long?”

“Minutes.”

“Until?”

“The oxygen system fails.”

Claire looked at Adrian.

“Then we find another way.”

They moved deeper into the facility.

The walls were lined with old photographs.

Children.

Families.

Politicians.

Businessmen.

Claire stopped.

She saw her own face.

Then Lily's.

Beside them was one sentence.

SUBJECTS C-17 AND L-06 ARE LINKED.

Adrian looked at Lily.

“What does L-06 mean?”

Marcus searched the database.

Then he froze.

“Lily's file.”

Claire's blood chilled.

“Open it.”

A screen appeared.

Lily's birth records.

Then Rebecca's medical records.

Then Adrian's.

At the bottom was a genetic match.

Claire.

Lily.

Rebecca.

Adrian.

All connected.

Claire stared.

“What does that mean?”

Marcus swallowed.

“There was genetic material transferred during Rebecca's treatment.”

Adrian frowned.

“Whose?”

Marcus enlarged the report.

“Thomas Bennett.”

Claire stared.

“My father?”

Marcus nodded.

“Thomas donated genetic material for experimental treatment.”

Claire looked at Adrian.

“Then I'm not Richard Mercer's daughter.”

“No,” Marcus said.

“You're saying…”

He hesitated.

“Claire and Lily share genetic material.”

Claire couldn't breathe.

Adrian stepped closer.

“That doesn't make sense.”

Marcus's voice dropped.

“Because there's another line.”

He opened the hidden file.

The biological father of Claire Bennett was listed.

Not Richard Mercer.

Not Nathaniel Cross.

Not Thomas Bennett.

A name nobody expected.

ADRIAN MERCER.

Silence.

Claire looked at Adrian.

He looked as shocked as she was.

“No.”

Marcus stared at the data.

“It says forty-six percent.”

Claire backed away.

Adrian whispered her name.

“Claire.”

She shook her head.

“Don't.”

“I didn't know.”

“You can't know this now.”

“I swear.”

“How?”

“I don't know.”

The truth came crashing together.

Rebecca.

Thomas.

Orpheus.

The photographs.

The surveillance.

The strange familiarity.

The way Adrian had looked at Claire from the moment she arrived.

Then Rebecca appeared on the emergency monitor.

Her face was filled with tears.

“Adrian.”

He looked up.

“Rebecca.”

Her voice trembled.

“There is one thing I never told you.”

“What?”

“Claire is your daughter.”

Claire closed her eyes.

Adrian stopped breathing.

Rebecca continued.

“You were twenty-one.”

“You didn't know.”

“I couldn't tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because Orpheus had already found her.”

Claire opened her eyes.

Rebecca looked directly at her.

“I saved you by giving you to Thomas.”

Claire's knees nearly failed.

Adrian caught her.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

Rebecca whispered:

“Because your father would have killed you both.”

The screen went black.

Then another message appeared.

ORPHEUS HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.

Outside, sirens approached.

Marcus looked through the broken corridor.

“Someone is coming.”

Adrian loaded his weapon.

“How many?”

Marcus checked.

“Too many.”

Claire held Lily close.

Adrian stood between them and the approaching footsteps.

Then a familiar voice echoed through the darkness.

“Adrian.”

Evelyn Mercer stepped into the corridor.

She was holding a gun.

May you like

I Came Home Early and Found My Housekeeper’s 3-Year-Old Daughter Scrubbi...

I returned home hours earlier than expected and discovered my housekeeper’s three-year-old daughter standing barefoot in the laund...

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

And behind her stood Thomas Bennett.

Alive.