Chapter 5 - Adrian dropped the phone.Lily began crying.

“No! Mommy is dead!”

Claire pulled her close.

Adrian stared at the phone as though it had become a bomb.

Marcus picked it up.

The call was still connected.

“Who is this?”

Silence.

Then the line went dead.

Adrian's face was colorless.

Claire had never seen him shaken.

Not even when armed men had broken into his house.

Not even when Rebecca's photograph had arrived.

Now he looked devastated.

“Adrian.”

He didn't respond.

Claire stepped closer.

“Are you okay?”

His eyes met hers.

“No.”

The answer was so honest it hurt.

Then sirens filled the distance.

Police arrived.

Within twenty minutes, the Mercer estate was surrounded.

Detectives searched the property.

Security footage was reviewed.

Every guard was questioned.

But nothing made sense.

The attackers had entered through the west garden.

They had bypassed the security system.

They had known about the hidden passage.

And they had left behind almost nothing.

Except one bullet lodged in the library wall.

Marcus examined it.

“This isn't standard ammunition.”

Adrian looked at him.

“What is it?”

“Custom.”

“For who?”

Marcus swallowed.

“For someone with money.”

Claire stood across the room.

She noticed a framed photograph on the desk.

Rebecca.

Adrian.

Lily.

The photograph was taken years earlier.

Rebecca was smiling.

Adrian wasn't.

But his hand rested on her waist.

Claire felt something twist inside her.

Jealousy.

She hated it.

Because Rebecca was dead.

Or supposed to be.

Adrian walked over.

“You should sleep.”

“I can't.”

“Neither can I.”

Claire looked at him.

“Did you love her?”

His expression hardened.

“Yes.”

The honesty hurt more than expected.

“Do you still?”

Adrian looked at the photograph.

“I don't know.”

Claire nodded.

“That sounds complicated.”

“It is.”

He turned toward her.

“But whatever Rebecca was hiding, she never wanted Lily involved.”

A thought struck Claire.

“What if she's alive?”

Adrian didn't answer.

“What would she want?”

“I don't know.”

Claire stepped closer.

“Then why would she contact Lily?”

“Maybe she didn't.”

Claire frowned.

“What?”

Adrian took the phone from Marcus and replayed the call.

The voice came through.

“Yes, baby.”

Claire listened carefully.

Something felt wrong.

“That's not Rebecca.”

Adrian stared at her.

“What?”

“Her voice.”

“Claire—”

“I've heard Lily talk about her mother. I've heard recordings.”

Adrian went still.

Claire listened again.

The woman had pronounced Lily's name incorrectly.

Rebecca used to call her Lillian when emotional.

The voice had said Lily.

“Someone is pretending to be her.”

Marcus looked between them.

“That means the caller knows exactly what Rebecca sounded like.”

Adrian's expression turned murderous.

“Someone close.”

Suddenly, Claire remembered the envelope.

She looked at the photograph again.

On the corner, behind Rebecca, was a street sign.

She squinted.

“That's in Cambridge.”

Adrian looked.

“How do you know?”

“My father had a clinic there.”

Marcus pulled out his phone.

“Give me the location.”

Claire pointed.

“That building.”

Marcus searched.

His face changed.

“What?”

The location was attached to a closed private medical facility.

Adrian looked at Claire.

“Your father's clinic.”

Claire's breathing stopped.

They were silent.

Then Marcus said:

“Sir.”

“What?”

“The clinic reopened six months ago.”

Adrian's gaze sharpened.

“Under whose name?”

Marcus looked at the screen.

Then slowly raised his eyes.

“Dr. Thomas Bennett.”

Claire nearly collapsed.

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