Chapter 9 - Claire couldn't move.She picked up the photograph with trembling fingers.

She was six years old.

She remembered the day.

A hospital.

Her father holding her hand.

A woman kneeling beside her.

She had always believed that woman was one of her father's colleagues.

It was Rebecca.

Claire turned the photograph over.

One sentence was written on the back.

SHE WAS THERE THE NIGHT YOU WERE BORN.

Her breathing stopped.

“My mother.”

Nobody answered.

“What does Rebecca have to do with my birth?”

Evelyn sat quietly.

Adrian looked at his mother.

“Tell her.”

Evelyn lowered her eyes.

“Your father wasn't only Rebecca's doctor.”

“What was he?”

“Her protector.”

Claire laughed bitterly.

“From what?”

“From your grandfather.”

Adrian stiffened.

“My father?”

Evelyn nodded.

“Richard Mercer built Orpheus.”

“What was its purpose?”

“Control.”

“That doesn't mean anything.”

“It means blackmail. Political influence. Financial manipulation. People disappearing when they became inconvenient.”

Claire felt sick.

“And my father?”

“He helped people escape.”

“People like Rebecca?”

“Yes.”

Adrian stared at his mother.

“You're telling me Rebecca was trying to escape?”

“Yes.”

“Why did she come back?”

“To take Lily.”

Silence.

Claire looked at Adrian.

“She wanted to take Lily away?”

“She believed Lily was being watched,” Evelyn said.

“Because of Orpheus.”

Claire swallowed.

“Then why didn't she tell Adrian?”

“Because she didn't know whom to trust.”

Adrian looked devastated.

“Then why did she stay with me?”

“Because she loved you.”

Those words hit the room hard.

Evelyn continued.

“She thought she could destroy Orpheus from within.”

Claire looked at the photograph again.

“And my father?”

Evelyn leaned forward.

“He discovered that your mother was involved.”

Claire's head snapped up.

“My mother?”

Adrian's expression changed.

Evelyn nodded.

“Your mother wasn't unaware of Orpheus.”

Claire felt like the floor had disappeared.

“My mother died when I was eleven.”

“She knew enough to be afraid.”

“Why did nobody tell me?”

“Because Thomas begged us not to.”

Claire's eyes filled with tears.

“Why?”

Evelyn stared at her.

“Because you were the one thing Orpheus couldn't control.”

“What does that mean?”

Before Evelyn could answer, a gunshot shattered the window.

Adrian grabbed Claire.

Marcus pulled Evelyn down.

Glass exploded across the room.

Another shot.

Then silence.

Adrian looked toward the window.

“Sniper.”

Marcus crawled toward the fallen glass.

“Gone.”

Claire's hands shook.

Then she noticed something on the floor.

A tiny black USB drive.

It had fallen through the broken window.

Adrian picked it up.

There was a label.

LILY.

Claire stared.

“Don't open it.”

Adrian looked at her.

“We don't have a choice.”

They inserted it into the computer.

A video appeared.

Rebecca sat in a dark room.

She looked exhausted.

She looked directly into the camera.

“Claire,” she said.

Claire froze.

“How does she know my name?”

Rebecca continued.

“If you're watching this, then everything has gone wrong.”

She took a breath.

“Your father wasn't hiding you from Orpheus.”

“He was hiding Orpheus from you.”

Claire stepped closer.

Rebecca whispered:

“You are not Thomas Bennett's daughter.”

The screen went black.

Claire couldn't breathe.

Adrian slowly turned toward her.

Then the video restarted.

This time, a second voice spoke off-camera.

A man's voice.

“Tell her.”

Rebecca looked terrified.

The man stepped into view.

Claire recognized him.

It was the man from the clinic.

Sebastian Mercer.

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And he said:

“Tell Claire who her real father is.”