CHAPTER 13: THE WOMAN WHO TOOK VICTORIA'S PLACE
The gunshot echoed through the underground complex.
For one frozen heartbeat, no one moved.
Then everything erupted.
"DOWN!"
Marcus tackled Arthur and Emily behind a concrete pillar as the tactical team raised their weapons toward the dark corridor.
Another shot rang out.
The bullet shattered a ceiling light.
Glass rained across the floor.
"Find the shooter!" Marcus yelled.
Four officers rushed into the shadows.
Nothing.
The corridor was empty.
Only the echo of running footsteps faded into the distance.
Arthur crawled toward Victoria.
"Lawson!"
The doctor slid to his knees beside her.
Victoria's breathing was shallow.
Blood soaked through her blouse.
Lawson pressed both hands against the wound.
"Exit wound?"
He rolled her carefully.
"No."
"The bullet's still inside."
Arthur looked into Victoria's frightened eyes.
"Stay with me."
Victoria gave a weak laugh.
"You finally... believe me?"
Arthur didn't answer.
Instead, he asked the question that had haunted him since Emily's whisper.
"Who tried to drown Emily?"
Victoria coughed.
"It wasn't..."
Blood filled her mouth.
Lawson shook his head.
"Don't make her talk."
Victoria grabbed Arthur's sleeve.
Her grip was surprisingly strong.
"You don't have much time."
Arthur leaned closer.
"Tell me."
She whispered only one name.
"...Vanessa."
Arthur frowned.
"I don't know anyone named Vanessa."
Victoria smiled sadly.
"You did."
Across the hallway...
Emily tugged on Marcus's jacket.
"Mr. Marcus?"
Marcus knelt beside her.
"What is it?"
Emily pointed toward the floor.
"There."
A tiny silver button lay among the broken glass.
Marcus picked it up.
It wasn't from Victoria's clothes.
Nor from any security uniform.
The back of the button carried an engraved letter.
V.
Marcus turned it over.
"It came from a women's blazer."
Emily nodded.
"The bad lady wore shiny buttons."
Arthur overheard the conversation.
His pulse quickened.
The shooter.
The woman in the bathtub.
The person impersonating Victoria.
Could they all be the same person?
Victoria's breathing became weaker.
Arthur looked back at her.
"Who is Vanessa?"
Victoria closed her eyes.
"Claire's..."
She gasped.
"...younger sister."
Silence.
Arthur stared at her.
"Claire never had a sister."
Victoria forced a painful smile.
"That's... what everyone believed."
Marcus immediately opened the personnel database.
Nothing.
Family records.
Nothing.
Birth certificates.
Nothing.
It was as if Vanessa had never existed.
Arthur looked at Victoria.
"Explain."
She struggled to speak.
"When Claire was sixteen..."
"...her parents adopted another girl."
"Vanessa."
"They raised them together."
Emily listened quietly, clutching Arthur's hand.
Victoria continued.
"They looked..."
"...almost identical."
Arthur's heartbeat accelerated.
Identical.
A woman who looked like Victoria.
Another who looked like Claire.
The pattern was becoming impossible to ignore.
One of the officers returned from the hallway.
"Sir."
Arthur looked up.
"No sign of the shooter."
Marcus frowned.
"What about security cameras?"
The officer shook his head.
"Looped."
"Every camera repeated the same thirty seconds."
Arthur muttered,
"They planned everything."
Victoria suddenly grabbed Arthur's wrist again.
"You have to listen."
"I'm listening."
"Vanessa hated Claire."
"Why?"
"Because..."
Victoria winced in pain.
"...their father loved Claire more."
Arthur closed his eyes.
Sibling jealousy.
It sounded too simple.
Too ordinary.
Nothing in this nightmare had been ordinary.
He looked back at Victoria.
"That's not the whole story."
She nodded weakly.
"No."
"It never was."
Meanwhile...
Far above the underground complex...
Inside the abandoned east wing...
A hidden elevator silently opened.
A woman stepped out.
Elegant.
Blonde.
Wearing a navy silk outfit.
She walked calmly toward an antique mirror.
For the first time...
She removed the silicone mask covering her face.
The reflection underneath was stunning.
She looked almost exactly like Victoria.
But younger.
Sharper.
More calculating.
She smiled at herself.
"Game over, Victoria."
She placed the mask back on.
Within seconds...
She had become Victoria again.
Back underground...
Marcus's phone suddenly vibrated.
A facial-recognition alert.
He opened it.
The software had matched an old photograph from Claire's university records.
Arthur looked over his shoulder.
The image showed two young women standing together.
Claire.
And another woman.
Their resemblance was astonishing.
Not sisters.
Nearly twins.
Marcus zoomed in on the caption beneath the photograph.
Claire Donovan and exchange student Vanessa Hale.
Arthur frowned.
"Donovan?"
Victoria whispered,
"Claire changed her surname after marriage."
Marcus kept reading.
The next line made his face go pale.
Vanessa Hale officially died in a laboratory fire eleven years ago.
Arthur stared at the screen.
Another death.
Another body.
Another closed investigation.
Another woman supposedly dead.
He whispered,
"How many ghosts are walking around this family?"
Suddenly...
Every monitor in the underground complex switched on again.
The masked man returned.
This time...
He applauded.
"Congratulations."
"You finally found Vanessa."
Arthur stepped toward the screen.
"Where is she?"
The man chuckled.
"You've already met her."
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
"When?"
The masked man tilted his head.
"Not when."
"How many times."
He pressed a button.
The screen split into dozens of surveillance clips.
Different dates.
Different years.
Birthday parties.
Business dinners.
Family holidays.
Every clip showed Victoria.
Then...
The software highlighted subtle differences.
A different smile.
A different walk.
A ring worn on the opposite hand.
Tiny inconsistencies no one had noticed.
The masked man laughed softly.
"You've spent the last four years..."
"...married to two different women."
Arthur felt his world collapse.
Because as he watched the clips...
He realized the impossible.
Some of the memories he had blamed on Victoria...
Had happened on days when the real Victoria wasn't even in the country.
The screen went black.
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Then one final sentence appeared in white letters:
"Find the right Victoria... before she finds Emily again."
