CHAPTER 14: TWO VICTORIAS
Arthur stood motionless.
The sentence on the monitor refused to leave his mind.
You’ve spent the last four years... married to two different women.
It sounded impossible.
Insane.
Yet every piece of evidence they had uncovered pointed in the same direction.
The blurred security footage.
Emily insisting the woman in the bathroom "looked exactly like Victoria."
The changing handwriting.
The different rings.
The subtle differences in posture.
Marcus broke the silence.
"We verify everything."
Arthur nodded.
"No assumptions."
"No theories."
"Only facts."
Victoria was rushed into the underground medical room.
Dr. Lawson removed the bullet while two officers stood guard outside.
She had lost a great deal of blood.
But the projectile had narrowly missed her heart.
Lawson stepped out twenty minutes later.
"She'll live."
Arthur let out a slow breath.
"I need to question her."
"Not yet."
"She's barely conscious."
Arthur looked through the glass window.
Victoria lay pale and exhausted.
For the first time since he'd met her...
She looked like someone who had spent years carrying a burden instead of creating one.
Meanwhile...
Marcus ordered every piece of video from the last four years to be collected.
More than 18,000 hours of footage.
The AI recognition software began analyzing every frame.
Minutes later...
It beeped.
Then again.
Then dozens of times.
Marcus stared at the report.
"Arthur..."
Arthur walked over.
The computer displayed two distinct facial movement profiles.
Although visually identical...
They weren't the same person.
Tiny muscle movements around the eyes differed.
Walking cadence differed.
Even blink frequency differed.
The AI separated them into two identities.
Subject A.
Subject B.
Arthur whispered,
"My God..."
Marcus looked up.
"The system believes..."
"...there really were two women."
The report continued.
Subject A appeared mostly during charity events.
Family dinners.
Business galas.
Public interviews.
Subject B appeared more often late at night.
Private meetings.
The mansion.
Emily's bedroom.
Arthur felt sick.
Emily had unknowingly been living with two different versions of her stepmother.
Emily suddenly tugged on Arthur's sleeve.
"Daddy..."
Arthur knelt beside her.
"What is it?"
She pointed at the two photographs on the monitor.
"I know which one is nice."
Marcus smiled gently.
"How?"
Emily answered without hesitation.
"The nice one smells like flowers."
Everyone exchanged confused looks.
Emily continued.
"The bad one smells like medicine."
Arthur froze.
Medicine.
He remembered.
Victoria had always worn jasmine perfume.
But several times...
He had noticed a strange antiseptic smell.
He'd assumed it came from hospital visits.
Now...
It meant something else.
At that moment...
The elevator alarm sounded.
Someone was descending into the underground complex.
Marcus immediately drew his weapon.
"Positions!"
The steel doors slid open.
An elderly woman stepped out.
Gray hair.
Simple black dress.
No fear in her eyes.
Samuel, the old caretaker, followed quietly behind her.
Arthur frowned.
"Who are you?"
The woman smiled faintly.
"I've been waiting a very long time to meet you."
Marcus didn't lower his gun.
"Name."
She looked directly at Arthur.
"My name..."
"...is Eleanor Hale."
Arthur searched his memory.
Nothing.
The woman continued.
"I was Claire's mother."
Silence.
Arthur blinked.
"Claire's parents died twenty years ago."
Eleanor nodded.
"That's what Alexander wanted everyone to believe."
Marcus frowned.
"Another fake death?"
She smiled sadly.
"You're beginning to understand."
Eleanor sat at the conference table.
She placed an old family album before Arthur.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
Claire as a child.
Birthday parties.
School trips.
Family vacations.
Then...
Another girl appeared.
Same smile.
Same blue eyes.
Same age.
Vanessa.
Arthur looked closer.
"They're not sisters."
Eleanor nodded.
"No."
"They were cousins."
Marcus frowned.
"Then why were they raised together?"
Eleanor took a deep breath.
"Because Vanessa's parents were murdered."
"By who?"
She looked directly into Arthur's eyes.
"By The Foundation."
The room fell silent.
Eleanor continued.
"They adopted Vanessa."
"We hoped she'd be safe."
Arthur asked quietly,
"And was she?"
A tear rolled down Eleanor's cheek.
"No."
"Alexander found her."
Arthur's expression darkened.
"What did he do?"
"He raised her."
Marcus frowned.
"She was already living with Claire."
Eleanor nodded.
"But Alexander paid for her education."
"Her medical care."
"Everything."
Arthur understood immediately.
"He recruited her."
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Suddenly...
Victoria's weak voice echoed from the medical room.
"Arthur..."
He rushed inside.
She looked at him with exhausted eyes.
"I remembered."
Arthur leaned closer.
"Remembered what?"
Victoria whispered,
"The code."
Arthur frowned.
"What code?"
She looked toward the security monitors.
"The Foundation always had..."
"...an emergency protocol."
Marcus entered the room.
"What protocol?"
Victoria swallowed painfully.
"If the truth was ever exposed..."
"...they would erase every witness."
Arthur's blood ran cold.
"Who are the witnesses?"
Victoria looked around the room.
Her answer came in a whisper.
"You."
"Emily."
"Claire."
"Me."
"Eleanor."
"Samuel."
Marcus.
Everyone standing in this bunker.
Before anyone could react...
The underground lights suddenly went out.
Emergency power failed.
For the first time that night...
There was no backup.
Only darkness.
Then...
A calm female voice echoed through the ventilation system.
Clear.
Confident.
Almost amused.
"Victoria finally remembered."
Arthur recognized it instantly.
Not Victoria.
Not Claire.
Vanessa.
The lights flashed back on.
Every monitor displayed the same live image.
Emily.
Standing completely alone in a long white hallway.
Confused.
Looking around.
Arthur's heart stopped.
He had been holding her hand only seconds earlier.
Now she was gone.
Vanessa's voice filled the bunker once more.
"Arthur... this time..."
"Choose carefully."
The screen split into two identical live video feeds.
In both rooms...
Emily stood crying.
Both reached toward the camera.
Both called out at the same time.
"Daddy!"
May you like
Marcus stared in disbelief.
"Which one is real?"
