Chapter 5 - Jonathan stopped breathing.The room seemed to tilt around him.
Lily.
The baby from the café.
The baby who had touched his leg.
The baby with the silver crescent.
His daughter.
For fourteen years, he had believed he had buried a child.
Instead, she had been alive.
Hidden.
Used.
Hunted.
And the person who had protected her was his dead wife.
"Where was she all these years?"
Daniel handed him another file.
"That's the problem."
"What?"
"There are no records."
Jonathan looked at him.
"None?"
"Nothing after the original transfer."
"Then find out."
"We're trying."
"Try harder."
Daniel nodded.
Jonathan stood.
This time his knees remained locked.
Barely.
But they held.
He looked down.
His legs were shaking.
He took one step.
Then another.
Daniel stared.
Jonathan grabbed the desk.
"I can walk."
"Sir..."
"I can walk."
His voice broke.
He hadn't walked in fourteen years.
He took another step.
Pain shot through his spine.
He almost fell.
But he laughed.
A broken laugh.
Then his eyes hardened.
"They took my daughter."
Daniel said nothing.
Jonathan turned toward the window.
"And my wife knew."
The next clue came from an unexpected source.
Dr. Samuel Reed arrived with an old military medical database.
"I found something."
Jonathan looked at him.
Samuel put a file on the table.
"Your accident wasn't just investigated by police."
"Who else?"
"The military."
Jonathan frowned.
"Why?"
Samuel opened the file.
"Because three hours before your crash, someone reported a containment breach at Saint Mara's."
Jonathan stared.
"Containment of what?"
Samuel hesitated.
"Children."
Silence.
The report said six subjects escaped.
Five were recovered.
One disappeared.
Subject Six.
Lily.
Jonathan read the rest.
A medical officer had written:
SUBJECT SIX DEMONSTRATES ABNORMAL CELLULAR RESPONSE. CONTACT WITH SUBJECT PRODUCES RAPID REPAIR IN LIVING TISSUE.
Another line:
LONG-TERM CONTACT MAY ALTER HOST BIOLOGY.
Jonathan looked up.
"So every person she touches..."
"Could potentially heal."
"What else?"
Samuel's expression darkened.
"We don't know."
Jonathan's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
"She's not safe with you."
Jonathan froze.
"Who is this?"
"You don't remember me."
"Tell me your name."
"I was there the night your wife died."
Jonathan stood.
"What happened to Evelyn?"
Silence.
Then:
"She didn't die in the accident."
Jonathan's blood turned cold.
"What?"
"Your wife survived."
Jonathan dropped the phone.
Daniel picked it up.
The line was dead.
At that same moment, Michael and the children reached the edge of Jonathan's property.
They were soaked.
Exhausted.
Michael saw the huge iron gate.
Security cameras watched them.
He lifted Lily.
"Please."
The guards raised their weapons.
"Stay where you are."
Michael shouted:
"We know Jonathan Vale!"
The guard frowned.
"Who?"
Michael pointed at Lily.
"This is his daughter."
The guards looked at each other.
One pressed his earpiece.
Then the gates opened.
Jonathan came running from the mansion.
Not walking.
Running wasn't possible.
But he moved as fast as his recovering legs could carry him.
He stopped when he saw Lily.
The baby looked at him.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Jonathan walked forward.
His eyes filled with tears.
"My daughter."
Michael pulled Lily closer.
Jonathan stopped.
"Please," he said softly.
Michael stared at him.
"Are you going to hurt her?"
Jonathan's voice shook.
"Never."
Michael finally stepped forward.
Jonathan touched Lily's cheek.
She smiled.
Then she placed her tiny hand against his face.
A strange warmth spread through Jonathan.
His vision blurred.
And suddenly he remembered something.
Not a thought.
A memory.
Evelyn standing in a white laboratory.
Holding Lily.
Crying.
Someone was behind her.
Jonathan couldn't see his face.
Evelyn whispered:
"Jonathan, forgive me."
Then a gunshot.
The memory vanished.
Jonathan staggered backward.
Samuel caught him.
"What happened?"
Jonathan stared at Lily.
"I saw it."
"Saw what?"
"The night Evelyn died."
Michael looked frightened.
Jonathan turned to him.
"Your mother..."
Michael stared.
"You knew my mother?"
Jonathan nodded slowly.
"She was working with my wife."
Michael's eyes widened.
"Then she lied to me."
Jonathan looked confused.
"Who did?"
Michael answered:
"The man who took us."
"Who?"
Michael shook his head.
"I don't know his name."
Then Lily began crying.
And every electronic device in the mansion suddenly shut off.
Lights.
Security.
Phones.
Computers.
Everything.
Blackness swallowed the house.
Then, from somewhere upstairs, a woman's voice echoed through the darkness.
"Jonathan."
He froze.
Because he knew that voice.
May you like
Evelyn.
His dead wife.
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