Chapter 14 - The Other Little GirlTwo Children, One SecretThe photograph had been taken inside the Carter Tower.
A little girl stood beside a window.
Three years old.
Blond hair.
Blue eyes.
Same height as Sofie.
Same pink shirt.
Alexander looked at Elena.
“She has your daughter's clothes.”
Elena shook her head.
“That isn't her.”
Daniel examined the picture.
“There are two bracelets.”
Alexander zoomed in.
The child in the photograph wore the same bracelet as Sofie.
Three circles.
One line.
Elena whispered:
“Impossible.”
Alexander suddenly remembered the hospital photograph.
William holding a newborn.
Elena standing beside him.
The bracelet.
He looked at the date.
The date Sofie had been born.
Then he looked at the new photograph.
The timestamp was from three days earlier.
Someone had been keeping another child.
A child connected to the same trust.
The police arrived.
Investigators surrounded Carter Tower.
Alexander showed them everything.
The photograph.
The files.
The recordings.
The trust.
Nicholas's identity.
But no one could identify the second child.
Then Sofie spoke.
“That isn't my sister.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Sister?”
Sofie nodded.
“She doesn't have Grandpa's eyes.”
The room went silent.
Daniel crouched.
“How do you know?”
Sofie pointed to the photograph.
“He has green.”
Daniel looked at Elena.
“William had green eyes.”
Alexander stared.
Sofie continued.
“That girl has blue.”
Elena's face changed.
“She isn't related to us.”
Alexander studied the photograph again.
The child wasn't part of William's plan.
Someone was using her.
A decoy.
Nicholas had staged the photograph to make them believe Sofie had been kidnapped.
Alexander looked at the timestamp.
“Three days ago.”
Daniel frowned.
“Before we opened the safe.”
Alexander suddenly understood.
Nicholas had anticipated everything.
The second child was part of a psychological trap.
He wanted Alexander to panic.
To leave the tower.
To abandon the evidence.
The real attack was somewhere else.
Alexander turned toward the police.
“Check Carter family properties.”
One officer shook his head.
“Which ones?”
Alexander looked at Daniel.
Daniel smiled.
“One.”
“What?”
“The house Dad never let us enter.”
Alexander remembered.
An old estate outside the city.
Carter House.
They drove there under police escort.
The mansion had been abandoned for decades.
Inside, they found the walls covered with children's drawings.
Three boys.
One woman.
One man.
And a little girl.
Sofie walked into the room.
She stopped at a particular drawing.
A child stood beneath a black door.
Sofie pointed.
“That.”
Alexander looked.
A tiny sentence was written beneath it.
THE GIRL OPENS THE DOOR.
Daniel stared.
“Dad knew.”
Alexander felt cold.
The drawing had been made twenty years earlier.
Before Sofie was born.
They found another.
This one showed two little girls.
One held a key.
The other held a crown.
Elena whispered:
“Two heirs.”
Alexander opened the final cabinet.
Inside was a birth record.
Not Sofie's.
Another child.
Born on the same day.
At the same hospital.
To an unnamed mother.
Father:
William Carter.
Alexander stopped breathing.
Daniel took the document.
“Dad had another child.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Alexander read the name.
Clara Carter.
Then he saw the last line.
Guardian:
Elias Kane.
Alexander looked at Daniel.
Nicholas hadn't created a fake child.
He had found William's hidden daughter.
And Kane had raised her.
A phone rang.
Alexander answered.
A little girl's voice spoke.
“Are you Alexander?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Clara.”
He froze.
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
“Who is with you?”
Silence.
Then:
“Mr. Kane.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
“Clara, listen to me.”
“I have something your father left.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“What key?”
“The one that opens the safe.”
Alexander looked at the vault plans.
They had already opened it.
Then Clara whispered:
“No.”
“You opened the first safe.”
Alexander's heart stopped.
“There is another.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared at him.
“Another safe?”
May you like
Alexander nodded.
And for the first time, Sofie looked frightened.
