CHAPTER 8 THE SECOND DAUGHTER
The word echoed through the chamber.
“Daddy.”
Dominic Vale couldn't move.
The little girl inside the glass chamber looked exactly like Harper.
Same dark eyes.
Same small nose.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
Even the same trembling voice.
Harper stared at her from behind Mia.
“Why does she look like me?”
Nobody answered.
Lucas Bennett smiled.
“Because she was made from the same blood.”
Dominic slowly turned toward him.
“What did you do?”
Lucas walked toward the machine.
“Not me.”
He placed his hand against the glass.
“Your father started this.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“You said Victor was dead.”
“The real Victor is.”
“Then who is behind this?”
Lucas smiled.
“Your grandfather.”
Dominic felt a chill move through him.
“Alexander.”
Lucas nodded.
“He never died.”
Elias stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Lucas looked at him.
“You've spent seventeen years hiding under this house. You really thought you understood everything?”
Elias raised his weapon.
“Tell me where Alexander is.”
Lucas laughed.
“You're still thinking like a soldier.”
He pointed toward the glass chamber.
“This isn't a prison.”
Dominic looked at the girl.
“Then what is it?”
“A vault.”
Dominic frowned.
Lucas continued.
“The Vale family discovered something decades ago.”
“What?”
“Memory isn't only stored in the brain.”
Dominic said nothing.
Lucas's voice became quieter.
“Certain genetic patterns can preserve fragments of inherited memory.”
Elias stared at him.
“That theory was abandoned.”
“No.”
Lucas shook his head.
“It was perfected.”
Dominic looked at Harper.
Then at the second girl.
“You created them.”
Lucas nodded.
“Harper was the first successful result.”
Mia stepped forward.
“No.”
Lucas looked at her.
“You carried the first viable embryo.”
Mia's face went pale.
Dominic turned toward her.
“You carried Harper?”
Mia nodded slowly.
“I didn't know what they were doing.”
“You knew she was created.”
“I knew she was different.”
“What did they tell you?”
Mia looked at Harper.
“That she was a normal child.”
Lucas laughed.
“And you believed them.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Why was Harper hidden from me?”
“Because your father knew you'd destroy the project.”
“He was right.”
Lucas's smile disappeared.
“That's why he used Claire.”
Dominic froze.
“Claire.”
Lucas nodded.
“She was assigned to monitor you.”
“To manipulate me.”
“Yes.”
“To marry me.”
“Yes.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Did she ever love me?”
Lucas didn't answer.
That silence was enough.
Dominic turned toward the entrance.
“Where is Claire?”
No answer.
He started walking.
Elias grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Dominic pulled away.
“My daughter is in this house.”
“She isn't the only problem.”
Dominic stopped.
Elias pointed toward the chamber.
“Look at her.”
The second girl had placed both hands against the glass.
She was crying.
Dominic approached.
“What is your name?”
The girl hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Emily.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Who gave you that name?”
She looked upward.
“Mommy.”
“Who is your mommy?”
The girl pointed behind Dominic.
Dominic turned.
Mia stood frozen.
“No…”
Emily smiled.
“Mia.”
Mia covered her mouth.
Dominic stared at her.
“You knew.”
Mia shook her head violently.
“I didn't know she survived.”
Lucas smiled.
“She was supposed to die.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“What happened?”
“Prototype Two was unstable.”
“Then why is she alive?”
“Because Harper saved her.”
Dominic frowned.
“How?”
Lucas looked toward Harper.
“When the two girls were placed in proximity, their brain activity synchronized.”
Elias stared at him.
“That shouldn't be possible.”
“It wasn't.”
Lucas's smile widened.
“Until it happened.”
Harper slowly approached the glass.
Emily mirrored her movement.
The two girls stood on opposite sides.
Their palms touched through the glass.
Suddenly every monitor in the room switched on.
Numbers began racing across the screens.
SYNC: 94%
SYNC: 97%
SYNC: 99%
The machine screamed.
Lucas's smile vanished.
“No.”
Dominic stepped back.
“What is happening?”
Elias looked at the monitors.
“They're connecting.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
The final number appeared.
SYNC: 100%
Every light exploded.
Harper collapsed.
Emily collapsed.
Mia screamed.
Dominic caught Harper before she hit the floor.
“Harper!”
Her eyes were closed.
“Harper!”
Nothing.
Then she whispered:
“Mommy.”
Dominic looked at Mia.
Harper wasn't looking at her.
She was staring into the darkness.
“Which mommy?”
Harper opened her eyes.
But her voice was different.
Older.
Calmer.
She looked directly at Dominic.
“Your mother.”
Dominic froze.
Mia stepped backward.
Elias whispered:
“No…”
Harper continued.
“She said you have to remember.”
Dominic's heart pounded.
“Remember what?”
Harper's eyes filled with tears.
“The night she died.”
Dominic stared.
“I was six.”
“I know.”
“How could you know?”
Harper tilted her head.
“She showed me.”
Dominic couldn't speak.
Then Harper said something that made every hair on his arms rise.
“She said Uncle Elias didn't betray you.”
Elias looked at her.
“What?”
Harper turned toward him.
“She said you saved Daddy.”
Elias's eyes filled with tears.
Dominic stared between them.
“Then who betrayed me?”
Harper's expression changed.
She looked toward Lucas.
Lucas immediately stepped backward.
“Don't listen to her.”
Harper pointed at him.
“Mommy said he was there.”
Lucas's face went pale.
“Where?”
Harper whispered:
“The night she died.”
Dominic's eyes locked onto Lucas.
“You were there.”
Lucas shook his head.
“No.”
Harper continued.
“He held Grandpa's gun.”
Lucas's breathing changed.
Dominic raised his weapon.
“You killed my mother.”
Lucas took another step backward.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“I didn't kill her.”
“Harper says you did.”
“She's remembering things that aren't hers.”
Dominic stared.
“What does that mean?”
Lucas looked toward Emily.
“Ask her.”
Dominic turned.
Emily had opened her eyes.
She was staring at him.
Then she whispered:
“I remember.”
Dominic crouched beside her.
“What do you remember?”
Emily pointed toward Lucas.
“He didn't kill Eleanor.”
Lucas exhaled.
Dominic frowned.
“Then who did?”
Emily looked toward the ceiling.
“The man who came after him.”
“Who?”
Emily's eyes widened.
Then she whispered:
“Alexander.”
Lucas suddenly pulled a hidden detonator from his pocket.
Elias saw it first.
“DOWN!”
Dominic grabbed Harper.
Mia grabbed Emily.
The detonator clicked.
But nothing happened.
Lucas looked at it.
Confusion crossed his face.
Then he smiled.
“You're too late.”
Dominic looked around.
“What did you do?”
Lucas pointed toward the ceiling.
A red countdown appeared on every monitor.
05:00
04:59
04:58
Dominic's face hardened.
“What happens at zero?”
Lucas smiled.
“The entire estate burns.”
Elias rushed toward the control panel.
Dominic shouted:
“Can you stop it?”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
Lucas walked toward the exit.
Dominic aimed his gun.
“Stop.”
Lucas smiled.
“You can't shoot me.”
“Try me.”
Lucas opened the door.
Then he stopped.
“One more thing.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Lucas looked at Harper.
“Your daughter isn't the key.”
He looked at Emily.
“She isn't either.”
A pause.
“The key is what happens when they're together.”
Lucas disappeared into the corridor.
Dominic looked at the countdown.
03:41
Then Harper suddenly grabbed his hand.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
Her little face had gone completely pale.
“Mommy is awake.”
Dominic looked at Mia.
“She isn't here.”
Harper shook her head.
“Not Mommy Mia.”
She pointed toward the glass chamber.
“Grandma.”
Dominic turned.
The chamber was empty.
The door stood open.
A trail of blood led across the floor.
And from somewhere deep beneath the estate…
A woman's voice whispered:
“Dominic…”
His mother's voice.
The woman who had supposedly been dead for twenty years.
“Come find me.”
May you like
Then the countdown dropped to:
02:59.
