Chapter 12 - Grant could barely breathe.“What did she do?”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“She erased her memory.”
Claire stared.
“Lily was a newborn.”
“Not her memories.”
Evelyn looked toward the child.
“Mine.”
Grant frowned.
“I don't understand.”
“When Lily was born, the Archive system wasn't digital.”
“It was biological.”
Grant shook his head.
“That makes no sense.”
“The Archive stores information through people.”
“The people who built it used memory-conditioning.”
Evelyn touched her temple.
“My mother took some of my memories.”
“Not all.”
“Only the ones connected to the Archive.”
Grant stared.
“And Lily?”
“She inherited them.”
Grant looked at his daughter.
Three years old.
Quiet.
Small.
A child who could somehow sense pain in a dog.
Who recognized danger before adults did.
Who sometimes spoke about things no child should know.
Evelyn whispered:
“She remembers what I forgot.”
Grant felt a chill.
“That night in the courtyard.”
“What?”
“The first time she saw Atlas.”
“She wasn't meeting him.”
“She was remembering him.”
Atlas moved closer to Lily.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Atlas was trained with my scent before Lily was born.”
“That's why he chose her.”
Grant whispered:
“Because she carried your memories.”
Evelyn nodded.
Then Lily spoke.
“Mommy?”
Claire dropped to her knees.
“Yes, baby?”
“I remember the blue room.”
Evelyn went pale.
“What blue room?”
Lily pointed toward the wall.
“Where Grandpa locked Mommy.”
Claire froze.
Grant looked at her.
“Claire?”
Claire's face collapsed.
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The hospital.”
“Three years ago.”
“I woke up in a blue room.”
“I was pregnant.”
Grant stared.
“You were pregnant?”
Claire cried.
“I lost the baby.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Claire looked at her.
“You didn't lose your child.”
Evelyn whispered:
“She was taken.”
Grant looked at Lily.
His mind raced.
“Then whose child is Lily?”
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“Yours and Claire's.”
Grant couldn't speak.
His father had lied.
The Archive had been built around Lily.
But why?
Claire whispered:
“Three years ago, I was told my baby died.”
“I woke up alone.”
“Your father told me there had been complications.”
Grant's fists clenched.
“He stole her.”
Evelyn nodded.
“He needed a child who carried both bloodlines.”
Grant looked at Lily.
“My father raised her?”
“No.”
“He gave her to me.”
Claire stared.
“For protection.”
Grant finally understood.
Lily had been brought to Whitmore Estate as the maid's daughter because no one would search for a mafia boss's heir inside the servants' wing.
The kidnapping had not started three days ago.
It had started three years ago.
Grant's phone rang.
Unknown.
He answered.
His father's voice.
“You finally know.”
Grant's rage exploded.
“Where are you?”
“With someone you love.”
Grant froze.
The line switched.
A young woman's voice spoke.
“Grant?”
His blood turned cold.
“Evelyn?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Lily.”
Grant looked at his daughter.
She was beside him.
The voice on the phone continued.
“Dad, don't trust Mommy.”
Grant stared.
The voice sounded exactly like Lily.
But Lily was standing in the chapel.
A recording.
A future recording?
Or another child?
The voice whispered:
“I'm trapped underground.”
Grant turned toward Evelyn.
She looked terrified.
“That's impossible.”
The call ended.
Then the chapel wall cracked.
A hidden passage opened.
Inside was a staircase leading downward.
Grant stared into the darkness.
Evelyn whispered:
“The real Archive is down there.”
Grant looked at Lily.
Atlas barked.
Then the lights went out.
A child's voice echoed from the tunnel.
“Daddy…”
Grant froze.
It was Lily's voice.
But his daughter was still holding his hand.
The voice came again.
“Daddy, I'm cold.”
Grant slowly stepped toward the darkness.
Evelyn grabbed his arm.
“Don't go.”
Grant looked at her.
“That is my daughter.”
Evelyn's eyes widened.
“No.”
She pointed at the child beside him.
“Grant…”
Lily was smiling.
But it wasn't the smile of a three-year-old.
It was calm.
Almost knowing.
May you like
And she whispered:
“The other me is down there.”
