Chapter 14 - CLAIRE’S MISSING YEAR
Claire denied it.
Then stopped.
Daniel saw the truth before she spoke.
Sixteen years earlier Claire had disappeared for almost eleven months.
The family story was simple.
Graduate research in Europe.
Claire now admitted that was a lie.
She had become pregnant.
The father was someone she had dated briefly.
He died in a climbing accident before she could tell him.
Claire panicked.
Samuel arranged a private clinic.
She gave birth to a daughter.
Claire believed the child had been adopted by a family in Oregon.
Samuel looked horrified.
“I arranged the adoption.”
Edward laughed through the screen.
“You arranged paperwork.”
Claire stared at her grandfather.
“What did you do?”
“I gave Lily to someone capable of protecting her.”
“Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
Claire shook.
“Why?”
Edward’s answer was clinical.
“Because you had already participated in Orpheus.”
Daniel understood.
“Lily inherited something?”
Samuel whispered.
“Metabolic response.”
Edward smiled.
“Exactly.”
Lily carried a genetic trait that made the Mercer family unusually responsive to suppression compounds.
Margaret had it.
Samuel had it.
Claire had it.
Julian had it.
And Lily had the strongest expression yet.
Claire moved toward the screen.
“If you touched her—”
“She is perfectly healthy.”
Edward looked almost offended.
“She is also the future of the research.”
Ortiz ended the call.
Claire turned on Samuel.
“You told me she was safe.”
“I believed she was.”
“You never checked?”
“I did.”
Samuel’s voice broke.
“Every year.”
“The reports were fabricated.”
Claire walked away.
Daniel followed.
She stood outside the hospital beneath gray morning light.
“I buried my daughter without ever knowing I buried her.”
Daniel touched her shoulder.
“She’s alive.”
“So was Mom.”
Claire looked at him.
“So was Dad.”
“So was Evelyn.”
“So was Rebecca.”
“In this family, alive doesn’t mean safe.”
They went to Alder Ridge anyway.
Federal teams surrounded the area covertly.
Daniel, Claire, Samuel, Julian, Noah, and Rebecca entered.
The facility resembled a mountain resort.
Wood beams.
Stone fireplaces.
Quiet music.
Nothing looked like a laboratory.
Evelyn met them in the lobby.
No weapon.
No fear.
“Welcome.”
Claire stepped forward.
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
“I want to see her.”
Evelyn nodded.
A little girl appeared at the top of the staircase.
Dark hair.
Gray-blue eyes.
Claire stopped breathing.
Lily looked at her.
Then at Evelyn.
“Mom?”
Claire flinched.
Evelyn’s face changed.
For the first time, she looked human.
She loved the child.
That complicated everything.
Claire did not rush forward.
She crouched slowly.
“Hi, Lily.”
Lily studied her.
“Do I know you?”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“But I hope you will.”
Edward watched from a wheelchair near the fireplace.
He looked delighted by the pain he had created.
Daniel walked toward him.
“You built all of this around controlling your own family.”
Edward smiled.
“I built it around survival.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
“You built it around fear.”
Edward’s smile disappeared.
Federal alarms suddenly sounded outside.
Evelyn looked toward the windows.
Ortiz’s raid had begun.
Then every door locked.
Metal shutters covered the glass.
Edward looked at Samuel.
“You never learned.”
Samuel stared.
“What did you do?”
Edward pressed a button on his chair.
Gas began entering the ventilation system.
Rebecca recognized the smell.
“Orpheus aerosol.”
Noah covered his mouth.
Daniel felt dizziness almost immediately.
Claire ran toward Lily.
Evelyn grabbed the child first.
People collapsed around the lobby.
Daniel reached toward Claire.
His fingers missed.
May you like
The last thing he saw was Edward standing from the wheelchair without assistance.
Then darkness.
