Chapter 8 - THE GHOST HIS FATHER CREATED
The police moved everyone to a secure medical facility.
Victor read Claire’s letters until sunrise.
Every page made him hate the dead more.
Claire had discovered payments from Blackwood shell companies to private clinics, identity specialists, former intelligence contractors, and behavioral psychologists.
Some payments went back thirty years.
One name appeared repeatedly.
PROJECT MIRROR.
Victor slammed the file onto the table.
“What was Mirror?”
Evelyn sat across from him.
Lily was beside her.
They looked like family now that Victor knew where to look.
Same eyes.
Same shape of the mouth.
Different lives written across their faces.
Evelyn answered.
“Charles believed loyalty could be manufactured.”
Victor stared.
“He kidnapped children?”
“Not many.”
“That is not an answer that makes this better.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked down.
“Lauren was taken because Charles had access to hospital records through a foundation he funded. He wanted children without fathers. Children whose disappearances could be buried.”
Lily’s hands curled into fists.
“And you let him?”
Evelyn flinched.
“I was nineteen.”
“You let him take my sister?”
“He told me she died.”
Lily stopped.
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“I held one baby. Then a nurse told me the second wasn’t breathing. They wouldn’t let me see her body.”
“When did you learn the truth?”
“Seven years later.”
“And you didn’t go to the police?”
“I did.”
Ruiz looked up.
“There’s no report.”
“Because the officer I told worked for Charles.”
Victor shut his eyes.
His father’s reach had been everywhere.
Evelyn continued.
“Two days after I reported it, my apartment burned.”
Lily’s anger weakened.
“My God.”
“I ran.”
Victor asked, “How did Serena find Lauren?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Serena didn’t find her.”
“Then?”
“Lauren found Serena.”
Victor understood.
“Because of Caroline Vale.”
“Yes.”
Lily leaned forward.
“So Serena knew what Charles did to her mother.”
“Not all of it. But enough.”
“And they teamed up.”
“For a while.”
Victor frowned.
“What changed?”
“Lauren wanted Ethan.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
Evelyn continued.
“Serena wanted Victor.”
Lily almost laughed.
“That’s the difference?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at Victor.
“Serena’s plan was financial. Marry you. Gain access. Expose what your family had done. Take as much as she could.”
Victor’s mouth twisted.
“Romantic.”
“She did love you.”
He looked at her.
Evelyn held his gaze.
“That made her dangerous in a different way.”
Victor said nothing.
“She believed she could have both revenge and a life with you.”
“She broke my son’s arm.”
“Yes.”
“So spare me her love story.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Fair.”
Lily asked, “And Lauren?”
“Lauren doesn’t love people.”
The words chilled the room.
“She understands attachment as leverage. Fear as leverage. Shame as leverage.”
Victor thought of the recorder.
The hidden camera.
The planted evidence.
“She was trained that way.”
“Yes.”
Ruiz entered with Daniel.
“We found Serena.”
Victor stood.
“Where?”
Ruiz’s expression was strange.
“She turned herself in.”
Victor stared.
“Why?”
“She says Lauren is going to kill Ethan.”
Every muscle in Victor’s body tightened.
“He’s under police guard.”
Serena, now wearing a plain gray detention uniform, sat behind thick glass in an interview room.
Her makeup was gone.
For the first time, Victor saw the exhaustion beneath the perfection.
He sat across from her.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Serena said, “I’m sorry about Ethan.”
Victor almost stood up.
She continued quickly.
“I know that means nothing.”
“Correct.”
“I lost control.”
“You twisted a baby’s arm.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Serena looked away.
“He threw food. He was screaming. I had been awake for two nights because Lauren was threatening me.”
Victor stared.
“That’s your excuse?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She looked at him again.
“It’s the truth, not an excuse.”
Victor leaned back.
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
“You shouldn’t.”
That surprised him.
Serena swallowed.
“But believe this. Lauren was never supposed to get close to Ethan.”
“You put her in my house.”
“No.”
“She looks like Lily.”
“I didn’t know Lily existed until six months ago.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Explain.”
“Lauren had been entering the house disguised as staff.”
“How?”
“She used temporary workers. Catering teams. cleaning contractors. She studied Lily before Lily ever started working for you.”
Victor’s blood ran cold.
“You’re saying Lily was selected because Lauren already looked like her.”
“No.”
Serena shook her head.
“Lauren found Lily because Evelyn put Lily near you.”
Victor stared.
“Then Lauren realized she had a twin inside your house.”
Lily’s existence had been an opportunity.
A perfect disguise.
Victor asked, “Why does she want Ethan?”
Serena’s eyes filled with fear.
“To create a Blackwood heir she can control.”
Victor almost laughed from disbelief.
“He’s a toddler.”
“For now.”
“She plans to kidnap him for eighteen years?”
“She doesn’t think in years the way normal people do.”
Victor studied her.
“What did my father do to her?”
Serena’s lips parted.
Then closed.
“Tell me.”
“He made her hurt people.”
Victor felt sick.
“Children?”
“Sometimes.”
“What kind of people?”
“Anyone he wanted compromised.”
Victor said nothing.
Serena continued.
“She learned to enter homes. Make friends. Become staff. Become a girlfriend. A student. A caregiver. Whatever was needed.”
“A professional infiltrator.”
“A weapon.”
Victor looked away.
He could not decide whether to feel horror or guilt.
Serena whispered, “Charles called her his invisible daughter.”
Victor looked back.
“And now she wants my son.”
“She thinks Blackwood blood belongs to her because the family took her life.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It doesn’t have to.”
Victor leaned toward the glass.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why did you surrender?”
Serena’s mouth trembled.
“Because she contacted me.”
“What did she say?”
Serena lowered her voice.
“She said I failed.”
Victor waited.
“And?”
“She said she was going to take away the only thing you ever truly loved.”
Victor stood.
“Ethan.”
Serena shook her head.
“No.”
Victor froze.
Serena looked directly at him.
“She said Ethan was just the beginning.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Serena whispered, “She knows about Claire.”
Victor stopped breathing.
May you like
“And she says Claire isn’t dead.”
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