Chapter 4 - The Betrayal Inside Willow Creek and the Truth About My Daughters’ Birth
Victor stood in the nursery doorway as though he owned the room.
Maybe he thought he did.
After all, for six months I had given him access to every corner of my life.
My business accounts.
My home.
My children.
My marriage records.
My wife's belongings.
He knew everything.
Or so I thought.
“Lower the gun,” I said.
Victor didn't.
“Where is Emma?”
“Behind me.”
“Send her away.”
“No.”
His eyes hardened.
“You don't understand what's happening.”
“I understand enough.”
Carter raised his weapon.
“Put it down, Victor.”
Victor looked at him.
“This doesn't concern you.”
“It concerns three infants.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
Then he lowered the weapon.
“I didn't shoot the house.”
“Then who did?”
“Someone trying to kill all of us.”
I almost laughed.
“Funny.”
Victor looked exhausted.
For the first time, he didn't look like my calm, dependable friend.
He looked afraid.
“There are people you don't know, Daniel.”
“Start talking.”
He glanced at the babies.
“The triplets were born with something valuable.”
“What?”
“Something that doesn't belong to them.”
Carter stepped forward.
“Be precise.”
Victor sighed.
“Claire knew.”
“What did Claire know?”
“That your daughters weren't supposed to survive.”
Silence.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“What?”
Victor looked at me.
“Claire discovered a genetic connection between the girls and a biological donor from a private research program.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you read the records.”
I remembered the file marked SUBJECT A.
Victor continued.
“Six months before the girls were born, a medical company approached Claire.”
“For what?”
“To participate in a genetic screening program.”
“She never told me.”
“She didn't trust you.”
That hurt more than anything.
“She trusted me.”
Victor looked away.
“She trusted almost nobody by the end.”
I demanded the truth.
Victor told us a story about a private research company that had been collecting genetic samples from wealthy families.
Claire had discovered that somebody had illegally accessed her medical records.
Someone wanted the triplets because their blood contained a rare hereditary marker.
I didn't understand.
“What marker?”
Victor shook his head.
“I don't know exactly.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No.”
He looked toward Emma.
“But she knows.”
Emma's face turned white.
I turned.
“What?”
Emma shook her head.
“I don't.”
Victor laughed.
“You really think she's just a waitress?”
Emma stepped back.
“I never said I knew anything.”
Victor pointed at her.
“Her father was Dr. Michael Carter.”
Carter froze.
“My father's name?”
Victor nodded.
The room fell silent.
Carter's expression changed.
“My father died when I was twelve.”
“He worked for the research company.”
Carter shook his head.
“No.”
Victor looked at Emma.
“Tell him.”
She started crying.
“My father disappeared.”
“What?”
“He didn't die.”
Emma's voice broke.
“He disappeared after trying to expose a medical experiment.”
Carter stared at her.
“You're Michael Carter's daughter?”
“Yes.”
I looked between them.
Victor had known.
For how long?
“Why were you at the diner?”
Emma wiped her tears.
“Because I came to town looking for my father.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know who to trust.”
I almost said Victor.
Then stopped.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Victor looked toward me.
“I took control of the ranch because I knew someone was targeting your family.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your life would have collapsed.”
“It already did.”
His eyes dropped.
“Claire asked me to protect you.”
That sentence broke something in me.
“Claire asked you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you steal her pendant?”
Victor looked at me.
“I didn't.”
The blood in my veins seemed to freeze.
“You were on the video.”
“I was taking it for safekeeping.”
“You carried a syringe.”
“I was taking blood.”
“From whom?”
Victor hesitated.
“Grace.”
I lunged toward him.
Carter grabbed my arm.
Victor shouted.
“She had already been exposed to something!”
I screamed.
“You were drawing blood from my infant daughter!”
“I was checking whether the marker was present!”
“Without telling me!”
“Yes!”
Victor's voice finally cracked.
“I made a terrible mistake.”
I wanted to kill him.
But then Emma spoke.
“Why was Claire afraid of you?”
Victor went silent.
I looked at him.
Answer.
He swallowed.
“Because I wasn't the only person she feared.”
“Who else?”
He whispered the name.
“Evelyn Mercer.”
The doctor from the photograph.
Carter immediately pulled out his phone.
Before he could make the call, it rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman's voice came through.
“Stop looking for me.”
Carter's face changed.
“Where are you?”
“In the place where Claire died.”
The line went dead.
I knew the place.
The old hospital.
We drove there.
The building had been abandoned.
Inside, we found an old delivery room.
The same room where Claire had given birth.
On the wall was a single message written in red.
ONE CHILD WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO LEAVE THIS ROOM.
I felt sick.
Emma grabbed my hand.
“What does that mean?”
A hidden drawer beneath the delivery table contained another envelope.
Claire's final letter.
This one had only one sentence.
If anything happens to me, Daniel must never let Victor choose which daughter lives.
May you like
I turned toward Victor.
He was gone.
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