Chapter 4 - What Elena Had Hidden Inside Emma's RoomLillian disappeared before we could reach her.
No gunfire.
No struggle.
Just gone.
But the message remained.
She was protecting us from your daughter.
Emma had never hurt anyone.
She was six years old.
She barely spoke.
The idea was absurd.
Yet Claire looked disturbed.
“What does Lillian mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
Claire shook her head.
“Not everything.”
“Then start.”
She walked into Emma's bedroom.
The room still looked exactly as it had three years ago.
White curtains.
A wooden rocking horse.
A stuffed rabbit Elena had bought the week before she died.
Claire stopped beside the closet.
She pressed her fingers beneath the bottom shelf.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside was a metal box.
My wife's handwriting appeared across the lid.
For Dominic only.
I opened it.
Inside were medical reports.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a key.
Claire picked up the first report.
“That's Emma's birth record.”
I read it.
Then read it again.
There was something wrong.
Emma's blood type was not mine.
Not Elena's.
Impossible.
“She was adopted?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“Then whose child is she?”
Claire looked at the report.
“Yours.”
“How?”
“The report is wrong.”
She showed me another.
A private DNA report.
Father: Dominic Vale.
Mother: Elena Vale.
Match: 99.98%.
I exhaled.
“Then why the discrepancy?”
“Because someone altered the hospital records.”
I looked at the key.
Stamped into it were two letters.
E.V.
Elena Vale.
“What does it open?”
Claire knew immediately.
“The old house.”
“My father's?”
“Yes.”
We left before midnight.
Daniel's men followed us.
I let them.
We reached the abandoned Vale estate outside Chicago.
The place had been empty for twenty years.
My father's office had never been opened.
I used the key.
The door clicked.
Inside was a wall of files.
Thousands.
Every major family in the city.
Every criminal organization.
Every political connection.
Every secret.
Orpheus.
At the center of the room was a photograph.
My father.
Lillian.
Daniel.
And Elena.
Four people.
One network.
But there was something else.
Elena was pregnant.
The date was written beneath the photograph.
Three months before Emma's birth.
I turned to Claire.
“What does this mean?”
She looked closely.
“Look at Lillian.”
She pointed.
Lillian was holding a hospital file.
On the cover was a name.
Project EVE.
I opened it.
Project EVE had nothing to do with Elena.
It referred to Emma.
The program had been designed to monitor children born from specific family lines.
Emma was the only surviving child who matched all criteria.
“Why?”
Claire read the notes.
“She carries a rare genetic mutation.”
“So?”
“It makes her highly resistant to a neurological conditioning method.”
I stared.
“What conditioning method?”
Claire's face became pale.
“The method Orpheus used to control informants.”
I finally understood.
Emma was not dangerous.
She was immune.
She couldn't be controlled.
She could expose the people who controlled everyone else.
That's why they wanted her.
And why Elena had died protecting her.
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Looking for you.”
“You betrayed me.”
Silence.
“No.”
“Then prove it.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“I know who ordered the bombing.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
I frowned.
“He's dead.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“Because the order was issued twenty-two years ago.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Your father created a contingency.”
“What contingency?”
“If he died, the organization would continue.”
“But who controls it?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Lillian.”
I closed my eyes.
“Where is she?”
“At Ashford House.”
I turned.
My mansion.
Daniel continued.
“She took your girls.”
My blood stopped.
Claire looked at me.
“What?”
“She's at the house.”
I ran.
We arrived too late.
The mansion was empty.
No guards.
No staff.
No daughters.
Only one message on the kitchen counter.
Bring Emma to the old train station.
Below it:
Come alone.
Claire looked at me.
“You know what that means.”
I nodded.
“She wants Emma.”
“And if you go?”
“She'll take her.”
“If you don't?”
“She'll kill Ava and Harper.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You're not going alone.”
I looked at her.
“Why not?”
“Because Elena asked me to make one promise.”
“What promise?”
Claire's eyes met mine.
“That if Lillian ever came for Emma, I would stand between them.”
I lowered my gun.
For the first time, I understood why Claire had entered my house.
She hadn't come to work.
She had come to finish a promise to a dying woman.
And I realized something else.
Claire wasn't my enemy.
She had been protecting my family for three years.
May you like
The question was why Elena had trusted her.
And why she had never trusted me.
Related Stories
