Chapter 2 - The Medical Record That Changed Everything
I didn't understand the words at first.
They seemed too impossible to belong together.
Lila was born in this house?
No.
I had given birth to her in Baltimore General Hospital.
I had the paperwork.
The photographs.
The hospital bracelet.
The bill I had spent years paying off.
“I was there when she was born,” I said.
Damian looked at me.
“Were you?”
The question cut deeper than it should have.
“Yes.”
“Who delivered her?”
“Dr. Miriam Cole.”
“Was she alone?”
“I don't know.”
He turned the paper around.
It was an old medical record.
Not Lila's.
A woman named Elara Volkov.
Mother of two.
Damian.
And a second child.
Female.
The child's name had been blacked out.
I stared at the birth date.
Twenty-six years earlier.
“That's not Lila.”
“No.”
“Then why does she have that bracelet?”
Damian looked at the bracelet.
“Because my mother gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
He didn't answer.
Viktor entered.
“We need to talk.”
Damian handed him the record.
Viktor read it.
His expression changed.
“Where did you find this?”
“Behind the portrait.”
Viktor looked at Lila.
Then at me.
“You should leave the house.”
I stepped back.
“What?”
“Tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever poisoned Damian knows she found something.”
Damian interrupted.
“She?”
Viktor nodded.
“The child.”
I pulled Lila behind me.
“She's four.”
“That is exactly why.”
Damian looked at Viktor.
“Tell me the truth.”
“I don't know what truth you mean.”
“You know everything.”
“No.”
“Then explain why my mother's medical file was hidden behind her portrait.”
Viktor glanced toward Lila.
“Because some secrets are safer when nobody remembers them.”
Damian stepped closer.
“You've lied to me for years.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
Viktor looked at me.
“From your family.”
“My family?”
“Yes.”
The door opened again.
An older woman entered.
She wore a dark blue dress and held herself with old-fashioned elegance.
“Viktor.”
He turned.
“Aunt Nadia.”
She looked at Damian.
Then Lila.
Then me.
Her lips parted.
“Oh.”
It was one tiny word.
But it carried recognition.
“You know her,” Damian said.
Nadia shook her head.
“No.”
Lila stared at her.
Then slowly moved behind my legs.
Nadia whispered, “She has Elara's eyes.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Who is Elara?”
“Damian's mother.”
“And why does my daughter look like her?”
Nadia looked at Damian.
“You never told her?”
“Told her what?”
Nadia's eyes closed.
“Your mother had a daughter before Damian.”
Damian's voice was cold.
“The records say she died.”
“They say many things.”
“Did she die?”
Nadia didn't answer.
“Did she?”
“No.”
Silence.
Damian's hands tightened.
“Where is she?”
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“The week after you were born.”
“Who took her?”
Nadia looked at Viktor.
He said nothing.
“Who?” Damian demanded.
Nadia whispered, “Your father.”
The room became still.
“My father kidnapped my sister?”
“He believed he was protecting you.”
“From my own sister?”
“From what she represented.”
I looked down at Lila.
Nadia saw.
“The girl was born with the same condition.”
“What condition?”
Nadia hesitated.
“Her hearing was impaired.”
I frowned.
“That isn't dangerous.”
“No.”
Nadia looked toward the hidden compartment.
“But she had another ability.”
I felt cold.
“What ability?”
“She could feel vibrations other people couldn't detect.”
Damian looked at Lila.
“My mother said it was impossible.”
Nadia shook her head.
“It was inherited.”
“From who?”
“Your grandfather.”
Damian stared.
“Our family has known for generations.”
I interrupted.
“What exactly can Lila do?”
Nadia answered carefully.
“She can perceive physical disturbances through touch. Electrical fluctuations. Mechanical vibrations. Changes in breathing. Sometimes even a heartbeat that isn't where it should be.”
I stared at my daughter.
That wasn't a superpower.
It was sensory adaptation.
But to the Volkov family, it clearly meant something much larger.
“Why was it hidden?”
Nadia looked at Damian.
“Because your grandfather wanted to use it.”
Damian's face hardened.
“For what?”
“To detect lies.”
Nobody spoke.
Lila suddenly looked at Viktor.
Then she covered her ears.
Viktor frowned.
“She cannot hear.”
I looked at Lila.
“She does that when she is overwhelmed.”
Lila shook her head.
She wasn't overwhelmed.
She pointed at Viktor.
Then made the sign for danger.
Damian noticed.
“She's afraid of you.”
Viktor stepped back.
“I've never touched her.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Viktor stared at the child.
For the first time, I saw fear in the seasoned security chief's eyes.
Then every light in the mansion went out.
Lila screamed silently.
She clung to me.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Somewhere downstairs, a gunshot echoed.
Then another.
Damian grabbed my arm.
“Stay behind me.”
He moved toward the door.
Viktor drew his weapon.
Nadia stayed frozen.
Another shot.
Closer.
Damian pushed me into the wall as two guards sprinted past.
“North hall!” one shouted. “He's inside!”
“Who?”
No answer.
Then I saw movement at the end of the corridor.
A man.
Tall.
Wearing a black mask.
He looked directly at us.
Then pointed toward Lila.
He fired.
Damian moved before I could think.
He shoved us down.
The bullet struck the wall.
Viktor fired back.
The man ran.
Damian chased him.
I pulled Lila close.
She was shaking.
Then she did something strange.
She looked at the floor.
She placed both hands on the marble.
And suddenly she pointed toward the service stairs.
“He went that way.”
I didn't know how I understood the gesture.
I just did.
Viktor stared.
“How?”
I whispered.
“I don't know.”
He looked at Lila.
Then at me.
“Take her upstairs.”
I did.
But Damian never came back.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
An hour.
At midnight, Viktor entered the servants' room.
His face was grim.
“Damian is missing.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“The attacker took him.”
“Then find him.”
“We are trying.”
I looked at Lila.
She sat on the bed clutching her rabbit.
Then she pointed toward the window.
There was something written in the rain on the glass.
Not words.
A symbol.
A wolf.
With one eye crossed out.
Viktor stared.
His face went pale.
“That symbol hasn't been seen in twenty years.”
“What is it?”
May you like
He whispered.
“The sign of the Volkov heir who disappeared.”
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