Chapter 6 - THE GIRL WHO SHOULD NOT EXIST
Daniel ran after Vivienne.
“Stop!”
She disappeared beyond the greenhouse and into the dark garden.
The wet grass slowed him.
Branches clawed at his tuxedo.
Behind him, Elena shouted his name.
“Daniel!”
He ignored her.
For seven years, he had lived inside a lie.
Now Vivienne had just revealed there was another child tied to the same secret.
A girl named Sophie.
And she knew where that girl was.
Daniel reached the stone path near the eastern gate.
A car engine roared.
Headlights cut through the trees.
Vivienne’s black sedan shot forward.
Daniel jumped aside.
The car missed him by inches.
He stumbled into the hedge.
The sedan crashed through the unlocked service gate and disappeared down the private road.
Daniel stood there breathing hard.
Then he heard footsteps behind him.
Elena reached him first.
Noah was clinging to her hand.
Charles followed more slowly.
Daniel spun toward his father.
“Who is Sophie?”
Charles stopped.
Daniel walked straight toward him.
“I asked you a question.”
Charles looked toward Noah.
“Not in front of the boy.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Now you care what children hear?”
Elena stepped between them.
“Noah needs to go somewhere safe.”
Daniel looked at his son.
The child’s face was pale.
His tiny tuxedo jacket was dirty.
His hair was disheveled.
And despite everything, he was still holding Elena’s hand.
Daniel crouched.
“Noah.”
The boy looked at him.
“Are we going home?”
Daniel hesitated.
Home.
He suddenly realized he did not know what that word meant anymore.
Vivienne had filled their house with lies.
Charles had built his family on manipulation.
And Elena, the woman Noah had been taught to think of as a maid, might be his biological mother.
Daniel touched the boy’s shoulder.
“We’re going somewhere safe.”
Noah immediately looked at Elena.
“Is Mommy coming?”
Daniel felt the question hit him hard.
Elena froze.
Daniel looked at her.
Then back at Noah.
“Yes.”
Noah’s shoulders relaxed.
Daniel stood.
Charles watched the exchange.
“You should not make promises before you know what you are dealing with.”
Daniel turned on him.
“You lost the right to give me advice years ago.”
Charles said nothing.
Police sirens grew louder beyond the trees.
Detective Marcus Hale arrived with six officers.
He took one look at the broken greenhouse window and the scattered medical records.
“What happened?”
Daniel pointed toward the road.
“Vivienne.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“She was here?”
“She took some records.”
“Did she take Noah?”
“No.”
Marcus looked at the boy and exhaled.
“Thank God.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“She knows where another child is.”
Marcus frowned.
“What child?”
Daniel held up the page he had found.
“Sophie.”
Marcus read it.
His expression sharpened.
“Where did this come from?”
“The safe.”
Marcus looked at Charles.
Then froze.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Charles’s face became unreadable.
Marcus slowly lowered the page.
“Charles Whitmore.”
Charles gave a faint smile.
“Detective Hale.”
Daniel stared between them.
“You two know each other.”
Marcus did not answer.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Do you know my father?”
Marcus’s eyes remained on Charles.
“I knew of him.”
Charles gave a quiet laugh.
“That is not what he asked.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“Be careful.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Marcus glanced at the officers.
“Not here.”
Daniel almost lost his temper.
“No.”
He pointed toward the greenhouse.
“My son was kidnapped tonight.”
“My wife may have stolen him from another woman seven years ago.”
“My dead father is alive.”
“And apparently there is another child nobody told me about.”
He stepped closer.
“So stop deciding what I can handle.”
Marcus studied him.
Then he looked at Charles.
“You tell him.”
Charles sighed.
“Samuel Reed was investigating me.”
Daniel went still.
Marcus’s former partner.
The detective who had died.
Daniel turned toward Marcus.
“You said Reed was investigating the hospital.”
“He was.”
Charles continued.
“Because he believed the hospital case was connected to Whitmore Reproductive Medicine.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
Marcus finally spoke.
“He was right.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Did you know?”
“I knew pieces.”
“Pieces?”
Marcus’s voice became quieter.
“Samuel believed at least three births were concealed.”
Daniel looked at the page.
“Sophie was one.”
“Yes.”
“Elena’s baby was another.”
Marcus nodded.
“Then what was the third?”
Charles looked away.
Daniel noticed.
“What was the third?”
No one answered.
Elena’s face changed.
“Charles.”
He remained silent.
She stepped toward him.
“You said three pregnancies.”
“Yes.”
“You said Noah was the only reported survivor.”
“Yes.”
“That was a lie.”
Charles closed his eyes briefly.
“It was incomplete.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“In this family, that seems to mean the same thing.”
Marcus pointed toward the mansion.
“We need to move inside.”
They gathered the remaining files.
An officer carried Noah toward the house, but the boy refused.
“No.”
He pulled away.
“I want Mommy.”
The officer looked embarrassed.
Elena stepped forward.
“I’ll take him.”
Daniel watched Noah immediately settle against her.
There was no hesitation.
No confusion.
Just trust.
That hurt more than Daniel expected.
Not because Noah loved Elena.
Because Daniel now understood that his son had probably loved her long before anyone allowed him to say it.
Inside the mansion, Marcus secured the library.
Charles sat near the fireplace.
Elena sat beside Noah on the sofa.
Daniel remained standing.
“Start.”
Marcus placed Sophie’s record on the table.
“Sophie was born eight years ago.”
“One year before Noah?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Not St. Matthew’s.”
Marcus opened an old report.
“A private maternity clinic in Vermont.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why Vermont?”
Charles answered.
“Less scrutiny.”
Daniel glared at him.
Charles continued.
“The mother was part of the same research program.”
“Who was she?”
Charles did not answer immediately.
Marcus did.
“Rachel Bennett.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Daniel looked at her.
Her face had gone white.
“What?”
Elena whispered.
“No.”
Daniel turned.
“You know that name.”
Elena stared at Marcus.
“That was my sister.”
Silence.
Daniel looked from her to Charles.
“Your sister?”
Elena nodded slowly.
“She died nine years ago.”
Charles’s expression tightened.
Marcus watched him.
Daniel saw it.
“Did she die?”
Elena turned toward him.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel pointed at his father.
“Apparently death certificates in this story are optional.”
Charles looked away.
Elena stood.
“My sister died in a car accident.”
Marcus opened another file.
“The body was never formally identified by family.”
Elena stared at him.
“What?”
“The vehicle burned.”
“My mother identified her necklace.”
“That was all.”
Elena’s knees weakened.
Daniel caught her arm.
She pulled away.
“No.”
Her breathing quickened.
“No, no.”
Noah stood.
“Mommy?”
Elena looked at him.
She forced herself to breathe.
Daniel turned toward Charles.
“Was Rachel part of the program?”
“Yes.”
Elena slapped him.
The sound cracked across the room.
Everyone froze.
Charles did not move.
Elena’s hand shook.
“You used both of us?”
Charles looked at her.
“I did not recruit her.”
“You owned the clinic.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Eventually.”
Elena stepped toward him again.
Daniel caught her.
“Elena.”
She struggled once.
Then stopped.
Tears streamed down her face.
“My sister told me she had taken a job in Boston.”
Charles looked down.
“She had.”
“What happened to her?”
Marcus answered.
“She disappeared three months before Sophie was born.”
Elena stared.
“And you think Sophie is her child?”
“We have records indicating that.”
Daniel looked at Charles.
“Who is the father?”
Charles’s silence returned.
Daniel’s heart began pounding.
“No.”
Charles looked at him.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
Elena stared between them.
“What?”
Daniel already knew.
He did not want to hear it.
Charles spoke anyway.
“The same genetic source was used.”
Elena’s face collapsed.
Daniel stepped backward.
“Sophie is mine too.”
Charles nodded.
Noah looked up.
“Who is Sophie?”
Nobody answered.
The boy frowned.
Daniel closed his eyes.
His world had become impossible.
A daughter.
Somewhere.
Eight years old.
Possibly raised under another identity.
Possibly hidden by Vivienne.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“We find her tonight.”
Marcus shook his head.
“We find the paper trail first.”
“Vivienne knows where she is.”
“And Vivienne is running.”
“So trace her.”
“We are.”
Daniel moved closer.
“Then do it faster.”
Marcus stared at him.
“I have officers checking every property, phone, account, and vehicle tied to her.”
Charles interrupted.
“You won’t find her through Vivienne.”
Everyone looked at him.
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“Why not?”
“Because Sophie is not with her.”
“Then where?”
Charles stared into the fire.
“With the woman who helped create the entire deception.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Who?”
Charles slowly turned toward Elena.
“Your mother.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“My mother is dead.”
Charles shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
“She is not.”
And somewhere far away, a little girl woke to the sound of a woman locking her bedroom door from the outside.
