Chapter 8 - The House That Never Existed
The message was still on my phone.
"She is at home."
I stared at those four words.
Again.
And again.
Because they shouldn't have been possible.
Home.
The word sounded simple.
Safe.
Familiar.
But I didn't know where home was anymore.
My home had been taken from me.
My memories had been taken from me.
My daughter had been taken from me.
And now someone was telling me Sarah was somewhere I had lived my entire life.
I looked at Elena.
"Who sent this?"
She immediately started tracing the number.
Seconds passed.
Then a minute.
Her expression changed.
"Blocked."
"Can you find it?"
She shook her head.
"Not yet."
I looked back at the message.
My hands were shaking.
Because whoever sent it wanted me to know something.
They wanted me to go there.
Victoria stood beside the computer screen.
She looked at the photograph of Sarah again.
Then at Rachel.
Her face became pale.
"You need to understand something."
I turned toward her.
"What?"
"Rachel was never supposed to come back."
The room went silent.
I felt a strange pressure in my chest.
"Who is Rachel?"
Victoria looked at me.
The answer hurt before she even spoke.
"Your sister."
I laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because my mind couldn't accept another impossible truth.
"I don't have a sister."
Victoria lowered her eyes.
"That is what Adrian wanted you to believe."
Elena closed the folder.
"We need to separate facts from assumptions."
She looked at Victoria.
"You are saying Claire had a sister, a daughter named Sarah, and Adrian erased both from her memory?"
Victoria nodded.
"Yes."
"And you helped him?"
Victoria didn't answer.
That silence said enough.
Elena stepped closer.
"How much did you know?"
Victoria looked exhausted.
"Enough to know Adrian was dangerous."
"Then why didn't you stop him?"
Victoria's eyes filled with regret.
"Because I was afraid."
I understood that.
Maybe too well.
Fear was powerful.
It made people silent.
It made people look away.
It made people convince themselves that doing nothing was safer.
But my daughters had paid the price.
We left the hidden clinic thirty minutes later.
The police secured the building.
The files were taken.
The computers were collected.
But none of that mattered to me.
Because Sarah was alive.
And she was waiting.
Somewhere.
For me.
Elena drove.
I sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window.
Every street looked familiar.
Every house.
Every corner.
But somehow, I felt like I was seeing my own town for the first time.
"Claire."
I looked at Elena.
"Yes?"
"If we find Sarah, we need to be careful."
"Why?"
"Because whoever sent that message knew we were searching."
I understood.
Someone wanted us to find her.
But someone else might want to stop us.
"Do you think Adrian knows?"
Elena didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"Yes."
The address came from Victoria.
She had remembered something from Adrian's files.
A property.
One he never mentioned.
One registered under a different name.
A house outside town.
A place that didn't exist in any of Adrian's public records.
The entire drive there, I couldn't stop thinking about Sarah.
Was she scared?
Did she remember me?
Did she hate me?
The last thought hurt the most.
Because maybe she had every right.
A child didn't understand manipulation.
A child only understood who stayed.
And I wasn't there.
The house appeared at the end of a long road.
It was small.
Quiet.
Ordinary.
That almost made it worse.
Because terrible things weren't always hidden behind dark walls.
Sometimes they happened behind normal doors.
Elena parked.
Officers surrounded the area.
I sat still.
Unable to move.
"Claire."
I looked at her.
"You don't have to do this alone."
I nodded.
Then I opened the door.
The front door was unlocked.
That frightened Elena immediately.
She raised her hand.
Everyone stopped.
No sound.
No movement.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
We entered slowly.
The living room was clean.
A children's book sat on the table.
A glass of water was beside it.
Someone had been there recently.
Very recently.
I saw a drawing on the refrigerator.
Three girls holding hands.
One older.
Two younger.
Above them were four words.
"My real family."
My vision blurred.
Because I recognized the handwriting.
Sarah.
I walked through the house.
Every room felt like a piece of a life I never lived.
A bedroom.
A small bed.
A shelf full of children's books.
A stuffed rabbit.
I picked it up.
And suddenly...
A memory.
A flash.
A tiny baby laughing.
Me holding her.
Singing.
Calling her my little rabbit.
I dropped the toy.
My hands covered my mouth.
The memory was gone as quickly as it appeared.
But it had been real.
Sarah.
My Sarah.
I remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
Elena found something in the bedroom.
A notebook.
"This is yours."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She handed it to me.
The handwriting was mine.
The first page had a date.
Seven years ago.
I opened it.
The words were shaky.
Like someone writing while terrified.
"If Adrian finds this, he will erase everything."
My heart stopped.
I kept reading.
"I know something is wrong. I know he is changing my memories. I know people think I am sick. But I need to remember one thing."
I turned the page.
The next sentence made me cry.
"Sarah is alive."
The notebook continued.
Pages of memories.
Things I had forgotten.
Things Adrian had taken.
My sister Rachel.
The day Sarah disappeared.
The night I begged Adrian to tell me where my daughter was.
The night I found documents hidden in his office.
The night I realized he was planning to make me look unstable.
I remembered.
I remembered everything.
And the worst part was...
I had known.
Somewhere deep inside me, I had always known.
A noise came from upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Elena looked at the officers.
Then at me.
"Stay here."
But I couldn't.
Not anymore.
I walked toward the stairs.
Slowly.
Each step felt heavier.
At the top was a hallway.
Three doors.
One was slightly open.
I heard breathing.
A child.
I whispered:
"Sarah?"
The breathing stopped.
Then a small voice answered.
"Mom?"
I almost collapsed.
I reached for the door handle.
But before I touched it, another voice came from behind me.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Familiar.
"You shouldn't have found her."
I turned around.
Adrian was standing at the end of the hallway.
And he was holding something in his hand.
May you like
Something I recognized immediately.
The same medical syringe Emma had hidden in her shoe.
