Chapter 14 - The Daughter Evelyn Never Mentioned
CLARISSA'S OLDER SISTER.
I stared at the screen.
My mind refused to accept the words.
Older sister.
I looked at Rebecca.
Then at my father.
Then at my daughters.
“That's impossible.”
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
“I wish it were.”
I stepped toward the screen.
The photograph showed a young woman standing beside a lake.
She had dark hair.
My eyes.
My mouth.
The same small scar above her left eyebrow.
It was like looking at a version of myself I had never known existed.
“What is her name?”
Rebecca hesitated.
My father answered.
“Lillian.”
The name echoed through me.
“Where is she?”
No one spoke.
I turned toward Rebecca.
“Where is she?”
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
I looked at my father.
“Did you take her?”
His expression changed.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Evelyn.”
I stepped backward.
“Evelyn?”
He nodded.
“She took Lillian before you were born.”
I shook my head.
“You said she was my sister.”
“She was.”
“Then why did Evelyn hide her?”
My father looked at the screen.
“Because Lillian was the first successful subject.”
My stomach turned.
“Subject?”
“She carried the original marker.”
I looked at Emma and Amelia.
“Their marker came from her.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Evelyn studied Lillian's genetics for years.”
“And then used me.”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“My own mother used me.”
“She believed she was saving lives.”
“She used my body.”
Rebecca looked down.
“Yes.”
Emma stepped closer.
“Mom.”
I turned toward her.
“I don't want you listening to him.”
My father laughed.
“Why not?”
“Because everything you touch becomes a lie.”
His smile disappeared.
“You have no idea what your mother did.”
“I know what you did.”
“You know what she told you.”
“No.”
Emma looked at him.
“I know what you made me believe.”
My father raised his gun.
Julian immediately stepped forward.
“Put it down.”
My father ignored him.
“I gave you life.”
Emma shook her head.
“My mother did.”
“She would never have been able to save you without me.”
“You're wrong.”
Amelia stood beside her sister.
“We're both done listening to you.”
My father looked at them.
For the first time, he seemed uncertain.
I stepped forward.
“Where is Lillian?”
He stared at me.
“She is dead.”
Rebecca immediately shook her head.
“No.”
My father looked at her.
“You don't know that.”
“I know she wasn't dead six years ago.”
My blood ran cold.
“You saw her?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Evelyn found her.”
“Where?”
“Canada.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Why didn't she bring her home?”
“Because Lillian didn't want to come.”
“Why?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“She knew what Evelyn had done.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did Lillian hate her?”
“Yes.”
“Did she hate me?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“I don't know.”
My heart tightened.
I had spent twenty years searching for daughters I thought were lost.
Now I was learning there had been another child before them.
A daughter who had been erased from every family photograph.
A daughter whose existence had been buried beneath R-17.
I looked at the screen again.
“Find her.”
Julian stared at me.
“How?”
“Your father has records.”
Rebecca nodded.
“The original archive.”
I turned toward my father.
“You kept records of everyone.”
He said nothing.
“Where is Lillian's file?”
His expression hardened.
“Destroyed.”
“No.”
I pointed toward the shelves.
“Nothing here was destroyed.”
My father smiled.
“You think paper can tell you everything?”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“But you can.”
He stared at me.
I stepped closer.
“Tell me where she is.”
“No.”
“Then I'll find it myself.”
I turned toward the archive.
Rebecca followed.
Emma and Amelia came with us.
Julian remained facing my father.
I opened drawer after drawer.
Names.
Numbers.
Dates.
Locations.
Then I found a box marked:
SUBJECT L-01.
My hands stopped.
“L-01.”
Rebecca inhaled sharply.
“That was Lillian.”
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A newborn baby.
Then another.
A toddler.
Then another.
A little girl.
Then a teenager.
Lillian.
She had been monitored her entire life.
Medical reports.
Psychological assessments.
Blood tests.
Photographs.
Everything.
I picked up the final document.
It was dated six years earlier.
SUBJECT L-01 LOCATED.
My heart raced.
Underneath:
Current identity: Lily Morgan.
I stared.
“Lily?”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“That name…”
“What?”
“My mother used to call Evelyn Lily.”
I looked at the file.
Lily Morgan.
The same surname.
A coincidence?
No.
Nothing was a coincidence anymore.
I turned the page.
There was an address.
A small coastal town.
A house number.
A phone number.
And beneath it, a handwritten note.
DO NOT CONTACT HER UNTIL THE TWINS ARE TOGETHER.
I looked at Emma and Amelia.
“They knew.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Knew what?”
“That bringing the twins together would lead us to Lillian.”
He looked at the file.
Then at me.
“We have to go.”
My father laughed.
“You won't get there.”
Julian turned.
“Why?”
“Because she isn't waiting for you.”
I stared at him.
“Where is she?”
He smiled.
“She came here.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
My father pointed toward the screen.
“Lillian has been in this building for six months.”
Rebecca's face went white.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
He smiled.
“Below the archive.”
I felt cold.
“The children?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
He didn't answer.
Julian looked toward the floor.
“There has to be another level.”
My father smiled.
“There is.”
We found the entrance behind a false wall.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
I went first.
Julian followed.
Emma and Amelia stayed together.
Rebecca came behind them.
My father remained upstairs.
I heard him laugh softly.
The stairs seemed endless.
At the bottom was a steel corridor.
Unlike the upper rooms, this section was clean.
Modern.
Bright.
There were cameras everywhere.
We passed one door.
Then another.
Finally, we reached a glass room.
Inside stood a woman.
She had long dark hair.
She was older than Emma.
Older than Amelia.
But she looked like me.
She turned slowly.
Our eyes met.
My heart stopped.
“Lillian?”
The woman stared at me.
She looked at Emma.
Then Amelia.
Then back at me.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You finally came.”
I couldn't speak.
I pressed my hand against the glass.
She walked closer.
“Twenty years.”
My voice trembled.
“You're alive.”
She nodded.
“I've been alive the whole time.”
I cried.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did everyone.”
“Why didn't you come home?”
Her expression changed.
“Because home was the place that created me.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
She touched the glass.
“My mother never told you about me.”
“She lied to me.”
“She lied to everyone.”
I looked at her.
“Did she love you?”
Lillian smiled sadly.
“In her own way.”
“Then why?”
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of my father?”
“Of herself.”
I didn't understand.
Lillian looked toward the cameras.
“She knew what she had done.”
“What did she do?”
“She created me.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“She was the scientist.”
Rebecca whispered, “We know.”
Lillian shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You don't know everything.”
“What don't I know?”
Lillian stepped closer.
“Your mother didn't create R-17 to cure cancer.”
I froze.
“Then why?”
“She created it to reverse death.”
Silence.
My skin prickled.
“That's impossible.”
“So was everything else.”
She pointed toward the archive.
“Your mother lost her first child.”
“Her first child?”
“Me.”
I stared at her.
“You were her first?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I was born sick.”
Lillian touched the scar above her eyebrow.
“She believed she could save me.”
“And did she?”
“She experimented on me.”
My stomach turned.
“She altered my genetics.”
“She changed you?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“She discovered the marker.”
“The one in Amelia?”
“No.”
Lillian looked at Emma.
“The one in Emma.”
I turned toward my daughter.
Emma looked frightened.
“Why Emma?”
“Because Emma inherited the stable version.”
“And Amelia?”
“The unstable one.”
Amelia's face went pale.
“What does that mean?”
Lillian looked at her.
“It means you were never supposed to survive.”
Amelia stepped backward.
Emma grabbed her hand.
“No.”
Lillian's voice softened.
“But you did.”
I looked at Lillian.
“Why did Evelyn separate them?”
“Because she knew my father would kill Emma if he discovered the stable marker.”
“And Amelia?”
“She was used as a decoy.”
My heart broke.
“Both my daughters were sacrifices.”
Lillian nodded.
“Evelyn regretted it.”
“Then why didn't she stop?”
“She tried.”
“What happened?”
“She failed.”
Lillian looked toward the ceiling.
“She spent the last six years preparing a way to expose everything.”
“The key.”
“Yes.”
“The account.”
“Yes.”
“The archive.”
“Yes.”
“And you.”
Lillian nodded.
“I was the final witness.”
I stepped closer.
“Then come with us.”
She smiled.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
She pointed toward her neck.
A tiny black device was attached beneath her skin.
I froze.
“What is that?”
“A tracking implant.”
Julian's face changed.
“We can remove it.”
Lillian shook her head.
“If you remove it, the building locks down.”
“Then we'll find another way.”
“You don't understand.”
She looked directly at me.
“My father isn't the one controlling this place anymore.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
Lillian whispered:
“He hasn't been in control for years.”
Julian looked toward the cameras.
“Then who is?”
Lillian stared at me.
“You.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You are.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Your mother transferred control to you six years ago.”
I stared at her.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does.”
She pointed toward the archive.
“The account.”
“The key.”
“Your blood.”
“The twins.”
“All of it was designed to transfer control to you.”
I felt dizzy.
“My mother made me the owner.”
“Yes.”
“Of what?”
Lillian's eyes filled with tears.
“Everything.”
Suddenly every light in the corridor turned red.
An alarm began screaming.
Lillian looked terrified.
“What happened?”
She stared at the camera.
“Someone has accessed the master system.”
Julian raised his weapon.
“Who?”
Lillian whispered:
“The person Evelyn was afraid of.”
The steel doors slammed shut around us.
Then the speakers came alive.
A woman's voice filled the corridor.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Clarissa.”
I froze.
I knew that voice.
I had heard it once before.
In the hospital.
Twenty years ago.
The voice of the nurse who had taken my baby from my arms.
Lillian stepped backward.
Her face went white.
“No…”
The voice continued.
“Did you really think Evelyn was the mastermind?”
A pause.
Then the woman spoke again.
May you like
“She was only the first person I taught to obey.”
And the glass door behind Lillian suddenly unlocked...
