Chapter 7 - The Betrayal Beneath the Marriage
I stared at the address on my phone.
Blackridge Estate.
My husband's family had owned the property for generations, yet I had never once been allowed to visit it.
Now my unknown daughter was waiting there.
Or someone wanted me to believe she was.
I looked at Julian.
He was staring at the screen as if it contained a death sentence.
“You know this place.”
“Yes.”
“Then take me there.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You don't get to tell me no anymore.”
“Clarissa, listen to me.”
“I've listened to you for twenty years.”
My voice shook.
“I listened when you told me our baby died. I listened when you told me Evelyn was confused. I listened when you said your business trips mattered more than my calls.”
I lifted the phone.
“And now someone is telling me my daughter is waiting at your father's estate.”
Julian's face tightened.
“You don't understand what Blackridge is.”
“Then explain it.”
He looked away.
“It's where my father kept everything he didn't want anyone to find.”
My stomach tightened.
“Everything?”
“Records. Money. Medical files.”
“And children?”
His silence answered me.
I stepped backward.
“Oh my God.”
“It wasn't what you think.”
“Then what was it?”
Julian ran both hands through his hair.
“My father believed he could control certain genetic conditions before they developed.”
“He experimented on babies.”
“He called it research.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“I know.”
“Did he experiment on my daughters?”
“I don't know.”
“You always say that.”
“Because I was never allowed inside that part of his life.”
I stared at him.
“But you knew about Blackridge.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew about R-17.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew Evelyn had been hiding something.”
“Yes.”
I felt something inside me break.
“Then our entire marriage was built around a secret.”
Julian didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
I looked at the wedding ring lying in my pocket.
Twenty years.
I had worn it through hospitals, funerals, birthdays, Christmas mornings, empty bedrooms, and nights when Julian came home smelling like someone else's perfume.
I had defended him.
I had lied for him.
I had stood beside him when everyone whispered about his family.
And all along, there had been another life beneath ours.
A life involving my children.
“Did you ever love me?”
Julian looked at me.
His eyes were wet.
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
“Because loving you wasn't enough to keep you safe.”
I shook my head.
“That is the excuse people use when they're afraid to tell the truth.”
He didn't answer.
I walked toward the door.
“I'm going to Blackridge.”
Julian caught up with me.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“You need me.”
“I need answers.”
“You'll get killed without me.”
I stopped.
“Then you better make sure I don't.”
He stared at me.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then Nora spoke.
“You can't go through the main entrance.”
We turned.
She held an old photograph.
“There is another way in.”
Julian's face hardened.
“How do you know?”
“My mother showed me.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
Nora unfolded the photograph.
It showed the Blackridge Estate from decades earlier.
A massive stone mansion stood on a hill.
Behind it was a greenhouse.
And beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
The old servants' tunnel begins beneath the greenhouse.
Julian stared at it.
“That's impossible.”
Nora looked at him.
“Your father sealed it.”
“He sealed it after my mother discovered the records.”
I looked between them.
“Then that's where we're going.”
Julian shook his head.
“No.”
I gave him a cold look.
“You don't get to make that decision.”
He sighed.
“Fine.”
We left before midnight.
Julian drove.
I sat in the passenger seat.
Nora followed in her own car.
The entire drive, neither Julian nor I spoke.
I watched the road disappear beneath the headlights.
Finally, I asked the question that had been burning inside me.
“Why did you marry me?”
Julian's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“I told you.”
“Tell me again.”
“I loved you.”
“That isn't enough.”
He was silent.
“Did Evelyn arrange our marriage?”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Did your father?”
Another silence.
I turned toward him.
“Did he choose me because I was pregnant?”
Julian looked at me.
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“My father knew you were carrying twins.”
I stared at him.
“But I didn't know.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted one child.”
My voice became barely audible.
“Which one?”
“R-17.”
“Emma.”
“Yes.”
“Why Emma?”
“We don't know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because the truth disappeared.”
I looked out the window.
“What about my other daughter?”
Julian's face darkened.
“She was the one my father considered useless.”
The word hit me like a slap.
“My daughter was never useless.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you let him take her?”
“I didn't.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You watched.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I was twenty-three.”
“And I was a mother.”
He swallowed.
“I was terrified.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
He looked straight ahead.
“I've spent twenty years trying to find her.”
I turned sharply.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I got close, someone disappeared.”
“Who?”
“Witnesses.”
I went still.
“Witnesses?”
“People who knew what happened that night.”
“And Evelyn?”
“She was one of them.”
“Why wasn't she killed?”
“She made a deal.”
“With whom?”
Julian's face hardened.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“You know something.”
He looked at me.
“I know she gave someone something.”
“What?”
“The name of the person who could expose my father.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
The car fell silent.
I stared at him.
“Your father was afraid of you?”
“He was afraid of what I knew.”
“And what did you know?”
Julian took a breath.
“I knew he wasn't your daughter's only enemy.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
His face went pale.
“Who is it?”
He didn't answer.
The phone stopped.
Then mine rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A woman's voice whispered.
“You shouldn't have brought Julian.”
I looked at him.
“Who are you?”
“You'll find out.”
“Is my daughter there?”
Silence.
Then:
“One of them.”
My heart pounded.
“Which one?”
The call ended.
I looked at Julian.
“One of them is at Blackridge.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
We reached the estate twenty minutes later.
Blackridge rose out of the darkness like something from another century.
The mansion was enormous.
Stone walls.
Tall windows.
Iron gates.
No lights.
Julian parked near the old greenhouse.
Nora arrived seconds later.
We got out.
The air was cold.
No wind.
No insects.
Nothing.
Julian walked toward the greenhouse.
I followed.
He found an old iron door beneath a wall of ivy.
He pulled it open.
A staircase descended into darkness.
I turned on my phone flashlight.
“After you.”
Julian looked at me.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Clarissa.”
“I've been behind you for twenty years.”
He said nothing.
We descended.
The tunnel smelled of damp stone.
Every few feet, old lamps hung from the walls.
Most were broken.
At the bottom was a steel door.
Julian stopped.
“This is it.”
I looked at the key in my hand.
The silver key Evelyn had given me.
There was a second keyhole in the steel door.
R-17 was engraved beneath it.
I inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
Julian grabbed my wrist.
“Wait.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“There may be cameras.”
“Let them watch.”
I turned the key.
The door opened.
Inside was a narrow archive room.
Metal shelves lined every wall.
Boxes covered the floor.
Medical files.
Photographs.
Documents.
Names.
Dates.
I walked to the nearest shelf.
One box was labeled:
MATERNITY — 2006.
My hands shook.
I pulled it down.
Inside were hospital records.
I opened the first file.
My name.
My medical history.
The pregnancy.
The twins.
Two heartbeats.
Two babies.
I began crying.
“They were real.”
Julian stood behind me.
“Yes.”
I found another file.
BABY A — FEMALE.
Then:
BABY B — FEMALE.
I turned the page.
A note was attached.
BABY A: R-17.
BABY B: TRANSFERRED.
I stared.
“Where?”
The answer had been blacked out.
Every line.
Every name.
Every location.
Except one handwritten word.
VANESSA.
I looked at Julian.
“Who was Vanessa?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
I turned another page.
There was a photograph.
A newborn baby.
A silver necklace around her neck.
My necklace.
Below it:
R-17 — TRANSFER COMPLETE.
I couldn't breathe.
Emma was R-17.
Then where was my other daughter?
I searched the box.
Nothing.
Then I noticed another folder beneath it.
The label was handwritten.
PROJECT SECOND DAUGHTER.
I opened it.
The first page contained only one sentence.
She was never transferred.
I stared.
“What?”
Julian stepped closer.
I turned the page.
There was a photograph of a little girl.
She was about six years old.
Dark hair.
My eyes.
A scar above her eyebrow.
I recognized her immediately.
The girl from the recent photograph.
But beneath the photograph was a name.
Not Emma.
Not Vanessa.
Another name.
One I had never heard.
I whispered it.
Julian suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Don't say it.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if someone hears you say that name, they'll know we found the file.”
The lights above us flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire archive went dark.
Nora gasped.
“Someone's here.”
I heard footsteps somewhere beyond the steel door.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming closer.
Julian reached for my hand.
“Stay behind me.”
I pulled away.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence.
Then a soft female voice came from the other side of the door.
“Mom?”
My heart stopped.
I looked at Julian.
He looked terrified.
The voice came again.
“Mom, I know you're in there.”
I stepped toward the door.
Julian whispered, “Don't.”
But I couldn't stop.
I reached for the handle.
Then the woman outside whispered my daughter's name.
Not Emma.
Not the name in the file.
The other name.
May you like
The name Julian had been terrified for me to say.
And the lock began turning from the outside...
