Chapter 7 - The Child Hidden From The World
The basement door locked behind us.
I heard the click.
A small sound.
But it felt louder than anything I had heard that night.
My father immediately grabbed the handle.
It didn't move.
He pulled harder.
Nothing.
Someone had locked us inside.
I looked at him.
"You said nobody knew about this place."
My father stared at the door.
"I was wrong."
Those words scared me more than anything else.
Because Alexander Whitmore was rarely wrong.
He was a man who calculated everything.
Every business decision.
Every conversation.
Every risk.
But tonight, every secret he had buried was coming back.
I looked down at the photograph still in my hand.
My mother.
A newborn baby.
A child who wasn't me.
The words on the back burned into my mind.
Your sister is still alive.
I couldn't understand.
I had no sister.
My mother had only one child.
Me.
At least, that was what I believed.
"Who is she?"
My father didn't answer.
I looked at him.
"Father."
His expression changed.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
"You knew."
He looked away.
That was all the answer I needed.
"You knew."
My voice became quieter.
"All these years..."
My father finally spoke.
"Her name was Lily."
The name felt strange.
Like hearing a word from a dream.
"Lily?"
He nodded.
"She was born two years before you."
I stepped back.
"No."
My father looked at me.
"I wanted to tell you."
"But you didn't."
"I couldn't."
I laughed bitterly.
"Everyone always says that."
I held up the photograph.
"You couldn't tell me about my mother."
"You couldn't tell me about my sister."
"What else couldn't you tell me?"
My father's face showed pain.
"There are things you don't understand."
"Then explain them."
The silence returned.
But this time, he couldn't hide behind it.
"Lily was the reason your mother discovered Project Blackwood."
I frowned.
"How?"
My father walked to the desk.
He picked up one of the old files.
"When Lily was born, your mother noticed something wrong with the records."
He opened the folder.
"Her birth certificate was changed."
I stared at him.
"Someone erased her identity."
He nodded.
"Someone tried to make Lily disappear before she was even old enough to remember."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Why?"
"Because Lily was connected to the first family involved in Project Blackwood."
I looked at the photograph again.
My mother holding that baby.
Protecting her.
Loving her.
"Where is she?"
My father looked down.
"I don't know."
That shocked me.
"You don't know?"
"No."
"How can you not know?"
His voice became quiet.
"Because your mother took her."
I froze.
"What?"
"The night she disappeared, she wasn't running from them."
He looked at the photo.
"She was running with Lily."
I tried to understand.
"But where did they go?"
My father didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
For ten years, he had been searching too.
Then something moved above us.
A heavy sound.
Like someone walking across the floor.
My father immediately turned.
"They're still here."
I lowered my voice.
"Who?"
He looked toward the ceiling.
"The people who want this house."
The lights suddenly flickered.
Then the old computer on the desk turned on.
Neither of us touched it.
The screen remained black for a few seconds.
Then a video appeared.
My mother's face filled the screen.
This time, she wasn't recording a message.
She was sitting inside this room.
In Blackwood House.
My heart stopped.
Because the video was recent.
Not ten years old.
Recent.
My mother looked directly at the camera.
"Clara."
I moved closer.
Her eyes looked tired.
But alive.
"If you are watching this, it means someone found the archive."
She paused.
"And it means I failed to keep you away from this."
My father stepped closer.
My mother continued.
"I know Alexander will try to explain everything."
My father looked down.
"But there is something even he doesn't know."
The screen flickered.
My mother looked over her shoulder.
Like she was afraid someone would hear.
"Lily was never the only child hidden by Project Blackwood."
I froze.
"What?"
My mother continued.
"There were others."
My father whispered:
"No."
She looked directly at the camera.
"Children whose identities were stolen."
"Children who were placed into powerful families."
"Children who were used to control entire organizations."
The screen showed documents.
Names.
Hundreds of them.
Then my mother's face returned.
"Clara, the three men who attacked you tonight..."
The video showed Ethan, Julian, and Marcus.
"They are only the beginning."
My breathing became faster.
"Someone has been rebuilding Project Blackwood."
My father stepped closer.
"Who?"
My mother looked at the camera.
And for the first time, I saw fear in her eyes.
"The person leading it is someone you know."
The video cut.
Static filled the room.
Then a new message appeared.
One sentence.
"You already trusted them."
My father looked at me.
I looked at him.
Because suddenly, every person in my life became a question.
The person who comforted me after my mother's death.
The people who worked for my family.
The friends who knew our secrets.
Everyone.
Then the computer showed another file.
A security recording.
A date.
Ten years ago.
The night my mother disappeared.
My father clicked it.
The video showed the outside of our old house.
A car arrived.
Someone stepped out.
Someone I recognized.
My blood went cold.
Because the person who entered my house that night...
was the same person who had raised me after my mother was gone.
The video zoomed in.
And my father whispered the name before I could say it.
"Victoria."
May you like
The screen froze.
And behind us, the locked basement door suddenly unlocked.
