Chapter 9 - THE OTHER DAUGHTER
Daniel unlocked the basement door.
Lucas entered quietly.
The room beyond was filled with filing cabinets.
Hundreds of folders lined the walls.
Each folder carried a child’s name.
Lucas saw Lily tied to a chair near the center.
Richard stood beside her.
Eleanor held a gun.
A teenage girl watched from the staircase.
She had Lily’s dark eyes.
Emily’s smile.
Lucas knew who she was before anyone spoke.
The girl was his daughter.
She looked approximately fifteen.
The same age Lily’s twin would have been if the babies had not actually been born seven years earlier.
Lucas hesitated.
The dates made no sense.
Then he remembered that Emily’s pregnancy records had been controlled by Eleanor.
“What did you do?” Lucas asked.
Richard turned.
“You arrived sooner than expected.”
Lucas looked at the girl.
“Who is she?”
Richard smiled.
“Meet Clara Bennett.”
Lucas’s heart pounded.
“She cannot be Lily’s twin.”
“She is not.”
Eleanor lowered the gun slightly.
“She is your first daughter.”
Lucas stared at her.
Years before Lily’s birth, Emily had suffered what doctors described as a late miscarriage.
Lucas had mourned the child.
Eleanor now admitted that the baby survived.
Richard stole her because Emily’s pregnancy occurred before Lucas gained full control of the family trust.
A living heir would have complicated Richard’s plans.
Clara had been raised under another name at one of his private institutions.
Emily discovered Clara’s existence shortly before her death.
The second letter contained proof.
“What about Lily’s twin?” Lucas asked.
Eleanor glanced toward Richard.
Richard’s smile faded.
“She is alive too.”
Lucas felt sick.
“Where?”
Richard tightened his grip on Lily’s shoulder.
“You are not in a position to ask questions.”
Vanessa stepped into the room.
“Mother.”
Eleanor’s gun trembled.
For the first time, her composure broke.
Vanessa looked at her with tears in her eyes.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I did what was necessary.”
“For him?”
Vanessa looked toward Richard.
“You helped him steal babies.”
Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“I gave unwanted children better lives.”
Lucas moved closer to Lily.
“You stole them from parents who loved them.”
Richard raised a second gun.
“Take another step and you lose this daughter too.”
Clara suddenly spoke.
“He is lying.”
Everyone looked at her.
She held Emily’s second letter.
May you like
“He never intended to release Lily.”
“He intends to kill all of us and burn the records.”
