Chapter 10 - EMMA’S SONG
The countdown continued.
09:14.
09:13.
09:12.
Estelle grabbed Emma’s wrist.
Christopher slammed himself against the grate.
“Let her go!”
Emma cried out.
Rachel screamed.
Estelle pulled the child closer.
“Sing.”
Emma shook her head.
“No.”
Estelle’s face became unrecognizable.
All the polished elegance vanished.
“Sing the ending.”
“No.”
Christopher had never felt such helpless rage.
Then Adrian appeared behind them carrying a cutting tool.
“Move.”
He activated it against the grate.
Sparks filled the passage.
Malcolm watched the countdown.
08:42.
“We don’t have enough time.”
Annalise arrived.
“What happens if the wrong sequence is entered?”
Malcolm answered.
“Depends which wrong sequence.”
Rachel stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Some trigger deletion.”
“Some release.”
“Some lock the system permanently.”
Christopher looked through the bars.
“Estelle doesn’t know which.”
“No.”
Rachel suddenly understood.
“My father designed multiple endings.”
Malcolm looked at her.
“Did he teach you all of them?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“Three.”
Estelle heard.
Her expression changed.
“Rachel.”
Rachel stepped closer to the grate.
“You never knew.”
Estelle tightened her grip on Emma.
“Tell me.”
Rachel laughed through tears.
“You ruined six years of my life because you thought there was one key.”
Estelle’s face hardened.
“Tell me.”
“No.”
Emma looked at her mother.
“Blue moon?”
Rachel froze.
Christopher looked between them.
Rachel began crying.
“Yes.”
Emma nodded.
“I remember.”
Estelle shook her.
“What do you remember?”
Emma looked at her.
“My mommy.”
That destroyed Estelle more than defiance.
Rachel spoke softly.
“When Emma was a baby, I changed the last four notes.”
Christopher remembered Rachel winding the box before bedtime.
He had never paid attention.
Rachel continued.
“My father told me never to use the original sequence unless I was certain the archive needed to open.”
“So you changed it.”
“Yes.”
“To what?”
Rachel looked at Emma.
“A lockout code.”
Malcolm stared.
“If Emma remembers that ending…”
Annalise finished.
“She can freeze the system.”
Adrian cut through one bar.
07:51.
Christopher forced the opening wider.
“Emma.”
She looked at him.
“Can you reach the keypad?”
Estelle dragged her back.
“No.”
Christopher stared at his mother.
“You’re finished.”
Estelle laughed.
“Look around.”
“Nothing is finished.”
“You’re surrounded.”
“By people who still think law matters.”
Torres raised her weapon from the tunnel.
“It does.”
Estelle looked toward her.
“You shoot me, the girl falls.”
Christopher’s heart stopped.
Behind Estelle was an open maintenance shaft.
Thirty feet down.
Emma stood dangerously close.
Christopher immediately raised his hands.
“Okay.”
Rachel did the same.
“Estelle.”
Her voice softened.
“Give me Emma.”
Estelle looked at her.
“You still think motherhood gives you authority.”
Rachel’s face changed.
“No.”
“It gives me patience.”
Estelle frowned.
Rachel continued.
“I waited six years.”
“I can wait another minute.”
She looked at Emma.
“Blue moon, sweetheart.”
Emma stared at her.
Rachel smiled.
“Remember the stars.”
Emma’s breathing slowed.
Christopher watched.
He realized Rachel was communicating something.
Estelle realized too late.
Emma suddenly dropped to the floor.
Estelle’s grip slipped.
Christopher ripped through the weakened bar.
Adrian pulled.
The grate broke.
Christopher lunged through.
Estelle reached for Emma.
Rachel reached first.
She pulled Emma away.
Christopher tackled Estelle.
They crashed against the wall.
Torres entered.
“Hands!”
Estelle struck Christopher.
He held her wrists.
“Stop!”
Malcolm pulled him back.
Torres handcuffed Estelle.
For the first time, Estelle Pierce was physically restrained.
She stared at Christopher.
Not frightened.
Hateful.
“You think this changes anything.”
Christopher turned away.
He went to Emma.
Rachel held her.
Emma reached for him too.
The three of them stayed together.
The countdown beeped.
05:02.
Malcolm shouted.
“We still have a problem.”
Everyone turned.
Estelle smiled.
Christopher looked at Emma.
“Do you remember the ending?”
Emma nodded.
“I think.”
Rachel knelt.
“No pressure.”
Malcolm stared.
“We have four minutes.”
Rachel glared.
“She is six.”
Christopher looked at the keypad.
“What are the three endings?”
Rachel explained.
“One opens the archive.”
“One locks it.”
“One destroys local access.”
“Which one did Emma hear?”
“The lock.”
“Are you sure?”
Rachel hesitated.
Christopher saw it.
“No.”
“I changed songs depending on where we were.”
Malcolm looked horrified.
Christopher turned toward Estelle.
She smiled.
“You all thought I was cruel.”
She looked at the timer.
“Now you get to choose.”
Torres pulled her away.
Emma stared at the keypad.
“I remember stars.”
Rachel touched her face.
“What stars?”
“Red stars.”
Christopher remembered the music box lid.
Red paint.
Rachel smiled suddenly.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“The box.”
She looked at Christopher.
“I painted stars in different colors.”
He nodded.
“Red and gold.”
“Exactly.”
“The red stars corresponded to the safe version.”
Malcolm stared.
“How do you know?”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“Because gold was my father’s color for disclosure.”
Christopher looked at Emma.
“Do you remember the red-star song?”
Emma hummed softly.
Four notes.
Rachel began crying.
“That’s it.”
Malcolm entered them.
The keypad flashed.
INVALID.
Everyone froze.
Emma flinched.
“I’m sorry.”
Christopher immediately knelt.
“No.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Rachel whispered.
“Maybe she remembered the gold sequence.”
Malcolm looked at the countdown.
02:37.
Annalise stepped toward the console.
“We need another way.”
“There isn’t one.”
“There is always another way.”
Adrian looked at Samuel’s ledger.
“Samuel.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
Adrian grabbed the book.
“Samuel knew the architecture.”
“He wrote numbers in the margins.”
Christopher understood.
“The tunnel coordinates.”
“Not all of them.”
Adrian flipped through pages.
“Look.”
Several entries had four-digit sequences.
Christopher thought they were account references.
Adrian aligned them.
“Samuel encoded overrides.”
Malcolm took the book.
His face changed.
“You’re right.”
Estelle stopped smiling.
Christopher saw it.
“Which one?”
Malcolm searched.
“Purge reversal.”
01:44.
Pages turned.
Nothing.
01:12.
Emma covered her ears.
Rachel held her.
00:57.
Malcolm shouted.
“I found it.”
He entered six digits.
ACCESS DENIED.
Christopher stared.
“Why?”
Malcolm looked at the screen.
“Needs biometric authorization.”
“Whose?”
The system displayed.
PRIMARY ARCHITECT.
S. SLOAN.
Yvette.
Christopher immediately called her.
No signal.
“Samuel is dead.”
Adrian looked at Christopher.
“Biometrics may recognize a direct descendant.”
Christopher frowned.
“Samuel had no children.”
Annalise whispered.
“Yes, he did.”
Everyone turned.
She looked toward Malcolm.
Malcolm’s face went gray.
Christopher stared.
“What?”
Annalise spoke.
“Yvette miscarried twice.”
“She thought she never carried to term.”
“Stop.”
Malcolm’s voice cracked.
Annalise ignored him.
“Samuel had a daughter before he married Yvette.”
Christopher felt dread.
“Who?”
Annalise looked directly at Rachel.
“Her.”
Rachel froze.
The timer showed.
00:31.
Malcolm shouted.
“Rachel, hand!”
Rachel stood motionless.
“What?”
“Now!”
Christopher pulled her toward the scanner.
Rachel placed her palm against it.
SCANNING.
00:17.
00:16.
00:15.
Rachel stared at Malcolm.
“My father was Samuel?”
Malcolm said nothing.
00:10.
ACCESS ACCEPTED.
PURGE CANCELED.
The room went silent.
Christopher exhaled.
Rachel slowly removed her hand.
Then she turned toward Malcolm.
“My father was Samuel Sloan?”
Malcolm’s face broke.
“Yes.”
Rachel slapped him.
Hard.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“My whole life?”
“Yes.”
“Yvette?”
“She didn’t.”
Rachel stared.
“Who was my mother?”
Malcolm closed his eyes.
Christopher suddenly knew before Malcolm spoke.
“No.”
Malcolm opened his eyes.
Rachel whispered.
“Who?”
Malcolm looked toward Estelle.
And answered.
“Estelle.”
Nobody moved.
Rachel turned slowly.
Estelle Pierce smiled from behind the federal agents.
“Hello, daughter.”
Rachel’s face emptied.
Christopher felt the ground disappear.
Rachel Monroe was Estelle’s biological daughter.
Which meant Rachel and Adrian shared a mother.
Which meant if Adrian truly fathered Emma, the secret was more dangerous than any trust.
Rachel looked toward Emma.
Horror spread across her face.
Then Estelle laughed softly.
“You see?”
She looked at Christopher.
May you like
“This family was never going to survive the truth.”
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