Chapter 14 - THE WOMAN IN THE YELLOW HOUSE
Hadrian did not remember crossing the hallway.
He remembered Ortiz shouting.
He remembered officers raising weapons.
He remembered taking the stairs three at a time.
Sorrel’s bedroom door stood open.
The room was empty.
The window was closed.
The closet was empty.
Hadrian’s heart stopped.
“Sorrel!”
No answer.
Ortiz reached him.
“Clear the room.”
Officers moved through every space.
Dr. Cole emerged from the guest room.
“What happened?”
“Where is Sorrel?”
“She went to get her rabbit.”
Hadrian looked toward the attic stairs.
The small door was open.
He ran.
The attic was dark.
A floorboard creaked.
Hadrian stopped.
“Sorrel?”
Celeste’s voice came from behind stacked boxes.
“Do not come closer.”
Hadrian felt rage and fear collide.
He raised his hands.
“I’m not moving.”
Ortiz remained several steps behind him.
Celeste stepped into view.
She held no weapon.
Sorrel stood beside her.
Not restrained.
Not crying.
Hadrian almost collapsed with relief.
Sorrel immediately ran to him.
“Daddy.”
He caught her.
Celeste did not stop her.
Ortiz raised her weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Celeste lifted both hands.
“I came here to surrender.”
Hadrian stared.
“You broke into my house.”
“It is not your house.”
“It belongs to Eleanor’s estate.”
Hadrian almost laughed at the technicality.
Ortiz handcuffed Celeste.
“You violated bail.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Celeste looked at Hadrian.
“Because Sebastian was going to kill me.”
“You could have gone to police.”
“I did not know which police belonged to him.”
Ortiz’s expression hardened.
“And you thought breaking into a protected residence was smarter?”
“I knew Hadrian’s security system.”
Hadrian’s anger sharpened.
“Because you spent months spying on us.”
Celeste lowered her eyes.
Sorrel clung to Hadrian.
He could feel her trembling again.
He wanted Celeste removed immediately.
Then Celeste said.
“The court filing was Sebastian’s order.”
Hadrian froze.
“What?”
“He made me file it.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
She looked exhausted.
“I expect you to check the metadata.”
Gideon did.
The filing had been prepared from an IP address linked to a North Cedar server.
Celeste’s electronic signature was valid.
But someone else had drafted it.
“Why sign?”
Hadrian asked.
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“Because he had Livia.”
Hadrian stared.
“What do you care about Livia?”
Celeste looked at Sorrel.
“More than I cared six months ago.”
Hadrian felt disgust.
“You do not get redemption because you changed your mind after being caught.”
“I know.”
Celeste did not argue.
“I am not asking for redemption.”
“Then what?”
“Protection.”
“From Sebastian?”
“And Marcus.”
Hadrian frowned.
“You told me Marcus was trying to betray Sebastian.”
“He is.”
“Then why fear both?”
“Because Marcus wants Project Orchard for himself.”
Ortiz moved closer.
“What does that mean?”
Celeste swallowed.
“B-6 is worth more than Vale Meridian.”
Dr. Sethi, listening through a call, objected.
“No child’s genome is worth—”
Celeste interrupted.
“You still think B-6 is just a child.”
Hadrian stared.
“What is B-6?”
Celeste looked at him.
“A treatment.”
Silence.
She explained.
Sebastian’s illegal editing had targeted the Cross family neurological mutation.
But the modifications accidentally affected another cellular repair pathway.
Early tests suggested extraordinary resistance to certain degenerative processes.
Not immortality.
Not magic.
But a potentially revolutionary gene-therapy template.
If replicated, the intellectual property could be worth tens of billions.
Hadrian felt sick.
Sebastian did not want the child because of family.
Marcus did not want the child because of family.
They wanted biological information.
A living patent.
Dr. Sethi spoke sharply.
“A human being cannot be patented.”
Celeste laughed without humor.
“Tell Sebastian.”
Hadrian looked at her.
“Where is B-6?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does Marcus?”
“No.”
“Sebastian?”
“No.”
“Then who does?”
Celeste looked toward the patchwork rabbit.
“Eleanor did.”
Hadrian’s chest tightened.
“Eleanor is dead.”
“Exactly.”
The attic became silent.
Celeste continued.
“That is why they need Sorrel and Livia.”
“The girls may share enough inherited markers to help locate B-6 through medical databases.”
Hadrian remembered genetic matching.
“Sebastian has Livia.”
“Yes.”
“Does he have her DNA?”
“Probably.”
“Then why does he still need Sorrel?”
“Confirmation.”
Dr. Sethi interrupted.
“Not necessarily.”
Hadrian turned toward the phone.
“What?”
“If B-6 underwent genetic editing, Sorrel and Livia together provide a stronger baseline.”
Celeste nodded.
“Sebastian said the same thing.”
Hadrian tightened his hold around Sorrel.
“Then he will come for her.”
“Yes.”
Ortiz escorted Celeste downstairs.
Sorrel whispered.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Why did Celeste come here?”
Hadrian glanced at the woman being led away.
“I don’t know yet.”
Sorrel looked at Celeste.
Then quietly said.
“She told me she was sorry.”
Hadrian’s expression hardened.
“What did you say?”
Sorrel looked confused.
“I told her sorry does not unlock everything.”
Hadrian stared at his daughter.
Then hugged her.
“No.”
“It doesn’t.”
At the police station, Celeste agreed to a proffer interview.
She confessed to the guardianship conspiracy.
The forged documents.
The manipulation.
The chain.
The staged photographs.
The removal of Marta.
She admitted allowing Marcus to arrange Marta’s crash.
She denied ordering it.
She admitted knowing Sebastian was alive.
She admitted participating in surveillance.
She admitted accepting payments.
Hadrian listened behind one-way glass.
Every admission made him angrier.
Yet every admission also built the case.
Then Celeste reached Eleanor’s death.
“I did follow her.”
Hadrian stopped breathing.
Ortiz asked.
“On October ninth?”
“Yes.”
“Did you damage her car?”
“No.”
“Did Marcus?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Sebastian?”
“He ordered someone.”
“Who?”
Celeste hesitated.
“Malcolm Price.”
Hadrian stared.
The board director.
Malcolm had not merely supported Marcus politically.
He had been involved from the beginning.
Ortiz asked.
“What did Price do?”
“He arranged access to the parking garage where Eleanor’s car was serviced.”
“Did he personally cut the brake line?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Price now?”
Celeste looked at the table.
“With Sebastian.”
Hadrian remembered Malcolm disconnecting from the board call.
Police had searched his office.
His assistant disappeared.
Malcolm had probably fled.
Celeste continued.
“Sebastian is not at the pharmaceutical facility.”
Ortiz looked up.
“He sent us coordinates.”
“Decoy.”
“Where is he?”
Celeste swallowed.
“Crosshaven.”
Julian, listening remotely, went silent.
Hadrian frowned.
“What is Crosshaven?”
Julian answered.
“Private island.”
Hadrian stared.
“Your family owns an island?”
“Owned.”
“Where?”
“Off Nova Scotia.”
“Why did you never mention it?”
“Because it was sold fifteen years ago.”
Celeste shook her head.
“No.”
“Sebastian moved it into a shell trust.”
Julian cursed.
Crosshaven had an old research facility.
Private dock.
Airstrip.
Underground storage.
Perfect for Sebastian.
Canadian authorities were notified.
The operation would require coordination.
Hadrian wanted to leave immediately.
Ortiz stopped him.
“You are a civilian.”
“He has my daughter.”
“Livia does not know you.”
The words hurt.
Ortiz continued.
“Naomi is her legal mother.”
“She is also captive.”
“Yes.”
“We are rescuing both.”
Hadrian nodded.
He knew Ortiz was right.
He also knew sitting still would be torture.
Celeste requested to speak to Hadrian privately.
He refused.
She asked again.
He refused.
Then she told Ortiz.
“Tell him I know what Sorrel-2 means.”
Hadrian entered the interview room three minutes later.
Celeste looked at him.
“You hate me.”
Hadrian sat.
“That word is too small.”
She accepted it.
“What is Sorrel-2?”
Celeste leaned forward.
“It was not the twin.”
“We know Livia has another name.”
“No.”
“I mean the archive label was not referring to Livia.”
Hadrian frowned.
“What then?”
“Sorrel-2 was a blood sample.”
“From whom?”
Celeste looked at him.
“Eleanor.”
“That makes no sense.”
“She labeled it Sorrel-2 because she did not trust North Cedar to understand what it really was.”
“What was it?”
Celeste took a breath.
“A maternity test.”
Hadrian stared.
“For Sorrel?”
“For B-6.”
His chest tightened.
“What did it show?”
“I only saw Marcus’s notes.”
“What did they say?”
Celeste looked genuinely uneasy.
“They said Eleanor was not B-6’s biological mother.”
Hadrian froze.
“But her egg created B-6.”
“That is what everyone believed.”
Hadrian felt cold.
“And me?”
Celeste met his eyes.
“According to Marcus, you were not the biological father either.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Hadrian stood.
“Then whose embryo was it?”
Celeste shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Hadrian’s anger rose.
“You always know just enough to be useful.”
“I know one more thing.”
“What?”
“Eleanor discovered the real parents.”
Hadrian waited.
Celeste spoke.
“That is why Sebastian killed her.”
The door opened.
Ortiz entered quickly.
“We have movement at Crosshaven.”
Hadrian turned.
Canadian surveillance had detected a helicopter landing.
Thermal imaging showed at least nine people.
Two smaller heat signatures matched children.
Hadrian’s heart pounded.
“Two children?”
Ortiz nodded.
Hadrian looked at Celeste.
“Who is the second child?”
Celeste went pale.
“I don’t know.”
Crosshaven surveillance zoomed in.
A figure emerged from the main building.
Livia.
Beside her stood another girl.
Similar age.
Blonde.
Thin.
Hadrian stared at the unknown child.
Dr. Sethi received the image.
She compared it with Project Orchard records.
Then she called.
Her voice was shaken.
“I think we found B-6.”
Hadrian gripped the phone.
“How?”
“Facial morphology.”
“That is not enough.”
“No.”
Dr. Sethi continued.
“But one of the Project Orchard files contains a neonatal photograph.”
The photograph appeared on Hadrian’s screen.
A newborn girl wearing a coded bracelet.
B-6.
Hadrian looked between the old photograph and the child on Crosshaven.
Dr. Sethi whispered.
“The age matches.”
Hadrian’s heart pounded.
Sebastian had found the child Eleanor died protecting.
May you like
And now all three girls connected to Project Orchard were in his reach.
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