Chapter 18 - THE MAN BEHIND THE NAME
The steel door locked with a heavy metallic click.
Eleanor turned toward it, her pulse pounding.
Daniel tried the handle.
“It's sealed.”
Her father remained beside the monitors, completely calm.
“You always were impatient.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“You don't get to call yourself my father.”
He smiled faintly.
“But I am.”
“You disappeared.”
“I was forced to.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“For years?”
“Yes.”
“You watched Lily.”
“Yes.”
“You watched Emily.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor's hands curled into fists.
“And you did nothing.”
“I was waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you to remember.”
Eleanor looked at the monitors.
The screens were still black.
“Where are my daughters?”
“Safe.”
“Bring them here.”
“Not yet.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“You've already taken seven years from me.”
“I didn't take them.”
“Then who did?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Your husband.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Don't put this on me.”
“You married her under false information.”
“I didn't know.”
“You knew enough.”
Eleanor turned toward Daniel.
“What is he talking about?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I swear I didn't know.”
Her father laughed.
“You've always been good at pretending.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The man looked at him.
“Thomas Whitmore.”
Daniel froze.
“My father's name was Charles.”
“Charles was the name I used.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“You were Charles?”
He nodded.
“The man everyone believed died in that accident.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“But I saw his body.”
“No.”
“You were there.”
“I made sure you believed I was dead.”
Eleanor felt sick.
“Why?”
“Because Edward was trying to kill me.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew what he had done.”
“What did he do?”
Thomas walked toward a desk.
He opened a drawer.
Inside were four passports.
One belonged to Eleanor.
One to Lily.
One to Emily.
And one to the seventeen-year-old girl.
But there was another passport underneath.
Thomas lifted it.
The photograph showed a woman Eleanor had never seen.
Yet the name stopped her heart.
SARAH BENNETT.
“Sarah is alive.”
Eleanor stared.
“Where?”
Thomas looked toward the ceiling.
“Closer than you think.”
A hidden elevator opened.
Someone stepped out.
Eleanor froze.
The woman looked older than the photographs.
Her hair was streaked with gray.
Her eyes were red from years of tears.
But Eleanor recognized her.
Sarah.
She whispered,
“Mom?”
The woman stopped.
Eleanor's entire body went numb.
Sarah began crying.
“My little girl.”
Eleanor couldn't move.
Daniel looked between them.
“You're her mother.”
Sarah nodded.
“I am.”
Eleanor's voice trembled.
“Why did you leave me?”
Sarah looked at Thomas.
“He took you.”
Thomas shook his head.
“She was going to die.”
Sarah's expression hardened.
“You lied to me.”
“I saved her.”
“You stole my daughter.”
Eleanor stared at them.
“Stop.”
Both turned.
“You don't get to decide who saved me.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“I wanted to come back.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because every time I tried, someone disappeared.”
Eleanor frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Sarah wiped her tears.
“Your father had enemies.”
Thomas corrected her.
“They weren't my enemies.”
“They were yours too.”
Sarah looked at Eleanor.
“Your birth exposed something.”
“What?”
“Your bloodline.”
Eleanor felt a chill.
“You keep saying that.”
Sarah nodded.
“Because it matters.”
She took a small envelope from her coat.
“This is the original record.”
Eleanor took it.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
The document contained four names.
Eleanor.
Lily.
Emily.
And Sarah's daughter.
But beneath their names was a fifth entry.
UNKNOWN MALE CHILD.
Eleanor looked up.
“What is this?”
Sarah whispered,
“The child your father believed died.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who?”
Sarah looked at him.
“Your brother.”
Daniel froze.
“Michael?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Sarah's voice broke.
“His twin.”
Daniel stared.
“I had a twin?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Sarah looked toward Thomas.
“He was taken.”
“By whom?”
Thomas answered,
“Edward.”
Eleanor's heart raced.
“So Edward took Daniel's twin?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he needed a replacement heir.”
Daniel looked devastated.
“Then Michael isn't my brother.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Michael is.”
“Then who is the other child?”
Nobody answered.
A phone rang.
Sarah looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Thomas took the phone.
The message contained a photograph.
Lily.
Then another photograph.
Emily.
Then a third.
The seventeen-year-old girl.
All three were standing in different rooms.
Under each photograph was a number.
ONE.
TWO.
THREE.
Eleanor whispered,
“What does that mean?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Someone has restarted the experiment.”
Her blood ran cold.
“What experiment?”
Sarah stepped closer.
“The one your family buried twenty years ago.”
Eleanor looked at the monitors.
A fourth screen suddenly came alive.
A little boy stood inside a room.
He looked about eight years old.
Eleanor stared.
His face looked familiar.
Too familiar.
Thomas whispered,
“The fourth subject.”
The boy lifted his head.
His eyes met the camera.
Then he smiled.
Eleanor felt a strange recognition.
She had seen those eyes before.
In her childhood.
In her dreams.
In the photograph.
She whispered,
“Who is that?”
Thomas answered,
“Your brother.”
May you like
The screen went black.
And from somewhere inside the building came the sound of a child laughing.
