Chapter 8 - The Memory They Tried to Steal
Alexander did not tell Lily about the threat.
He wanted her removed from New York immediately.
Daniel objected.
“They’ll follow.”
“Then let them.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No, Daniel. You don’t understand. I spent four years believing my wife was dead. I just learned my father may have ordered an experiment that crippled my daughter. I am finished allowing other people to decide what happens to my family.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That sounds exactly like William.”
Alexander nearly hit him again.
Instead, Lily’s voice interrupted.
“Daddy?”
She sat in the doorway with Evelyn.
Alexander softened instantly.
“What are you doing awake?”
“I heard Mommy’s name.”
He glanced at Evelyn.
She shook her head.
Lily wheeled closer.
“Is Mommy alive?”
No one spoke.
Lily looked at Alexander.
“You said always believe me.”
He knelt.
“Yes.”
“So tell me.”
Alexander’s eyes burned.
“I think she might be.”
Lily stared.
Then her lower lip trembled.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t she come home?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does she still love me?”
Alexander took her hands.
“More than anything.”
Lily began to cry.
Not loudly.
That somehow hurt more.
She leaned into him.
“I want my mommy.”
Alexander held her.
“So do I.”
After Lily fell asleep again, Daniel showed Alexander a series of videos recovered from Blackridge.
The footage was dated before the accident.
Claire sat with Lily in a therapy room.
Claire placed colored blocks on a table.
Blue.
Red.
Yellow.
White.
“Blue means safe,” Claire said.
Toddler Lily laughed.
“Blue safe.”
“Red?”
“Stop.”
“Yellow?”
“Daddy.”
Claire smiled.
“White?”
Lily clapped.
“Home.”
Alexander watched the video three times.
“Why was she teaching this?”
“Memory anchors,” Daniel said.
“She knew someone might manipulate Lily later.”
Another video.
Claire pointed at four numbers.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Lily repeated them.
Then Claire rearranged them.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Different sequences.
Daniel said, “Claire may have hidden the archive access code inside games.”
Alexander remembered the blue key.
17.
“What does seventeen mean?”
“Room seventeen was mine. It became Claire’s emergency storage site.”
“And North House?”
Daniel shook his head.
The next video began.
Claire was alone.
She looked directly at the camera.
“If you’re watching this, Lily may already have been injured.”
Alexander’s breathing changed.
“I need you to understand that nothing they tell you about her recovery is trustworthy.”
Claire’s face tightened with emotion.
“She can improve. William knows that. They’re preventing it.”
Alexander stood abruptly.
“What?”
Daniel paused the video.
Alexander stared at him.
“What does she mean preventing it?”
“We found medication records.”
“For what?”
“Muscle suppression. Sedatives. Nerve response inhibitors.”
Alexander’s face became white.
“Lily takes medication every day.”
Daniel nodded.
Alexander turned toward the door.
“Evelyn!”
Within minutes, Lily’s prescription bottles covered the kitchen table.
The labels showed legitimate physicians.
Daniel compared codes from Blackridge records.
Three matched.
Alexander called Lily’s current neurologist.
The doctor insisted the medications were appropriate.
Alexander sent images to an independent specialist in Boston.
The reply came twenty minutes later.
STOP ADMINISTRATION AND SEEK IMMEDIATE EVALUATION.
The dosages, the specialist explained, were unusually high and could suppress motor response.
Alexander sat motionless.
For years, he had given Lily medicine he believed helped her.
What if it had been keeping her in the wheelchair?
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Rebecca’s voice.
“Did you enjoy Claire’s videos?”
Alexander stood.
“Where are you?”
“That isn’t the question you should ask.”
“Put Claire on.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You still think this is about Claire.”
“You touch her and—”
“What? You’ll destroy me?”
Her voice hardened.
“You don’t even know who I am.”
“I know enough.”
“No. You know Rebecca Hayes, foundation director. You know the woman who slept in your bed and smiled at your daughter.”
Alexander’s grip tightened.
“What should I know?”
“That Rebecca Hayes died when she was nine.”
Silence.
Alexander looked at Daniel.
Rebecca continued.
“Ask your brother about Subject 02.”
Daniel went pale.
The call ended.
Alexander lowered the phone.
“Who was Subject 02?”
Daniel said nothing.
May you like
“Daniel.”
His brother whispered, “Rebecca.”
