Chapter 15 - The Sister Behind the Glass
The address led to an estate three hours north of the city.
Claire did not go immediately.
For the first time since Lily’s birth, she stopped reacting.
She took control.
Eleanor provided the location of a private Bennett emergency residence that had never been connected to Northstar’s digital systems.
The rescued captives were transferred to federal custody through a retired prosecutor William had trusted.
Nathan contacted no one without Claire’s approval.
Mara remained nearby.
Jonah disappeared from Distribution Center One before authorities arrived.
Adrian also vanished.
Daniel was placed inside a secured guest room.
Not as a prisoner, Nathan insisted.
Claire locked the door anyway.
Lily slept in a crib beside Claire’s bed.
The sight of her daughter created two conflicting emotions.
Unconditional love.
And horror at what had been done.
Lily was innocent.
Whatever genetic material Northstar had used, whatever succession plan they had designed, Lily was not an asset, beneficiary, key, or project.
She was Claire’s child.
Near dawn, Daniel knocked softly from behind the guest-room door.
“Claire?”
She almost ignored him.
Then she opened the observation panel.
Daniel stood on the other side.
His expensive clothes were torn. One eye was swollen. He looked smaller than the man who had laughed while abandoning her at the hospital.
“I need to tell you something before you go to Margaret,” he said.
“I did not say I was going.”
“You will.”
“What do you know?”
Daniel sat on the floor.
“Adrian contacted me after your first fertility appointment.”
Claire remained standing.
“He told me the clinic had found a serious problem with my genetic screening.”
“What problem?”
“There was no problem. But he said the treatment would fail unless I cooperated.”
“And cooperation meant what?”
“I signed consent forms.”
“For what?”
“I didn’t read all of them.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“You signed documents involving our unborn child without reading them?”
“I thought they were standard.”
“You were recruited to manipulate me. Nothing was standard.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“He paid me.”
The confession did not surprise her.
“How much?”
“Two million.”
Claire stared through the panel.
“I never saw it.”
“It went into an offshore account. Adrian controlled withdrawals. He said I would receive everything after the trust transferred.”
“After I died.”
Daniel’s silence answered.
Claire closed the panel.
“Wait.”
She opened it again.
Daniel had moved closer.
“I never agreed to kill you,” he said.
“You agreed to profit from my death.”
“I thought it was a contingency plan. I told myself no one would actually do it.”
“You told yourself whatever allowed you to spend the money.”
Daniel pressed one hand against the door.
“The night before Lily was born, Adrian called me.”
Claire waited.
“He said the hospital was the final opportunity.”
“For what?”
“To make your death look natural.”
Claire’s blood turned cold.
“What did he ask you to do?”
“Nothing directly. He told me to leave after the birth. He said Northstar needed the room empty.”
Claire remembered Daniel’s sudden urgency about the hotpot dinner.
The insults.
The theatrical cruelty.
“You abandoned us because Adrian ordered you to.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“At first, yes.”
“At first?”
“Then Mom started talking. Vanessa laughed. I was angry at you for hiding the money. I wanted to hurt you.”
Claire felt no sympathy.
Only clarity.
“Why did they not kill me?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire did.
Nathan had arrived.
The accounts had been frozen.
The emergency plan had activated.
Her decision to fight back had disrupted Northstar’s timing.
Daniel continued.
“Adrian said something else.”
“What?”
“He said Margaret would stop the operation if she learned Lily had been born.”
“Why?”
“He said Margaret never approved William’s genetic sample.”
Claire thought about the message.
Bring Lily to Margaret.
The truth about William is waiting.
“Who did approve it?”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“Elise.”
Claire’s twin sister.
The woman lying unconscious beside Margaret.
Claire stepped away from the door.
Nathan entered the hallway.
“The vehicles are ready.”
“You think I should go?”
“No.”
“Then why prepare them?”
“Because you will go whether I approve or not.”
Claire studied him.
“Are you finally going to tell me everything?”
“I no longer know what everything means.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It is the truth.”
Claire looked toward Lily’s room.
“Margaret wants me alone.”
“She will not get you alone.”
“If she sees you, she may kill Elise.”
“If you go alone, she may take Lily.”
“She will not.”
Nathan’s voice softened.
“You cannot know that.”
Claire returned to Lily’s room.
She lifted her daughter from the crib.
The baby opened her eyes.
Claire had William’s photograph on the table.
The man who raised her.
The man whose genetic material had apparently been used to create Lily.
The man who had hidden Claire’s birth, separated twins, built a trust, investigated Northstar, and died carrying secrets powerful enough to destroy everyone involved.
Claire touched the edge of the photograph.
“Who were you?” she whispered.
At seven in the morning, they left the safe residence.
Mara drove the main vehicle.
Nathan sat beside her.
Claire rode in the rear with Lily.
A second security vehicle followed at a distance.
Daniel remained behind under guard.
At least, that was the plan.
Twenty miles into the journey, Mara checked the mirror.
“The second vehicle is gone.”
Nathan called the security team.
No answer.
Claire’s phone rang.
Daniel.
She answered.
“I told them I was sick,” he said. “They opened the door.”
“Where are you?”
“Following you.”
“Turn around.”
“I can help.”
“You have done enough.”
“Claire, there is something in the car with you.”
Nathan turned in his seat.
“What?”
Daniel spoke quickly.
“When I was held at Distribution Center Three, Adrian showed me the emergency residence schematics. Northstar installed tracking hardware inside the infant carrier.”
Claire looked at Lily’s carrier.
Mara pulled onto the shoulder.
Nathan opened the lower panel.
Inside was a blinking black transmitter.
Beneath it was a tiny glass vial.
Mara’s face changed.
“Do not touch it.”
“What is it?” Claire asked.
“A pressure-triggered device.”
Nathan examined the wiring.
“If we remove the transmitter incorrectly, the vial breaks.”
“What is inside?”
Mara looked at Lily.
“Probably a contact toxin.”
Claire’s phone received an incoming video call.
Margaret appeared on the screen.
Behind her, Elise remained unconscious in the hospital bed.
“You found the device,” Margaret said.
Claire’s voice became cold.
“Did you put it there?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Elise.”
Claire looked at the sleeping woman.
“You said she was unconscious.”
“She is now.”
“What does the device do?”
“It ensures Lily reaches the estate.”
“Why?”
Margaret turned the camera.
The estate stood behind a wall of glass overlooking a frozen lake.
Several armed men waited near the entrance.
In the center of the room was a medical cradle connected to a complex machine.
Claire held Lily tighter.
Margaret faced the camera again.
“Because your daughter is not merely William Bennett’s heir.”
“Then what is she?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“She is the only person who can wake your sister.”
The call ended.
Mara stared at the road ahead.
Nathan continued examining the transmitter.
Daniel’s voice remained on the phone.
“Claire, I can see your car.”
She looked through the rear window.
A vehicle appeared in the distance.
Daniel was driving.
Behind him came three black SUVs.
They were gaining quickly.
Nathan looked at Claire.
“We have less than five minutes before they reach us.”
Mara started the engine.
“Do we continue to the estate?”
Claire looked down at Lily.
The baby’s small hand closed around her finger.
Ahead waited Margaret, Elise, the machine, and the truth about William.
Behind them came Daniel and an armed convoy whose loyalty was unknown.
Beneath Lily’s carrier, the black transmitter continued blinking.
Then the device emitted a soft beep.
A digital timer illuminated.
04:59.
04:58.
04:57.
Claire raised her eyes.
“Drive.”
Mara accelerated toward the northern mountains.
May you like
Behind them, the first black SUV moved into the passing lane.
And inside the estate beside the frozen lake, Elise Reed suddenly opened her eyes.
