Chapter 9 - Beatrice’s Daughter
Daniel was taken into protective custody.
He refused to speak until Sophie and Evelyn were moved to a secure location. Detective Ortiz arranged a guarded house owned by the federal witness program outside the city.
Caroline came with them.
Julian remained hospitalized after being drugged, and Preston was transferred under police protection.
By sunrise, three federal agencies had entered the investigation.
The Ormond Network touched too many institutions to remain a local case.
Evelyn sat across from Daniel at a kitchen table while Sophie slept upstairs.
Two armed officers waited outside.
Marcus stood near the doorway.
Caroline remained by the window.
Daniel looked at Evelyn for a long time.
“You’re different.”
“You missed eighteen months.”
“I watched you.”
The words made her skin crawl.
“How?”
“Cameras. Reports. Vivian wanted me to see what my absence did to you.”
“And you never tried to contact me?”
“I did. Every message was intercepted.”
“The video at Saint Ormond?”
“I recorded it after escaping the first safe house. I left copies at four locations.”
“You knew Sophie might be kidnapped.”
“I knew Vivian would eventually use her.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked upstairs.
“Sophie remembers Saint Ormond.”
“She wasn’t born.”
“Memory isn’t always individual.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Explain.”
“The program used repeated sensory patterns. Songs, images, phrases, scents. Vivian believed certain memories could be triggered across generations through early conditioning.”
“That sounds impossible.”
“Some of it was. Some of it worked.”
“Did Margaret do something to Sophie?”
“She read her the red book.”
“The stories were conditioning sequences?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn’s anger sharpened.
“You knew Margaret was Vivian.”
“Not when we married.”
“When did you learn?”
“Three years ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I needed proof.”
“You always needed proof more than you needed your family.”
Daniel flinched.
She continued.
“Tell me about Beatrice.”
He looked at Caroline.
Caroline folded her arms.
“You should tell her.”
Daniel began.
“Beatrice Ashford was Julian’s aunt. She discovered that her brother, Julian’s father, had financed Vivian’s research at Saint Ormond. Beatrice tried to expose it.”
“And I was her daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Who was my father?”
“We don’t know.”
“Why did Vivian raise me?”
“To control Beatrice.”
“But Caroline said Beatrice died the night of the fire.”
Daniel nodded.
“She came to take you away. Vivian ordered Zero to stop her.”
“Did he kill her?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel’s silence told her.
Evelyn stood.
“No.”
“You were a child.”
“No.”
“Vivian put the knife in your hand.”
Caroline approached.
“You didn’t understand.”
Evelyn backed away from them.
“I killed my mother.”
“You struck her,” Daniel said. “But the wound wasn’t fatal.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“What?”
“Beatrice survived the first injury.”
“Then how did she die?”
“Vivian locked her inside the east treatment wing when the fire spread.”
Evelyn remembered smoke.
A woman pounding against glass.
Her own hands covered in blood.
A boy pulling her through a corridor.
“Zero saved me,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Where did I hide him?”
“That memory was removed.”
“Why does Vivian want him?”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Zero was the only subject who could resist every stage of conditioning. He learned to imitate obedience while keeping his own mind intact.”
“What is his real name?”
“We never knew.”
“What happened after the fire?”
“He disappeared. Vivian has spent twenty-five years looking for him.”
“Why now?”
“Because someone has been dismantling the Ormond Network from inside. Accounts have vanished. Witnesses have escaped. Files have been sent to investigators.”
“You think it’s Zero.”
“Vivian does.”
Marcus spoke from the doorway.
“Could Zero be the person who sent the police to the wedding?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Possibly.”
“Could he have arranged the camera footage?”
“Yes.”
“Then he may be protecting Evelyn.”
“Or using her.”
Caroline turned away from the window.
“There is something else.”
Everyone looked at her.
“The seventh child was not the only person missing from the photograph.”
She placed an old envelope on the table.
Inside was a second version of the Saint Ormond image.
This one showed eight children.
The eighth stood at the far edge.
A boy with dark hair and a familiar expression.
Julian Ashford.
But the boy previously believed to be Julian remained in the center.
Two children had been assigned the same identity.
Daniel studied the photograph.
“That’s impossible.”
Caroline pointed to the codes.
One boy was marked J-4.
The other was marked J-4R.
“What does R mean?” Evelyn asked.
Daniel’s face changed.
“Replacement.”
Caroline nodded.
“The Julian we know may not be the original Julian Ashford.”
Marcus’s phone rang.
It was the hospital.
Julian had awakened.
His first words were not a request for Caroline.
He asked for Evelyn.
When she took the call, his voice sounded weak.
“You need to leave the safe house.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel knows where it is.”
“He’s here.”
Silence followed.
Then Julian whispered, “That isn’t Daniel.”
The line went dead.
Evelyn slowly looked across the table.
The man wearing Daniel’s face was no longer seated.
May you like
The kitchen door stood open.
Upstairs, Sophie screamed.
