Chapter 10 - What Lily Remembered)
Nathan survived.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder without striking an artery.
Adrian Cole was taken to a private medical facility under armed guard rather than a public hospital.
Marcus knew that decision existed somewhere between legal and reckless.
He no longer cared.
He wanted Elena.
But Adrian refused to speak.
Until Lily arrived.
Marcus had not wanted her anywhere near him.
Then Lily said something during breakfast the next morning.
"I know that man."
Marcus lowered his coffee.
"Adrian?"
"No."
She pointed to a photograph from the recovered ledger.
A gray-haired man Marcus had never seen.
Senator Jonathan Wren.
Former prosecutor.
Current chairman of a powerful national security committee.
Marcus's stomach tightened.
"Where did you see him?"
Lily frowned.
"I don't know."
Rebecca crouched beside her.
"Close your eyes."
Marcus looked at Rebecca sharply.
"What are you doing?"
"Helping her remember normally. No tricks."
Lily closed her eyes.
Rebecca spoke softly.
"Don't try to find the memory. Tell me what happens when you see his face."
Lily was quiet.
"Cold."
"Why cold?"
"A room."
"What color?"
"Blue."
Marcus watched his daughter.
Lily's brow furrowed.
"Mommy was holding me."
Marcus's heart slammed.
"How old were you?"
Lily shrugged.
"Little."
"Anything else?"
"A fish."
Rebecca looked confused.
"A fish?"
"On the wall. Big blue fish."
Nathan, his arm in a sling, searched photographs.
"There was an Aurelia satellite clinic decorated as a children's aquatic center."
He turned the laptop.
Blue walls.
Painted fish.
Lily opened her eyes.
"That place."
Marcus felt sick.
"What happened there?"
Lily stared at Senator Wren's photograph.
"He yelled at Mommy."
"What did he say?"
"I don't remember."
Rebecca nodded.
"That's okay."
Lily looked at Marcus.
"He said Mommy shouldn't have brought me."
Marcus crouched.
"And then?"
"Grandpa came."
Marcus froze.
His father had already been dead when Lily was three.
"Grandpa Charles?"
Lily shook her head.
"No."
Marcus stared.
"You never met your other grandfather."
Elena had told him both her parents died when she was young.
Lily pointed at the old photograph from Aurelia.
Not Charles.
Not Elias Vale.
A man standing partly behind the others.
Marcus had barely noticed him.
"That Grandpa."
Rebecca gasped.
She pulled the photograph closer.
"Impossible."
Marcus turned.
"Who is he?"
Rebecca looked at Lily.
Then Marcus.
"Dr. Samuel Marrow."
Elena's father.
Marcus felt the room tilt.
"You told me he died."
"He was supposed to be dead."
Rebecca stared at the image.
"Samuel Marrow founded the research that became Aurelia."
Marcus whispered, "Elena's father created it?"
"Not the version we knew."
Rebecca shook her head.
"Samuel studied trauma recovery after his wife suffered brain damage. Elias Vale turned the research into human experimentation."
"And Elena became a subject?"
"After Samuel disappeared."
Marcus looked at Lily.
"Why would Elena tell me her father was dead if he wasn't?"
Rebecca answered softly.
"Maybe she thought he was."
Nathan entered a name into several databases.
Then stopped.
"I've got something."
An obituary.
Dr. Samuel Marrow.
Died 1998.
Marcus frowned.
"That's fake."
"Maybe."
Nathan opened another record.
A photograph from a medical conference in Canada.
2019.
A man in the background.
Older.
Same facial structure.
Samuel Marrow.
Alive.
Marcus turned toward the room where Adrian was being held.
"Let's ask him."
Adrian was pale from surgery but still smug.
Marcus placed Samuel's photograph beside his bed.
Adrian looked at it.
His smile vanished.
"Where is he?"
Adrian said nothing.
Marcus placed Senator Wren's photograph beside it.
"Where is Elena?"
Still nothing.
Then Lily's voice came from the doorway.
Marcus turned sharply.
He had told Claire to keep her outside.
Lily looked at Adrian.
Adrian went rigid.
For the first time, Marcus saw fear in his eyes.
Lily pointed toward him.
"You were there too."
Adrian's face drained.
Marcus slowly turned back.
"At the clinic?"
Adrian whispered, "Get her out."
Lily frowned.
"You had blood on your shirt."
Adrian began breathing faster.
"Get her out of here."
Marcus leaned close.
"Whose blood?"
Adrian looked at Lily.
Then screamed:
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE SAW!"
Silence.
Marcus straightened.
"Then tell me."
Adrian's arrogance collapsed.
He stared at the ceiling.
Finally, he whispered:
"Elena killed a man that night."
Marcus froze.
"Who?"
May you like
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Senator Wren's son."
