Chapter 13 - THE THIRD HEIR
The teenage girl in the image appeared to be approximately fifteen.
She had Lily’s gray eyes, Emma’s jawline, and Renata’s dark-blonde hair.
On her wrist was a yellow hospital bracelet marked 1104.
“The second child,” Renata whispered.
Emma looked at Daniel.
“Your daughter.”
He gripped the edge of the desk.
“If the records are true.”
The live feed showed Claire leading the girl through a clinical corridor.
Detective Voss’s team traced the transmission to an abandoned St. Orison’s research facility thirty miles north of Bellweather.
Police prepared to raid it.
Grant insisted on going.
Voss refused.
“You have a concussion, and the person inside has already abducted you once.”
“That person has my wife.”
“You do not know that Claire is there willingly.”
Grant stared at the screen.
“She is alive.”
“We don’t know when this footage was recorded.”
“The time stamp is live.”
“Time stamps can be manipulated.”
Lily pointed toward the teenage girl’s hand.
She was tapping against her leg.
Two.
Pause.
Three.
The same signal.
Camera two, camera three.
Or something more.
Emma replayed the clip.
The girl tapped again.
Two.
Three.
Then seven.
B.
C.
G.
Lily wrote beneath it.
B CAGE.
Emma realized the two and three formed separate letters only when followed by another number.
B.
C.
G.
The girl was spelling.
B CAGE.
“She’s in Basement Cage G,” Emma said.
Detective Voss radioed the tactical team.
The St. Orison’s facility had two underground levels. Architectural plans showed laboratory rooms labeled A through H.
Cage G was likely a secured observation suite.
Before Voss left, Emma caught her arm.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“She communicated in a code Lily understands.”
“That does not make you law enforcement.”
“It makes me someone she may trust.”
Voss looked at Grant, then Lily.
“You remain behind the tactical line. You enter only when cleared.”
The facility stood beyond a dead orchard, its windows boarded and roofs collapsing.
Emma rode with Voss. Grant defied medical advice and followed in another vehicle. Daniel came as well.
Renata stayed with Lily under police protection at Vale House.
As the tactical team entered, Emma watched from behind an armored van.
Gunshots sounded inside.
Then an explosion shook the lower floor.
Smoke rose through broken windows.
Voss’s radio crackled.
“Basement secured. One suspect fled through the north tunnel. We have two female victims.”
Emma was cleared to enter.
The underground corridor smelled of antiseptic and smoke.
In Room G, they found the teenage girl strapped to a medical chair. She was conscious but disoriented.
Claire lay on the floor beside her.
Grant rushed past the officers.
“Claire.”
He fell to his knees.
Claire opened her eyes.
For two years, Grant had grieved her.
For two years, Lily had slept beneath her photograph.
Now Claire lifted one shaking hand and touched his face.
“You came.”
Grant could not speak.
Emma approached the teenage girl.
“My name is Emma.”
The girl’s eyes focused.
“I know.”
Her voice was hoarse.
“What is your name?”
“Eva.”
Renata’s second daughter.
Daniel’s biological child.
Potential heir to the other half of the Vale trust.
“Who brought you here?”
“A woman called Helena.”
“Sophia?”
Eva nodded.
“Where did she go?”
“Tunnel.”
“Why was Claire here?”
Eva looked toward the woman on the floor.
“She rescued me.”
Claire tried to sit up.
Grant supported her.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
Claire’s expression filled with pain.
“Running.”
“You let us believe you were dead.”
“I thought it was the only way to keep Lily alive.”
“You left her with me.”
“I left her with Eleanor.”
Grant looked toward the doorway.
Eleanor had arrived despite police instructions.
Claire saw her.
Fear crossed her face.
“No.”
Eleanor stopped.
“Claire.”
“Keep her away from me.”
Grant stood between them.
“Why?”
Claire pointed toward Eleanor’s cane.
“The handle.”
Detective Voss took the cane and twisted the silver grip.
A small glass vial slid from the hollow shaft.
It contained a clear liquid.
Eleanor stared at it.
“I have never seen that.”
Claire began shaking.
“That drug was used on the yacht.”
Voss sealed the vial in an evidence bag.
Eleanor looked at Grant.
“Someone placed it there.”
“Everyone says evidence was planted,” Grant said. “Everyone except Lily.”
Claire’s head turned.
“Lily.”
“She’s safe.”
“Where?”
“At the house with Renata.”
Claire tried to stand.
“No. Renata isn’t the danger.”
Grant’s face tightened.
“Then who is?”
Claire looked at Emma for the first time.
Recognition filled her eyes.
“Emma.”
“You knew me.”
“I watched you grow.”
“You knew what I was.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Sophia wanted all three heirs together.”
Emma looked toward Eva.
“All three?”
Claire nodded.
“Lily, Eva, and you.”
“I’m not Grant’s child.”
“No.”
“Then how am I an heir?”
Claire stared at Eleanor.
“Because Daniel was never Eleanor’s biological son.”
Eleanor’s face emptied.
Claire continued.
“Daniel was Sophia’s son.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“No.”
“Sophia switched you in the nursery too.”
“Why?”
“To place her bloodline inside the Vale family.”
Eleanor looked as though the floor had shifted beneath her.
Claire turned to Emma.
“You are Daniel’s daughter. Eva is Grant’s.”
Everyone began speaking at once.
Renata’s twins were not connected to the fathers they believed.
Emma was Daniel’s daughter.
Eva was Grant’s.
Lily’s paternity was suddenly uncertain.
Claire gripped Emma’s arm.
“The DNA files are false. All of them.”
“Then who is Lily’s father?” Grant asked.
Claire looked at him.
Before she could answer, the facility lights went out.
A gunshot echoed from the tunnel.
When the emergency lamps activated, Eva was gone.
On the medical chair lay a card.
May you like
THREE HEIRS.
ONE THRONE.
