Chapter 11 - The Dead Man Behind the Glass)
Arthur looked older than Caroline remembered.
But alive.
Unmistakably alive.
She approached the glass.
“You buried an empty coffin.”
Arthur smiled.
“It was necessary.”
“You stole my children.”
“I protected my family.”
“You stole them.”
Arthur pressed a button.
A door opened.
Caroline heard Agent Reed whisper in her earpiece.
“Do not enter.”
She entered.
Arthur stood alone in a consultation room.
At least visibly.
Caroline scanned the corners.
“Where is Luke?”
“Nearby.”
“Where is Grace?”
“Safe.”
“I heard her crying.”
“Children cry.”
Caroline wanted to hit him.
Instead she stayed still.
“Where is my first child?”
Arthur’s smile changed.
“Now you’re asking properly.”
“What happened?”
“You were twenty-four. Healthy. Excellent genetic compatibility.”
“I’m a person.”
“I never said you weren’t.”
“You tested me without permission.”
“People surrender biological information every day without understanding its value.”
“You chose me for Luke.”
“Yes.”
The ease of the answer frightened her.
“He knew?”
“Not initially.”
“When did he know?”
“Before your engagement.”
Caroline felt another piece of her past break.
Every romantic gesture.
Every coincidence.
Designed.
“You made me pregnant.”
Arthur tilted his head.
“You and Luke accomplished that without assistance.”
“My first baby.”
“A boy.”
Caroline’s hand instinctively covered her current pregnancy.
“A boy?”
“Yes.”
“Then why take him?”
Arthur’s expression hardened.
“Because you tried to leave.”
Caroline remembered the suitcase.
The doorway.
Luke shouting.
“You punished me.”
“We secured the child.”
“Where?”
“He was raised properly.”
“Where?”
Arthur ignored the question.
“Luke was devastated.”
Caroline stared at him.
“Luke thought he lost his son?”
“No. Luke knew.”
Her stomach twisted.
“He knew where the baby went?”
“Yes.”
“And stayed married to me.”
“Yes.”
“He watched me live without knowing I had a son.”
Arthur spoke calmly.
“You were not stable enough to raise him.”
“You drugged me.”
“For your own safety.”
Caroline laughed.
A low broken sound.
“Grace?”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“Grace was an error.”
Caroline stepped forward.
“My daughter is not an error.”
“Female.”
“That is your problem?”
“Not useful to the primary line.”
Caroline stared at the man who had designed years of suffering around bloodlines as casually as choosing furniture.
“Luke pushed me.”
“Yes.”
“Because she was a girl.”
Arthur sighed.
“Luke has always struggled with emotional discipline.”
“You helped him cover it.”
“I preserved the family.”
“And Diane took Grace.”
Arthur’s face hardened.
“Diane betrayed us.”
“She saved her.”
“She stole property.”
Caroline’s expression changed.
“Property?”
Arthur seemed to realize his mistake.
Too late.
Caroline heard Agent Reed’s voice.
“We have that recorded.”
Arthur looked at her ear.
His eyes sharpened.
He moved faster than Caroline expected.
His hand reached toward her.
Before he touched her, an alarm sounded throughout the building.
Red lights flashed.
Arthur stepped backward.
Caroline heard gunfire somewhere down the hall.
Agent Reed shouted through the earpiece.
“Caroline, get down.”
She dropped behind a desk.
Another shot.
Glass shattered.
Arthur disappeared through a side door.
Federal agents entered seconds later.
Reed pulled Caroline up.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Where did he go?”
“There.”
Agents rushed toward the side door.
It opened into a stairwell leading underground.
Luke was nowhere visible.
Neither was Grace.
But in the basement they found something else.
A residential wing.
Small bedrooms.
Classrooms.
A medical examination room.
A locked archive.
And one bedroom containing photographs of the same boy from infancy through childhood.
Blonde hair.
Blue eyes.
Approximately six years old.
On the door was a label.
MILLER MALE P1.
Caroline stared at the most recent photograph.
Her first child.
Her son.
Alive.
May you like
On the back, someone had written a name.
ELLIOT.
