Chapter 7 - The Sister Who Stole Her Name
Jonas died before the ambulance arrived.
The shooter vanished into the surrounding woods.
Adrian’s security officers found tire tracks from an unregistered vehicle and one broken syringe near the basement window.
Mara sat on the farmhouse floor beside Jonas’s body until Adrian placed his coat around her shoulders.
“He lied to me,” she whispered.
“He also died trying to tell you the truth.”
“I don’t know whether to hate him.”
“You don’t need to decide tonight.”
She looked at Adrian.
“How can you be so calm?”
“I’m not calm.”
“You look calm.”
“I learned a long time ago that fear is most useful when no one else can see it.”
Mara looked at Jonas again.
“I learned the same thing.”
Adrian’s gaze held hers.
“That is something Lillian used to say.”
The file from the metal cabinet contained only fragments.
Subject 17 had been admitted to a private neurological institute at approximately fourteen years old.
No birth certificate.
No verified parents.
Severe memory disruption already present before treatment.
Recovery identity assigned: Lillian Vale.
Guardian: Dr. Gideon Vale.
Celeste’s father.
According to the documents, Lillian and Celeste had been raised in the same household.
But there was no legal adoption record.
Several pages had been removed.
A handwritten note remained.
C.V. must never learn which daughter is biological.
Mara reread the sentence.
“One of us was Gideon’s daughter.”
“And he didn’t want either of you to know which,” Adrian said.
“Why?”
“Control.”
They returned to Hawthorne House before dawn.
Celeste was waiting in the main hall.
She wore a pale robe and no makeup, but her composure remained perfect.
“You said Philadelphia.”
“Plans changed,” Adrian replied.
Her gaze moved to the blood on Mara’s sleeve.
“What happened?”
“A man died.”
Celeste’s expression showed practiced concern.
“Who?”
“Jonas Reed.”
This time she could not hide her reaction.
Her face went white.
“You know him?”
“No.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You answered too quickly.”
Celeste folded her arms.
“I am tired of being interrogated in my own home.”
“It isn’t your home yet.”
The words struck harder than Adrian intended.
Celeste looked at him.
“No. It belongs to a dead woman whose shadow you refuse to bury.”
Mara felt something in the room shift.
Celeste turned toward her.
“And now a stranger with a similar face walks in, and suddenly you are willing to believe every impossible story.”
“I haven’t told you what I believe,” Adrian said.
“You don’t have to.”
Celeste moved toward the stairs.
Mara spoke.
“Jonas said we were sisters.”
Celeste stopped.
The silence deepened.
Then she laughed.
It was not a convincing laugh.
“Jonas was insane.”
“You said you didn’t know him.”
Celeste turned back slowly.
“I recognized the name after thinking about it.”
“From where?”
“My father’s old research staff.”
“You were raised with Lillian.”
“Yes.”
“Were you sisters?”
“No.”
“Did Gideon Vale call us both his daughters?”
Celeste’s jaw tightened.
“He rescued Lillian from an institution. She became obsessed with taking everything I had.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You told me you met Lillian at boarding school.”
Celeste looked at him.
“We did attend school together.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“She was unstable. My father wanted her history kept private.”
Mara approached.
“Why were my memories already damaged at fourteen?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know more than you’re saying.”
Celeste’s eyes filled with sudden tears.
“Do you understand what she did to my family? My father spent years helping her. He paid for doctors, schools, everything. And she repaid him by accusing him of crimes.”
“Was Project Orpheus real?”
Celeste’s grief disappeared.
Adrian saw it.
“So you do know,” he said.
Celeste stepped back.
“I know my father’s work was misunderstood.”
“It erased people.”
“It treated unbearable trauma.”
“By removing identity?”
“Sometimes identity is the trauma.”
Mara felt the truth beneath those words.
“You used it on me.”
Celeste looked at her for a long moment.
Then she smiled faintly.
“If you were Lillian, wouldn’t you remember?”
A child’s voice came from the staircase.
“She remembers the song.”
Noah stood there holding his wooden airplane.
Celeste’s face changed.
Noah walked down two steps.
“Mommy told us the bad lady would take her memories.”
Celeste moved toward him.
Adrian stepped between them.
“What else did your mother tell you?” he asked.
Noah looked frightened.
Ethan appeared behind him.
“She told us where she hid the blue key.”
Celeste’s eyes widened.
Adrian noticed.
“Where is it?”
Ethan pointed at Noah’s wooden airplane.
Noah opened the small compartment beneath one wing.
A blue metal key fell into his palm.
Celeste lunged.
Mara caught her wrist.
For one second, both women stared at each other.
Then Celeste whispered so quietly only Mara could hear.
“You have no idea what that key unlocks.”
May you like
Mara tightened her grip.
“Then I suppose we’re about to find out.”
