Chapter 9 - THE CHILD UNDER THE CHAPELThe chapel was on an old Vance property in upstate New York.
We arrived before dawn.
Snow covered the cemetery.
Ethan carried the documents.
Julian carried a flashlight.
I carried the key my grandmother had left.
We entered the chapel.
Nothing.
Then I noticed the altar.
A small inscription was carved beneath it.
For the child who was never meant to exist.
I touched it.
A panel opened.
Inside was a staircase.
We descended.
At the bottom was a nursery.
A crib.
A rocking chair.
Photographs.
Dozens of them.
My grandmother had been there.
My mother had been there.
And another woman.
A nanny.
I picked up a photograph.
A baby.
On the back:
LILY.
Ethan stared.
“That's her.”
“Who?”
“The third child.”
Julian looked around.
“She was raised here?”
“For two years.”
“Then where did she go?”
A voice answered from behind us.
“I'm here.”
We turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
She was twenty-five.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
And around her neck was my grandmother's necklace.
She looked at Ethan.
Then me.
“You're my brother.”
I couldn't speak.
She smiled.
“My name is Lily.”
I stepped closer.
“Who raised you?”
“My grandmother.”
“She's dead.”
“I know.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
My heart broke.
She continued.
“She told me I had a family.”
“Why didn't she contact us?”
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Lily looked at the documents.
“The Circle.”
Then she handed me a letter.
My grandmother's handwriting.
Vivienne,
If you have found Lily, then the family has finally begun to heal.
I started crying.
She was never created for the trust.
She was created because I wanted one child to belong only to herself.
I looked at Lily.
She was crying too.
Protect her.
Not because she is a Vance.
Because she is your sister.
The letter ended there.
Then Lily whispered:
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“My grandmother told me who ordered your grandmother's death.”
“Who?”
Lily looked at Ethan.
Then me.
“Your mother.”
I closed my eyes.
Again.
Another betrayal.
But Lily shook her head.
“Not Eleanor.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“She told me the truth.”
Lily pointed toward the doorway.
“Your grandmother was killed by the person who wanted to inherit everything.”
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
Lily whispered:
“Harrison.”
My grandfather.
The man who had supposedly saved me.
The man who had given me the trust.
The man who had exposed my mother.
The man who had manipulated the entire night.
He had killed my grandmother.
And he had been waiting twenty-six years for me to become useful.
My phone rang.
Harrison.
I answered.
“Grandfather.”
His voice was calm.
“Bring me the children.”
I stared at Ethan.
Lily.
Julian.
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand everything.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You understand nothing.”
Then the chapel doors slammed shut.
Gas began filling the room.
Ethan grabbed Lily.
Julian pulled me toward the emergency exit.
We ran.
But before we escaped, I heard Harrison's final words through the speakers.
“Your grandmother didn't leave you an inheritance, Vivienne.”
May you like
A pause.
“She left you a war.”
