Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO CREATED THE LIE
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Eleanor didn't run.
She came directly to the place where she knew we would gather.
The old Whitmore mansion.
The same mansion where Adrian had once told me he loved me.
The same house where his mother had shown him the photographs that destroyed our relationship.
Now it was surrounded by federal agents.
But Eleanor knew the estate better than anyone.
She disappeared into the underground tunnels.
Adrian led us through the old wine cellar.
“Stay behind me.”
I hated hearing the same protective command from him.
But I followed.
We reached a hidden laboratory.
Eleanor stood inside.
She had my daughter.
My heart stopped.
“Put her down.”
Eleanor held the baby carefully.
“She is not hurt.”
“Give her to me.”
“Not yet.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You're done.”
She looked at him.
“I did all of this for you.”
“No.”
“For the family.”
“No.”
“For the company.”
He shook his head.
“You did it for yourself.”
Eleanor's face hardened.
“You were nothing before I built your career.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
“You would have been destroyed without me.”
“You destroyed me.”
Silence.
Eleanor turned toward me.
“You should never have survived.”
I felt cold.
“Why?”
“Because your mother contaminated everything.”
“What did she do?”
“She created the first unauthorized embryo.”
I stared.
“What?”
Eleanor explained.
My mother had taken genetic material from the old research program and used it to conceive a child outside the Whitmore system.
That child was me.
I felt sick.
“My mother was trying to save me.”
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“She was trying to prove the program could work without us.”
Rebecca interrupted.
“She succeeded.”
Eleanor's eyes flashed.
“She created a child with the exact marker we were searching for.”
I looked at my daughter.
“That child was me?”
“Yes.”
My mother had never told me.
Adrian stared.
“Then Naomi was part of the research.”
“Not willingly.”
My mother stepped forward.
“I was a baby.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Your mother wanted to keep you hidden.”
“But you found me.”
“Eventually.”
I looked at Adrian.
“Six years ago.”
He understood.
The fabricated photographs.
The bank records.
The lies.
Eleanor had discovered my identity.
She wanted to separate us before we had children.
But we already had.
And those children carried the marker.
I looked at Eleanor.
“What did you do with the others?”
“The other children?”
She hesitated.
“Some survived.”
“Some?”
Rebecca's face hardened.
“You killed them.”
Eleanor didn't deny it.
“I ended suffering.”
“You ended lives.”
Eleanor looked at me.
“You don't understand what rare genetic disease does.”
“I understand what you did.”
She moved toward the exit.
Adrian blocked her.
“You are not leaving.”
She smiled.
“You still think this is about arresting me.”
“What then?”
“It's about the archive.”
“What archive?”
Eleanor pointed toward the baby.
“Her blood.”
I froze.
“She isn't the key.”
“She is the evidence.”
Adrian took my daughter.
I pulled her close.
Eleanor laughed.
“Your entire family has been protecting the wrong child.”
“What does that mean?”
“The boy can unlock the research.”
“The girl can expose it.”
Rebecca went pale.
“No.”
Eleanor smiled.
“She was born with a second mutation.”
My stomach dropped.
“What mutation?”
“A natural resistance to the treatment.”
Silence.
“She proves the treatment was unnecessary.”
Adrian stared.
“My daughter can destroy the company.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor stepped backward.
“And now everyone will kill to get her.”
A gunshot exploded.
Someone had fired through the laboratory window.
Eleanor ducked.
Adrian pushed me to the floor.
Federal agents shouted.
Then the lights went out.
When they returned—
Eleanor was gone.
And so was the baby.
My daughter.
I screamed.
“NO!”
Adrian's face went white.
He grabbed my shoulders.
“We'll find her.”
“You said that before.”
“I know.”
“Don't make another promise you can't keep.”
He stared at me.
“I'll keep this one.”
Then the building alarm began screaming.
A message appeared on the laboratory monitor.
BRING THE BOY TO THE WHITMORE CLINIC.
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR THE GIRL DIES.
