Chapter 9 - THE BETRAYAL INSIDE THE FAMILY
Adrian couldn't sleep.
Claire had refused to name the person.
But the answer was already haunting him.
Someone close.
Someone trusted.
Someone who knew Claire survived.
Someone who had helped hide her.
He began reviewing old records.
Hospital transfers.
Security logs.
Financial payments.
Then he found something.
A payment made seven years earlier.
$250,000.
Recipient:
ELENA BENNETT.
Adrian stared.
“No.”
He called Elena.
She arrived twenty minutes later.
Adrian showed her the transaction.
“What is this?”
Elena looked at it.
Her face changed.
“I didn't take that money.”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian studied her.
“Someone used your identity.”
Elena nodded.
“Thomas had access to everything.”
But the payment came from an account outside Thomas's network.
An account belonging to Claire's doctor.
Dr. Samuel Bennett.
Elena's husband.
Adrian's face hardened.
“Where is Samuel?”
Elena froze.
“He disappeared two years ago.”
Adrian suddenly understood.
Samuel had been the person caring for Claire.
The person who knew where she was.
The person who knew Claire's memories.
The person who could have kept her hidden.
They found him at a small cabin in Vermont.
Samuel opened the door.
He looked exhausted.
Claire stepped forward.
“Why?”
Samuel began crying.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
Samuel looked at Adrian.
“Thomas threatened my children.”
Adrian's voice became cold.
“You helped him.”
“I helped keep Claire alive.”
“By hiding her?”
“Yes.”
“By convincing her that Adrian abandoned her?”
Samuel looked away.
Claire gasped.
“You told me he never came.”
Samuel couldn't answer.
“You told me he didn't want Sophie.”
“I thought if you hated him, you'd stay hidden.”
Claire's face broke.
Adrian felt sick.
Seven years.
Seven years built on a lie.
Samuel handed him a file.
“This is the last thing Thomas wanted destroyed.”
Inside was a confession.
Thomas had ordered Claire's disappearance.
Vanessa had helped.
Samuel had covered up the hospital records.
But there was one name Adrian didn't expect.
His own.
The confession stated that Adrian had unknowingly signed a document authorizing Claire's transfer.
Adrian stared.
“I signed this?”
“Yes,” Samuel said.
“Why?”
“You were drugged.”
Adrian's hands shook.
“But I signed it.”
Claire took his hand.
“You didn't know.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I still failed you.”
Claire shook her head.
“You were manipulated.”
Then Samuel revealed the final secret.
Thomas hadn't planned to kill Claire.
He had planned to use her as leverage.
But Claire had escaped.
And someone else had taken her.
“Who?”
Samuel whispered:
“Vanessa's mother.”
Adrian froze.
“She was alive?”
“No.”
“She died five years ago.”
Samuel nodded.
“But before she died, she gave the order.”
“To whom?”
Samuel looked at Claire.
“To the person who is still carrying it out.”
Adrian's phone rang.
A text appeared.
A photograph of Sophie.
Taken minutes earlier.
The message contained only four words:
YOU CAN'T PROTECT HER.
Adrian's blood ran cold.
Someone was watching them.
Inside the family.
Claire grabbed Sophie.
Ethan locked the doors.
Then Elena whispered:
“I know who it is.”
Everyone looked at her.
Elena pointed toward the window.
A figure stood outside.
Watching.
Adrian ran toward the door.
But the figure disappeared.
On the ground was a photograph.
A photograph of Sophie as a newborn.
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On the back:
THE WRONG BABY SURVIVED.
