Chapter 4 - THE BOY IN THE PHOTOGRAPH“That can't be Liam.”
Chloe's voice trembled as Victor enlarged the photograph.
The boy had Liam's dark curls, his unmistakable smile, and a tiny scar above his chin.
But something was wrong.
He looked much older than he should have been.
Victor examined the image.
“There's another explanation.”
“What?”
“The date may have been altered.”
Gabriel took the phone.
“Or someone deliberately replaced the original photograph.”
Chloe remembered finding an old box of her mother's belongings after their father's death.
Inside were family pictures, medical papers, and a sealed envelope she had never opened.
“The envelope,” she whispered.
Victor looked at her.
“What envelope?”
“My mother left something for me. Dad said I wasn't supposed to open it until Liam turned twenty-one.”
“Where is it?”
“My apartment.”
Twenty minutes later, Victor and Chloe reached her building.
Her apartment door stood open.
Chloe stopped.
“No.”
Victor immediately stepped in front of her.
Gabriel entered first, checking each room.
Furniture had been overturned.
Kitchen drawers lay scattered across the floor.
The small wooden box that had belonged to Rebecca Bennett had been smashed.
Chloe hurried toward her bedroom.
“My mother's letters!”
Victor followed her.
The closet was empty.
But beneath a loose floorboard, Chloe found a narrow envelope.
Her mother's handwriting covered the front.
For Chloe. When the truth becomes dangerous.
Chloe tore it open.
Inside was a photograph and a handwritten letter.
My darling Chloe, if you're reading this, someone has discovered what I hid. You must never trust Richard Caldwell. More importantly, you must understand that Liam's illness did not happen naturally.
Chloe's knees weakened.
Victor caught her before she fell.
She forced herself to continue.
The doctors who treated him as a child were never trying to cure him. They were studying what had been done to him.
The letter ended with seven chilling words.
Ask Victor Costello about Subject Number Seventeen.
Chloe slowly looked up.
Victor's face had turned gray.
“Victor?”
He didn't answer.
She held the letter against his chest.
“Who is Subject Seventeen?”
Victor swallowed.
“My father ordered that file destroyed.”
“Why?”
He stared at her.
“Because Subject Seventeen was the only child who survived Mercy's original experiment.”
May you like
Chloe's breath caught.
“And that child,” Victor whispered, “was your brother.”
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