Chapter 37 - THE SON IN THE GLASS ROOM
Daniel dragged Noah into the corridor while the alarm continued screaming.
Noah shoved him away.
“Don't touch me!”
“I'm trying to save you!”
“You're seventeen years too late!”
Before Daniel could answer, Claire appeared at the far end of the passage.
She ran toward Noah, crying.
“My baby!”
Noah recoiled.
“Stay away from me!”
Claire stopped as though he had struck her.
Daniel demanded an explanation.
Claire finally confessed that Richard had told her their firstborn son died. When she discovered the truth, Richard threatened to kill Daniel unless she remained silent.
Noah laughed bitterly.
“You watched them torture me, then went home and raised another child.”
“I was trying to protect you!”
“By abandoning me?”
Noah punched the wall, splitting his knuckles.
Daniel grabbed his arm, but Noah shoved him into a cabinet. They struggled until Claire screamed for them to stop.
Then a monitor displayed footage of Claire arguing with Richard years earlier.
Richard seized her arm and slapped her.
“You will do exactly as you're told!”
The recording continued.
Claire begged him to release Noah.
Richard answered, “If the boy ever leaves this facility, Daniel will discover what you did to the original Emma.”
Daniel turned toward his wife.
“What did you do?”
Claire began crying.
Before she could answer, armed guards stormed the corridor.
“Take the boy alive!”
Daniel fought the first guard, landing a punch before another struck him across the face. Noah attacked from behind, knocking one guard against the wall.
Claire grabbed a fallen weapon.
“Run!”
They escaped through a service elevator, but Noah refused to enter the car with Daniel.
“You still don't understand,” he said. “They didn't hide me because I was sick.”
“Then why?”
Noah looked toward Claire.
“Because I saw something I wasn't supposed to see.”
He revealed a photograph of Richard standing beside a hospital bed. A young girl lay unconscious beneath the sheets.
On the back were two words:
ORIGINAL EMMA.
Claire whispered, “She's dead.”
Noah shook his head.
“That's what they told you.”
He showed Daniel another image: the same girl, older, standing beside Richard at a private estate.
“She survived. They changed her name, erased her records, and made everyone believe Abigail was Emma.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Where is she?”
Noah pointed toward the city.
“Married to Richard.”
Claire collapsed against the elevator wall.
Daniel stared at her.
“You knew?”
“I knew he was keeping her alive. I didn't know why.”
The elevator doors opened onto the parking garage.
A black SUV blocked the exit.
Harris stepped out, holding a gun.
“Give me the necklace.”
Daniel shook his head.
Harris struck him across the face with the weapon.
Noah lunged at Harris, but two men seized him.
As Daniel fought back, Claire suddenly stepped forward.
“Take me instead.”
Harris laughed.
“You're not worth the trouble.”
He struck her in the stomach and dragged Noah toward the SUV.
Daniel grabbed Harris's ankle, pulling him down. They wrestled across the concrete until Harris kicked Daniel away.
The SUV sped off with Noah.
Daniel lay bleeding beside Claire.
His phone rang.
Richard's voice sounded almost cheerful.
“Come to the anniversary party tomorrow, Daniel. Bring the necklace.”
A pause.
May you like
“Or your son dies before midnight.”
Would Daniel surrender the only evidence against Richard to save Noah, or was his son already part of a far more dangerous plan?
