Chapter 38 - THE DAUGHTER IN THE BRIDAL SUITE
Daniel and Claire arrived at Richard's estate the following evening.
Crystal chandeliers illuminated a ballroom filled with wealthy guests, politicians, and medical executives. Richard stood on the staircase beside a woman in a white dress.
Emma.
Daniel's missing daughter.
Richard kissed her forehead for the cameras.
“My beautiful wife,” he announced.
Daniel pushed through the crowd.
“Emma! I'm your father!”
Richard struck him across the face.
The guests gasped.
“This man is mentally unstable,” Richard declared. “His family tragedies have destroyed his mind.”
Daniel tried to approach Emma, but security seized his arms.
Emma looked at him coldly.
“You need to leave.”
“Your mother is alive!”
Richard grabbed Daniel by the collar.
“Mention Claire again, and I'll have you arrested.”
Claire stepped forward.
“Let him go!”
Richard slapped her.
She fell against a table, sending glasses crashing to the floor.
The guests stared but nobody intervened.
Daniel broke free and punched Richard in the jaw.
Richard stumbled.
Security tackled Daniel and struck him repeatedly until he fell to his knees.
Emma watched, trembling.
Then she slipped a note into Daniel's pocket.
MIDNIGHT. THE OLD CHAPEL. COME ALONE.
Security threw him outside.
At midnight, Daniel reached the chapel.
Emma stood beside an empty coffin, holding the stolen necklace.
“You came.”
He approached carefully.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not yet.”
She opened the pendant and removed a memory card.
“These records prove everything. The stolen children, the false identities, the experiments. But there's something you need to know.”
Daniel waited.
“The woman you call Claire isn't Claire.”
Daniel froze.
“She's Lily, Claire's twin.”
He remembered the woman in the cemetery.
Emma continued.
“The real Claire escaped years ago. Richard captured her and forced Lily to replace her. Everyone believed the original had died.”
“Where is my wife?”
“Living under the name Sarah Hale.”
Headlights swept across the chapel windows.
Richard entered with armed guards.
“Give me the necklace!”
Emma raised a pistol.
“You stole my life!”
Richard laughed.
“I gave you everything!”
“You gave me a prison!”
He lunged toward her.
Emma fired into the ceiling. The guards rushed forward, and Daniel tackled one while Emma fought another.
A third guard struck Emma across the face.
She fell, dropping the gun.
Richard seized her by the hair.
“Enough!”
Daniel punched him, but Richard drew a second weapon and pressed it against Daniel's chest.
“Move, and your daughter dies.”
Emma looked at Daniel.
“Run!”
Richard fired.
Daniel heard the shot and watched Emma collapse.
He screamed her name.
Richard ordered the guards to drag Daniel into the tunnel beneath the altar.
Before the stone door closed, Daniel saw Emma's body lying beside the coffin.
A recording began playing through the chapel speakers.
Emma's voice whispered, “Dad, if you're hearing this, don't believe what you saw.”
Daniel froze.
The recording continued.
“The body isn't mine.”
Then Richard's voice interrupted.
“Welcome to the family vault.”
May you like
The door slammed shut.
If Emma's body wasn't hers, who had Richard killed in the chapel—and where had he hidden the real Emma?
