Chapter 46 - THE FATHER BEHIND THE MASK
Daniel stared at the genetic report.
Richard was listed as Noah's biological father.
Noah stood beside him, trembling.
“It's fake,” he whispered.
Michael laughed.
“Is it?”
Daniel turned toward his son.
“Tell me what you know.”
Noah swallowed.
“I found another report. Richard isn't my biological father. Someone changed the records.”
Richard grabbed Noah by the collar.
“Who told you?”
“Margaret.”
Richard slapped him.
Daniel lunged forward, punching Richard across the jaw.
They crashed against a medical cabinet.
Richard struck Daniel with a metal instrument, splitting his forehead.
Noah broke free and attacked Richard from behind.
Michael shouted for security.
Armed guards rushed into the room.
A brutal fight erupted.
Daniel knocked one guard into a table while Noah seized another's weapon.
They escaped through a side door as the building began shaking.
Outside, Noah collapsed.
Daniel knelt beside him.
“You're my son. Whatever those records say, nothing changes that.”
Noah began crying.
For a moment, the lies seemed less powerful than the truth between them.
Then Abigail appeared in a black car.
“Get in!”
Daniel helped Noah inside.
“Where's Emma?”
Abigail shook her head.
“Richard took her to the old chapel.”
“Why?”
“To force her to reveal the fifth subject.”
Daniel froze.
“The fifth subject?”
Abigail nodded.
“There's another child.”
She showed him a photograph of Lily Hale.
The girl had Claire's face and a crescent-shaped scar beneath her chin.
Noah stared.
“I've seen her before.”
“Where?” Daniel demanded.
“In the basement. Michael called her the original.”
The car accelerated toward the chapel.
When they arrived, the doors stood open.
Inside, they found a hospital bed surrounded by medical equipment.
A woman lay beneath a white sheet.
Daniel pulled it back.
Claire.
Or someone who looked exactly like her.
A bullet wound marked her chest.
Daniel checked her pulse.
Nothing.
Abigail covered her mouth.
Then Noah noticed a small bracelet around the woman's wrist.
It read:
SUBJECT FIVE.
Daniel stepped backward.
The fifth subject wasn't a baby.
It was an adult woman.
And she had been living inside his family for years.
A monitor switched on.
Richard appeared.
“Daniel, you finally found her.”
“Who is she?”
Richard smiled.
“Your sister.”
Daniel froze.
“That's impossible.”
“Her name is Lily. She was created using your mother's genetic material and implanted into Claire seventeen years ago.”
Daniel stared at the body.
“Then who did I marry?”
Richard's expression darkened.
“That's the question you should have asked before signing the marriage certificate.”
The screen went black.
A door opened behind them.
A woman entered, holding a newborn baby.
She had Claire's face.
But the scar beneath her chin was missing.
She looked at Daniel.
May you like
“Hello, brother.”
If Lily was Daniel's sister, who was the woman he had married—and why was she carrying a newborn connected to the fifth subject?
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