Chapter 48 - THE FAMILY EXECUTION
Daniel searched the cemetery in the rain.
“Abigail!”
He found her beside an abandoned car, holding the newborn.
She was crying.
“I didn't know what else to do.”
Daniel approached cautiously.
“Give me the baby.”
Abigail shook her head.
“Richard said he would kill Noah unless I brought her to him.”
“Where is Noah?”
A voice answered from behind them.
“Here.”
Noah stepped from the shadows, blood running down his forehead.
He looked at Abigail with disbelief.
“You betrayed us.”
“I was trying to save you!”
“You handed my sister to the man who tortured us!”
Abigail slapped him.
Noah struck her back.
She fell against the car.
Daniel pulled them apart.
“Stop! We're not killing each other for him!”
Abigail began sobbing.
“I never wanted any of this.”
Daniel took the baby.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then the child's eyes opened.
Silver.
Exactly like Margaret's.
Daniel's phone vibrated.
A message from Richard appeared.
BRING THE BABY TO THE VAULT. ALONE.
Daniel looked at his children.
“We end this tonight.”
They entered the underground facility through the chapel passage.
Inside, four chambers surrounded a central control station.
Each chamber bore a name.
Daniel.
Noah.
Abigail.
Emma.
A fifth chamber stood behind a steel door.
It was marked SUBJECT FIVE.
Daniel inserted the silver key.
The door opened.
Emma stood inside, alive but restrained.
“Dad!”
Daniel rushed forward.
Richard appeared on a monitor.
“Choose which child survives.”
Four buttons illuminated.
Each bore a name.
“Press one button, and that person lives. The others die.”
Daniel refused.
Richard pressed a control.
Emma's chamber began filling with gas.
Daniel smashed the control panel.
The glass shattered.
He pulled Emma free.
Noah fought off two guards while Abigail carried the baby toward the exit.
Richard appeared in the corridor, holding a gun.
“Stop!”
Daniel turned.
Richard pointed the weapon at Emma.
“You have destroyed everything I built.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You destroyed your own family.”
Richard fired.
Emma collapsed.
Daniel caught her before she hit the floor.
“Emma!”
She pressed the necklace into his hand.
“Find the records.”
Her eyes closed.
Noah screamed and charged Richard.
They crashed against the wall.
Richard struck Noah repeatedly, but Noah refused to release him.
Daniel laid Emma down and joined the fight.
Together, they knocked Richard to the floor.
For the first time, the man who had controlled their lives looked frightened.
Then an explosion shook the facility.
The ceiling began collapsing.
Daniel dragged Noah toward the exit.
Abigail was waiting outside, holding the baby.
Emma was gone.
Richard was gone.
And the entire underground laboratory was burning.
Daniel looked back at the flames.
His phone rang.
A message appeared.
YOU SAVED THE WRONG CHILDREN.
A photograph followed.
Abigail stood beside a woman wearing Claire's face.
Both were smiling.
Daniel looked at the baby in Abigail's arms.
The child's eyes were no longer silver.
They were dark brown.
Noah whispered, “Dad, that's not our sister.”
Abigail's smile disappeared.
Then she handed Daniel the baby.
“I'm sorry.”
A second explosion shook the ground.
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When Daniel looked up, Abigail had vanished.
If the baby had been switched again, which child had Daniel carried out of the burning facility—and had Emma truly died this time?
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