Chapter 6: The Woman Who Never Died
Nobody moved.
The radio continued crackling.
"Daniel, I know you can hear me.""
Richard's face had turned completely white.
Elena looked at him.
"Richard?""
He couldn't answer.
Outside, Daniel lowered his pistol slightly.
For the first time since Victoria had known him, he looked like a frightened child.
"Who is this?"" he demanded.
A soft laugh came through the speaker.
"Oh, Daniel. You really don't recognize your mother's voice?""
Victoria stepped toward the radio.
"Mom?""
There was a long silence.
Then the woman answered.
"Victoria, sweetheart.""
The word struck her harder than any physical blow.
Her mother had been dead for twenty-eight years.
Victoria remembered the funeral.
She remembered the black dress, the white roses, the closed coffin, and her father's hand resting on her shoulder.
She remembered crying until she couldn't breathe.
And now that same woman was speaking to her through a radio.
"Where are you?"" Victoria whispered.
"Somewhere safe.""
"Why didn't you come back?""
The voice trembled.
"Because I was told you would be killed if I did.""
Victoria looked at Richard.
He had his face buried in his hands.
"You knew?"" she asked him.
Richard nodded slowly.
"Margaret survived the accident.""
Victoria staggered backward.
"You knew my mother was alive?""
"I knew she had been taken out of the country.""
"And you let me mourn her?""
Richard couldn't look at her.
"Robert convinced me that it was the only way to keep you safe.""
Victoria's voice broke.
"Twenty-eight years, Richard.""
He closed his eyes.
"Yes.""
Outside, Daniel began pacing.
"Stop playing games!"" he shouted at the radio.
Margaret's voice remained calm.
"You have your father's temper.""
Daniel laughed.
"My father is standing inside that cottage, hiding behind a woman he stole from his own son.""
"Elena didn't steal anything from you.""
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Don't tell me what she did.""
"She gave birth to you. She loved you. And she watched you become a monster because the people who raised you taught you that love was weakness.""
Daniel raised his pistol toward the cottage window.
"Keep talking, and I'll put a bullet through the glass.""
Margaret sighed.
"That's exactly why I kept my distance.""
Victoria grabbed the radio.
"Mom, please. Tell me where you are.""
"I can't yet. But I can tell you what happened.""
A second radio frequency activated.
A series of digital beeps sounded.
Then Margaret continued.
"Richard, do you still have the original laboratory records?""
Richard looked toward the wooden box.
"Yes.""
"Good. Daniel needs to hear what happened to his birth certificate.""
Daniel stiffened.
"Enough!""
Margaret ignored him.
"Elena, you deserve to know the truth. Richard didn't simply arrange for Daniel to be raised as his son. He falsified the entire fertility program.""
Elena's hands began shaking.
"What do you mean?""
"Your pregnancy wasn't an accident.""
The cottage became silent.
Elena stared at the radio.
"What?""
Margaret continued.
"Robert Hale arranged for you to receive experimental fertility treatment at the hospital. You were never told that the procedure was part of a private research program.""
Elena covered her mouth.
"That can't be true.""
"Your medical records were altered. The treatment was designed to produce a pregnancy using a selected donor.""
Victoria looked at Richard.
"Was Daniel not her biological son?""
Richard shook his head.
"He was.""
"Then what is she talking about?""
Margaret's voice softened.
"Elena, the donor was Richard.""
Elena's knees almost gave way.
Richard lowered his head.
"The hospital told me you had consented to the procedure. I believed them.""
Elena stared at him.
"You knew?""
"I didn't know the details until years later.""
"You used me?""
Richard began crying.
"I was told it was a legitimate medical arrangement.""
Elena slapped the table.
"Don't you dare hide behind another lie!""
The radio crackled.
Margaret continued.
"Daniel was conceived through a program designed to secure an heir for the Vance family. Robert believed that combining selected genetic material would create a child who could eventually inherit and control the company.""
Victoria felt sick.
"So Daniel was planned?""
"Yes.""
"By my father?""
"By Robert and Richard.""
Victoria looked at Elena.
The housekeeper's face was pale.
All her life, she had believed her son had been taken from her.
Now she was learning that the entire pregnancy had been engineered by the two men who controlled her world.
Outside, Daniel suddenly laughed.
"Beautiful story, Mother. Very touching.""
He stepped closer to the cottage.
"But there's one problem.""
He lifted a small black device.
"The radio signal is coming from inside this property.""
Margaret went silent.
Daniel smiled.
"I've been tracking it for twenty minutes.""
He turned toward one of his men.
"Find the transmitter.""
The man nodded and moved toward the lighthouse.
Victoria looked at Evelyn.
"Can he trace the signal?""
"Yes.""
"Then where is my mother?""
Evelyn hesitated.
Before she could answer, the radio emitted a sharp burst of static.
A second voice came through.
Samuel Price.
"Victoria! Can you hear me?""
She grabbed the device.
"Samuel?""
"I'm inside the estate's communications network. Listen carefully. Daniel's men have intercepted the signal, but I have something more important.""
"What?""
"I found the original death certificate for Margaret Hale.""
Victoria froze.
"Her name was Margaret Vance.""
"Not anymore. The hospital records show she was admitted under a different identity twenty-eight years ago.""
"Where?""
Samuel took a breath.
"Newport Rehabilitation Hospital.""
Richard looked up sharply.
"That hospital closed fifteen years ago.""
"Not the medical wing," Samuel replied.
"The underground facility is still operating.""
Evelyn turned pale.
"That's where they kept the original research subjects.""
Victoria stared at her.
"Research subjects?""
Evelyn nodded.
"People who knew too much. People who were too valuable to kill.""
A crash sounded outside.
Daniel's men had reached the rear entrance.
Richard pushed his wheelchair toward the desk.
"Victoria, take the trust documents. You need to leave.""
But Victoria didn't move.
She looked at the radio.
"Mom, are you at that hospital?""
Silence.
Then Margaret answered.
"Yes.""
Victoria closed her eyes.
"Are you hurt?""
"I'm alive, sweetheart.""
"That's not what I asked.""
A long pause.
Then Margaret whispered:
"They've kept me here because I know what happened to the children.""
Victoria felt her blood run cold.
"Which children?""
"All fourteen.""
Elena looked toward Richard.
"Fourteen?""
Margaret continued.
"Daniel wasn't the only child born through the program. There were thirteen others. Some were raised by wealthy families.
Some disappeared. And one of them...""
Her voice cracked.
"One of them was Victoria's twin.""
Victoria stopped breathing.
"What?""
Richard's wheelchair rolled backward.
The old man's face had gone completely blank.
"Margaret," he whispered.
But the radio was still transmitting.
"Victoria, you were never an only child.""
A loud bang shook the cottage door.
Daniel shouted from outside.
"OPEN IT!""
Margaret's final words came through the speaker.
"Your twin sister is alive, Victoria. And she's the person who designed your poisoned wedding gown.""
The signal abruptly died.
Victoria stared at the radio.
Elena slowly turned toward her.
"Who would do that?""
Before Victoria could answer, Richard reached into the inside pocket of his cardigan.
He removed an old photograph.
Two newborn babies lay side by side in a hospital cot.
On the back were two names.
*Victoria Margaret Hale.*
*Veronica Margaret Hale.*
Richard looked at Victoria with tears in his eyes.
"Your sister has been watching you for years.""
The cottage door shuddered under another blow.
Then Daniel's voice rang through the wood.
"Victoria! Your mother has lied to you about everything!""
He paused.
And delivered the words that would change the meaning of the entire Vance empire.
May you like
"Because Veronica isn't your sister.""
"She's my wife.""
