Chapter 8: The Child Victoria Forgot
Dr. Keller hit the stone floor hard.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Emma screamed.
Adrian dropped beside him.
“Doctor!””
Keller grabbed Adrian's sleeve.
“Don't…”
His breathing became shallow.
“Don't trust…”
He coughed.
“Don't trust the woman…”
Then his eyes shifted toward Clara.
Clara froze.
“The woman who raised you.””
Adrian looked at Clara.
Keller's hand went limp.
Dead.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then Samuel shouted.
“Run!””
A second shot struck the wall.
Alexander grabbed Victoria and pulled her behind the stone desk.
Jonathan dragged Emma down.
Evelyn pushed Adrian toward the hidden doorway.
The shooter was somewhere above them.
Too close.
“Who is it?”” Emma cried.
No one knew.
Then Clara whispered the answer.
“Charles.””
Victoria stared at her.
“He's dead.””
Clara shook her head.
“Not Charles.””
“Then who?””
“His son.””
Adrian looked at her.
“You said he had no surviving children.””
“I was wrong.””
Another shot rang out.
Alexander slammed the door to the archive room shut.
They heard footsteps approaching.
Slow.
Deliberate.
A man's voice echoed through the corridor.
“Evelyn.””
She closed her eyes.
“No.””
Adrian recognized the voice.
It was the same voice from the chapel recordings.
Cold.
Controlled.
Almost gentle.
“Come out.””
Jonathan whispered, “Who is that?””
Evelyn looked at him.
“My son.””
Silence.
“Your son?”” Jonathan repeated.
“Yes.””
“What is his name?””
Evelyn's eyes filled with fear.
“Charles Jr.””
Victoria's blood froze.
“Charles had a son?””
“Not publicly.””
Adrian looked at Alexander.
“Where is the exit?””
Alexander pointed toward a second tunnel.
“Behind the cabinet.””
They moved quickly.
Victoria grabbed Emma's hand.
For the first time, the two women moved together without fear.
Like mother and daughter.
They pushed the cabinet aside.
A narrow opening appeared.
Jonathan went first.
Then Emma.
Adrian followed.
Victoria came behind him.
Clara remained.
“Go,” Clara said.
Victoria stopped.
“Clara.””
“I'll slow him down.””
“You're coming with us.””
Clara shook her head.
“I've spent twenty-five years running.””
She looked at Emma.
“It's time I stopped.””
Emma stared at her mother.
Then nodded.
“Don't die.””
Clara gave her a sad smile.
“I'll try.””
She disappeared back into the archive room.
The others entered the tunnel.
Behind them came a shout.
Then a gunshot.
Emma started to turn.
Adrian pulled her forward.
“Don't.””
They ran until the tunnel opened into an abandoned carriage house behind the estate.
Rain had begun falling.
Jonathan stood under the overhang, breathing heavily.
Alexander followed.
Evelyn came last.
Clara never appeared.
Victoria looked back at the darkness.
“We can't leave her.””
Alexander gripped her shoulder.
“Not yet.””
“What does that mean?””
“We need to understand what we're fighting.””
They entered the carriage house.
An old lantern hung above a workbench.
Jonathan slammed his hands against it.
“My entire life was a lie.””
Emma looked at him.
“You believed I was dead.””
“I believed my daughter died.””
“You didn't know me.””
“No.””
Jonathan's voice cracked.
“But I knew your mother.””
Emma frowned.
“Nora?””
“Yes.””
“What happened to her?””
Jonathan stared at the rain.
“Charles told me she betrayed me.””
“Did she?””
“No.””
He swallowed.
“I believed him because he showed me photographs.””
“Fake photographs?””
“Yes.””
Victoria closed her eyes.
Charles had built an entire empire out of lies.
But there was still Adrian.
He stood apart from everyone, staring at the photograph of Victoria and the mysterious child.
“Why don't I remember?””
Alexander walked toward him.
“Because Charles had your memories suppressed.””
Adrian looked up.
“You can't suppress memories.””
“Not completely.””
“But you can bury them.””
Alexander nodded.
“He used trauma.””
Adrian clenched his fists.
“Tell me exactly what happened.””
Alexander hesitated.
“Your mother nearly died during the birth.””
Victoria looked at him.
“And?””
“Charles told the nurses that the second baby wasn't breathing.””
Victoria frowned.
“I remember being told one child died.””
“You were sedated.””
“I woke up with Adrian.””
Alexander shook his head.
“No.””
Victoria's heart stopped.
“You woke up with a child.””
She stared.
“Not Adrian.””
The room fell silent.
Adrian slowly looked at her.
“Then who?””
Alexander answered.
“A boy named Lucas.””
Jonathan frowned.
“Lucas?””
“He was Charles's illegitimate son.””
Victoria covered her mouth.
Alexander continued.
“Charles had been keeping him hidden for years. He brought Lucas to the hospital after the twins were born.””
“Why?””
“To replace Ethan.””
Adrian's face became pale.
“He replaced me.””
“Yes.””
Victoria shook her head.
“But I would have known my own baby.””
“You were unconscious.””
“My baby's face—”
“You had never seen his face.””
The truth was brutal.
Victoria had not been given the chance.
She had been handed a baby and told it was hers.
And because she had trusted the man she loved, she had believed him.
Adrian stared at her.
“So when I grew up…”
“You were already somewhere else.””
“Where?””
Alexander's expression changed.
“I'm not sure.””
Adrian's heart sank.
“But you said you saw me.””
“I saw Lucas.””
Adrian froze.
“You just said Lucas.””
Alexander nodded.
“I've never seen Ethan.””
Victoria stared at him.
“Then where is my son?””
Alexander's face hardened.
“That's what Charles Jr. wants.””
Emma stepped closer.
“Why?””
“Because Ethan is alive.””
Silence.
Adrian stopped breathing.
Victoria's knees weakened.
“Where?””
Alexander looked toward the estate.
“In this house.””
“That can't be.””
“It is.””
“Who is he?””
Alexander whispered.
“We don't know.””
A vehicle suddenly appeared through the rain.
Black SUV.
It stopped near the carriage house.
Everyone froze.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
He looked young.
Maybe twenty-seven.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Wearing a black coat.
He walked calmly toward them.
Jonathan whispered, “Who is that?””
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“I don't know.””
The man stopped beneath the carriage house roof.
Then he smiled.
“Mother.””
Everyone looked at Evelyn.
She was trembling.
The man turned toward Adrian.
“Brother.””
Adrian stared.
“No.””
The man's smile widened.
“You finally came home.””
Victoria stepped forward.
“Who are you?””
He looked at her.
His expression became unexpectedly gentle.
“You really don't remember me?””
Victoria stared at his face.
Something inside her cracked.
A forgotten image flashed through her mind.
A hospital room.
A little boy sitting beside her bed.
His tiny hand touching hers.
Her voice whispering a name.
“Ethan.””
The man smiled.
“Yes.””
Victoria's heart stopped.
Adrian looked at him.
“Ethan?””
The stranger nodded.
“Your twin.””
Adrian backed away.
“That isn't possible.””
“It is.””
Emma stared between the two men.
One had Victoria's eyes.
The other carried Charles's face.
Victoria suddenly understood.
Charles had not erased Ethan.
He had hidden him.
And someone had spent twenty-five years preparing her son to return.
Ethan stepped closer.
“You were always supposed to find me.””
Adrian's voice shook.
“Why?””
Ethan's smile disappeared.
“Because Dad left me something.””
“What?””
“A message.””
He looked at Victoria.
“It was meant for you.””
Victoria could barely breathe.
“What message?””
Ethan reached into his coat.
He removed a folded letter.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Charles.
Victoria refused to take it.
“Open it.””
“No.””
“You need to know.””
“No.””
Ethan stepped closer and held it out.
Victoria finally took it.
She opened the envelope with shaking hands.
Inside was a single page.
She read the first line.
Her blood turned cold.
*Victoria,*
*By the time you read this, you will believe Emma is your daughter and Adrian is your son.*
She continued.
*Both beliefs are wrong.*
Her hands began trembling violently.
Adrian saw her face.
“Mom?””
Victoria read the final sentence aloud.
“Your children were never the two babies you took home.””
She looked up.
Ethan was crying.
Emma was staring in horror.
And Adrian understood that everything they had discovered so far had only been the beginning.
May you like
Because the real betrayal had never been about one stolen child.
It was about all of them.
