CHAPTER 10 LILY BELL
Daniel returned to the mansion with police vehicles surrounding him.
The library door had been forced open.
Elena and Lily were unharmed.
The intruder had never entered the room.
He had appeared on the security feed, spoken through the intercom, and disappeared before anyone reached the hallway.
A projection device was found behind a statue.
The network had used Nathan’s face again.
“This is what they do,” Lily said. “They make us question what we see.”
Daniel sat beside her.
“You understood that faster than the adults.”
“I had practice.”
He hated the truth in her answer.
Nathan remained under federal guard in a downstairs office.
Mara refused to be in the same room with him.
Clara placed the key marked 201 on the table.
“The lake house may be W-201 from the map.”
Daniel opened the identity file Nathan had stolen.
LILY BELL.
The false documents listed Arthur Bell as Lily’s legal guardian.
Daniel and Elena were recorded as deceased.
The file also contained a court order authorizing Lily’s removal from the United States.
The order had been signed by a judge who died four years earlier.
Elena read the final page.
“They planned to take her after we left for Paris.”
Daniel understood.
Evelyn’s punishments had not merely been intended to control Lily.
They had been designed to make her appear unstable, disobedient, and dangerous.
Arthur would have used the reports to transfer her into his custody under the identity Lily Bell.
“Why didn’t they finish it?” Elena asked.
Lily answered.
“Because I hid the recorder.”
Her voice contained no pride.
Only the weight of knowing how close they had come.
Nathan entered with Clara.
He placed Lily’s stuffed rabbit on the table.
“There’s something inside it.”
Lily pulled it toward herself.
“How do you know?”
“Evelyn told me before the trial.”
“You spoke to her?”
“She tried to make a deal. She said Arthur had hidden one last key inside the only object Lily never allowed anyone to take.”
Daniel examined the rabbit carefully.
The seam along its back had been repaired by hand.
Lily watched as Elena opened it.
Inside the stuffing was a small brass key.
The same size as the key marked 201.
But this one was engraved with the number 200.
Lily stared at it.
“She put something inside my rabbit.”
Daniel held her hand.
“You didn’t know.”
“She touched the only thing I thought was safe.”
Elena pulled another object from the stuffing.
A memory card.
Clara inserted it into an isolated computer.
The screen displayed an old video.
Arthur Bell stood in the hidden chamber beneath the Whitmore mansion.
Beside him was Richard Whitmore.
Daniel’s father.
Richard appeared furious.
“You said the evaluations were voluntary.”
Arthur remained calm.
“They were.”
“You created false diagnoses.”
“We identified weaknesses.”
“You took children.”
“We relocated liabilities.”
Richard struck Arthur.
Daniel had never seen his father hit anyone.
The video continued.
Richard moved close to the camera.
“Rebecca was right about you.”
Arthur smiled.
“Rebecca is gone.”
“No. She is waiting.”
“Where?”
Richard looked directly into the hidden camera.
“The place where the first bell never rings.”
The recording ended.
Clara opened the files stored beside the video.
There were coordinates.
They led to the lake house.
A second document appeared.
A family registration file.
At the top was Daniel’s name.
Below it were two children.
Lily Whitmore.
And another child identified only as:
SUBJECT 201.
Daniel looked toward Mara.
Nathan slowly sat down.
Clara received an alert from the laboratory.
“The DNA results are ready.”
Mara crossed her arms.
“I already know Nathan might be my father.”
Clara’s expression became uneasy.
“The test confirms a close family connection.”
Nathan lowered his head.
But Clara continued.
“Nathan isn’t the closest match.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who is?”
Clara turned the computer toward him.
The report identified Mara as a direct relative of the Whitmore family.
May you like
Not through Nathan.
Through Daniel.
