Chapter 8 - The Child Who Should Not Exist
Elena slapped the phone out of Julian’s hand.
It struck the floor and skidded beneath the table.
“I am done letting that man speak through everyone else.”
No one moved.
Outside the safe house, Thomas Vale stood beside Camille Laurent and the little girl who might be Julian’s daughter.
Inside, Elena stood with both hands protecting her unborn child.
Julian stared at her.
Thomas’s final accusation still echoed in his head.
Julian isn’t the father.
Elena’s eyes filled with fury.
“Ask me.”
“What?”
“Whatever you’re thinking, ask me to my face.”
Julian opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
That hesitation wounded her more deeply than the question itself.
“You believe him.”
“No.”
“You hesitated.”
“Because nothing makes sense anymore.”
“But you looked at me exactly the way he wanted you to.”
“Elena—”
“The baby is yours.”
Her voice cracked.
“I have never been with another man.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Julian stepped toward her.
“I know you.”
She gave a bitter laugh.
“That didn’t stop you from doubting me in the basement.”
Julian froze.
She had seen it.
Of course she had.
“The medical report—”
“Was fake.”
“I know.”
“And now Thomas gives you another version of the same lie.”
Julian lowered his head.
She was right.
The method was identical.
Introduce evidence.
Create doubt.
Separate them emotionally.
Thomas did not need Julian to believe the lie forever.
He needed him to believe it for ten seconds.
Sometimes ten seconds was enough to destroy a marriage.
Julian looked at Elena.
“I believe you.”
“Then prove it.”
“How?”
“Stop asking Thomas who our child is.”
She pointed toward the medical equipment.
“Find out ourselves.”
***
Dr. Helen Ward worked quickly.
“We can compare fetal DNA from Elena’s existing medical samples with Julian’s.”
“No new invasive procedure,” Julian said immediately.
“Agreed.”
Elena looked at him.
For the first time since Thomas’s accusation, some of the anger left her face.
Helen continued.
“But there’s another problem.”
“The device?” Marcus asked.
“Yes.”
The tiny object visible on ultrasound remained near the uterine wall.
“What exactly is it?” Julian asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
Margaret stood near the window.
“I told you. It’s a marker.”
“You also told me you were my mother.”
Margaret flinched.
Julian did not apologize.
“From now on, I want evidence before explanations.”
“That’s fair.”
Marcus checked the surveillance feed.
Thomas had made no attempt to enter.
Neither had Camille.
The little girl was awake now.
She stood beside the SUV holding Camille’s hand.
Julian found himself staring at her.
Four years old.
Possibly his.
A daughter he had never met.
The girl looked toward the security camera.
Julian felt something twist inside his chest.
Elena came beside him.
“That’s her?”
“Yes.”
“She looks like you.”
He glanced at Elena.
“You don’t have to say that.”
“I’m not saying it for you.”
Elena watched the child.
“She’s innocent.”
Julian looked at her.
After everything Elena had endured, she still saw the child first.
Not the threat.
Not Camille.
Not Thomas.
The child.
Julian remembered why he had fallen in love with her.
No engineered meeting could manufacture that.
Outside, Thomas raised his phone again.
Marcus retrieved Julian’s phone from beneath the table.
“He’s calling.”
Julian declined it.
Thomas called again.
Declined.
Again.
Julian switched the phone off.
On the monitor, Thomas smiled.
Then Camille suddenly grabbed his arm.
They appeared to argue.
Marcus enlarged the image.
“What are they saying?”
“No audio.”
Camille pointed toward the house.
Thomas shook his head.
The argument intensified.
Then Camille did something unexpected.
She slapped him.
Everyone inside stared.
Thomas did not retaliate.
He simply smiled.
Camille backed away.
The little girl began crying.
Elena whispered, “She’s afraid of him.”
Julian saw it too.
Camille pulled the girl behind her.
Thomas reached for the child.
Camille resisted.
Then one of Thomas’s men stepped forward.
Camille immediately stopped fighting.
“She’s not here willingly,” Elena said.
Marcus nodded.
“Looks that way.”
Julian turned toward the door.
“I’m getting them.”
Marcus blocked him.
“No.”
“That child may be mine.”
“And Thomas knows exactly how you’ll react to that.”
“I’m not leaving her outside.”
“You walk through that door and we lose our defensive advantage.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
Elena touched his arm.
“Marcus is right.”
Julian looked at her.
“We need to make Thomas move first.”
***
Thomas did.
Five minutes later, the little girl began walking toward the house.
Alone.
Julian stared at the monitor.
“What the hell is he doing?”
Camille tried to follow.
Two men restrained her.
The child continued up the gravel path.
She was crying.
“Open the gate,” Julian ordered.
Marcus shook his head.
“There could be explosives on her.”
Julian turned on him.
“She is four years old.”
“That is precisely why Thomas would use her.”
The sentence disgusted everyone.
Because no one could say Marcus was wrong.
The little girl reached the gate.
She held something in her hand.
An envelope.
Then she looked directly into the camera.
“Mommy said give this to Julian.”
Her tiny voice came through the intercom.
Julian closed his eyes.
“Open it.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Open the damn gate.”
The outer pedestrian gate clicked.
The girl entered.
Julian was through the front door before anyone could stop him.
“Julian!” Marcus shouted.
The child stood halfway up the path.
When she saw him, she stopped.
Julian slowed.
For all the danger surrounding them, suddenly he was simply a man approaching a frightened little girl.
He crouched several feet away.
“Hi.”
She wiped her face.
“Are you Julian?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“My mommy has your picture.”
His heart tightened.
“What’s your name?”
“Lily.”
“Lily.”
He smiled despite himself.
“That’s a beautiful name.”
She held out the envelope.
“Mommy said you have to read this.”
Julian took it.
“Thank you.”
Lily looked past him toward the house.
“Is Elena here?”
Julian froze.
“How do you know Elena?”
The little girl pointed toward Thomas.
“Grandpa talks about her.”
Grandpa.
Julian felt sick.
“What does he say?”
Lily leaned closer as though sharing a secret.
“He says her baby is the key.”
Before Julian could ask what that meant, Camille screamed from outside the gate.
“JULIAN!”
He looked up.
Thomas had raised a gun.
Not toward Julian.
Toward Camille.
“Inside!” Marcus shouted.
Julian grabbed Lily and ran.
A gunshot cracked through the trees.
Camille fell.
Lily screamed.
“Mommy!”
Julian covered the child’s head and carried her into the house.
Marcus slammed the reinforced door.
Elena rushed toward them.
“Is she hurt?”
“No.”
Lily struggled in Julian’s arms.
“Mommy! I want Mommy!”
Elena took her.
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
The girl sobbed.
“Mommy fell.”
“I know.”
“We’re going to help her.”
Julian looked at Marcus.
“We are.”
Marcus checked the feed.
Camille was moving.
“She’s alive.”
Relief hit Julian.
Thomas’s men were dragging her toward the SUV.
Then the vehicles began reversing.
“They’re leaving,” Marcus said.
“Why?”
No one knew.
Within seconds, the SUVs disappeared among the trees.
Thomas had brought them there.
Delivered Lily.
Shot Camille.
Then left.
Julian looked at the envelope.
“He got what he wanted.”
Elena held Lily.
“What?”
“He wanted her inside.”
Marcus immediately understood.
“Search her.”
Elena’s expression hardened.
“She’s a child.”
“For a transmitter.”
Lily began crying harder.
Elena crouched.
“Sweetheart, did Grandpa give you anything?”
The girl shook her head.
“Did he put anything in your clothes?”
“No.”
“Your shoes?”
Lily hesitated.
Everyone noticed.
Elena kept her voice gentle.
“What happened to your shoes?”
“Grandpa gave me new ones.”
Marcus removed them carefully.
Inside the heel of the left shoe was a small electronic transmitter.
Julian stared at it.
“Destroy it.”
Marcus crushed it.
“No,” Margaret said.
They turned.
“Don’t destroy the signal.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas expects it to move.”
Marcus understood.
“We can use it.”
He examined the damaged transmitter.
“Maybe not this one.”
Julian gave him a look.
“Helpful.”
“I can replicate the signal.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Julian nodded.
“Send it somewhere else.”
“Where?”
Julian thought.
“Richard’s house.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Cold.”
“He owes me.”
***
Lily eventually stopped crying.
Elena sat with her on the couch.
“What’s your mommy’s name?”
“Camille.”
“Does Grandpa live with you?”
Lily shook her head.
“Mommy doesn’t like Grandpa.”
Julian listened from across the room.
“Where do you live?” Elena asked.
“Lots of places.”
“Do you go to school?”
“Sometimes.”
“Does Mommy ever talk about Julian?”
Lily looked toward him.
“Yes.”
Julian approached slowly.
“What does she say?”
Lily thought carefully.
“She says you don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“About me.”
Julian swallowed.
“Did she ever want to tell me?”
Lily nodded.
“Grandpa said no.”
Julian crouched beside her.
“Lily, did Grandpa ever hurt you?”
“No.”
“Your mommy?”
The girl looked down.
That was enough.
Julian’s expression darkened.
Elena changed the subject.
“What did your mommy put in the envelope?”
Lily shrugged.
“She said it proves Grandpa lies.”
Julian opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Camille in a hospital bed holding newborn Lily.
On the back was a date.
Four years earlier.
Julian unfolded the letter.
Julian,
If Lily reaches you, Thomas has lost control of the situation.
He told me for years that you consented to everything.
I eventually learned you never knew.
Lily is your biological daughter. I have the original test.
But Thomas is lying about Elena’s baby.
Do not let him convince you the child belongs to someone else.
The child is yours.
Julian stopped.
Elena moved closer.
“Keep reading.”
He did.
Thomas’s real interest is not paternity.
It is inheritance.
Your mother discovered that the Continuity Project was never primarily genetic.
The genetics were only a screening mechanism.
Thomas is searching for something connected to Elena’s maternal family.
Something Isabel Marquez took from Edmund Vale in 1969.
He believes it can only be legally recovered by a direct descendant of both families.
Julian looked at Elena.
“A descendant of both families.”
Their baby.
Elena whispered, “What did my grandmother take?”
Julian continued reading.
I do not know what it is.
But I know where Victoria hid the answer.
Ask Margaret about Saint Orison.
Do not trust Richard.
And do not let anyone remove the marker from Elena until you understand what activates it.
Julian stopped reading.
“What activates it?”
Dr. Ward looked toward Elena.
“I don’t like that sentence.”
Neither did Julian.
He continued.
There was one final paragraph.
Thomas thinks he has until the baby is born.
He is wrong.
The marker activates when Elena enters active labor.
When it activates, it transmits more than her location.
Dr. Ward moved immediately toward Elena.
“We need to identify that device.”
Elena’s face tightened suddenly.
She gripped the edge of the couch.
Julian saw it.
“Elena?”
She inhaled sharply.
Another contraction.
Dr. Ward checked the time.
“How long since the last one?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Maybe six minutes.”
Everyone went silent.
Six.
Not twelve.
Dr. Ward placed a hand against Elena’s abdomen.
Another contraction began before she finished examining her.
Elena gasped.
Julian caught her.
“What’s happening?”
Dr. Ward’s face became serious.
“She may be entering active labor.”
Marcus looked toward the computer.
At that exact moment, an alarm appeared.
SIGNAL DETECTED.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“No.”
Julian looked at him.
“What?”
“The device inside Elena just activated.”
A second window appeared.
Encrypted data began transmitting.
“Stop it,” Julian said.
“I’m trying.”
“To where?”
Marcus traced the signal.
His expression changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“What?”
“It isn’t transmitting to Thomas.”
“Then where?”
Marcus slowly looked toward Margaret.
“To Switzerland.”
Margaret went white.
Julian saw it.
“You know what’s there.”
She said nothing.
“Margaret.”
Her voice shook.
“Saint Orison.”
Julian remembered Camille’s letter.
“Tell me what it is.”
Margaret looked at Elena.
Then at the unborn child.
“It’s where Victoria went after she disappeared.”
Julian’s heart stopped.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Is she there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what is Saint Orison?”
Margaret swallowed.
“A private medical facility.”
“For what?”
She hesitated.
Dr. Ward answered for her.
“Children.”
Julian looked at her.
“What children?”
Dr. Ward’s expression was grim.
“The children created by the Continuity Project.”
Silence.
Then the computer beeped.
A response had arrived from Switzerland.
Not automated.
A message.
Marcus opened it.
Four words appeared.
SUBJECT IDENTIFIED. PROTOCOL COMMENCING.
Then another line appeared.
Julian stepped closer.
His face drained of color.
WELCOME, BABY VALE-MARQUEZ.
Beneath it was a countdown.
05:59:59.
05:59:58.
05:59:57.
Elena stared at the screen.
“What happens in six hours?”
Margaret began crying.
Julian turned toward her.
“What happens?”
She looked at Elena’s belly.
“At the end of that countdown, Thomas won’t need Elena anymore.”