Chapter 25: The Choice Victor Made
Emergency lights filled the room with a dim red glow.
Detective Ellis tried the door.
It would not open.
Thomas Arden’s voice continued through the speaker.
“You have spent thirty years pretending you saved Isabelle.”
Victor moved toward the observation window.
“I helped her escape you.”
“You helped her steal my child.”
I stepped between them, even though Thomas could not see me clearly.
“I am not your child.”
“You carry my name whether Victor told you or not.”
“My name is Whitmore.”
“For the moment.”
I looked at Ellis.
He was working on the electronic lock.
“Where is Noah?” I asked.
“Safe.”
“Let me see him.”
“When Victor tells you the truth.”
My father’s expression hardened.
“She knows.”
“Not everything.”
Thomas activated a projector mounted in the ceiling.
An old hospital video appeared on the wall.
The date was the day I was born.
My mother lay in a delivery room.
A younger Victor stood outside the glass.
A doctor carried a newborn down the corridor.
Then another nurse emerged holding a second baby.
Two infants.
The footage ended.
I turned to Victor.
“What was that?”
He said nothing.
Thomas answered for him.
“Your mother delivered twins.”
The room seemed to lose all sound.
“That is not true.”
“Ask Victor.”
My father closed his eyes.
My anger became something sharper.
“Where is the other child?”
“We were told she died,” Victor said.
“She?” I whispered.
“A daughter.”
Thomas laughed through the speaker.
“They lied to you too, Victor.”
My father approached the camera.
“Where is she?”
“Closer than you think.”
The lights returned.
The door unlocked.
Detective Ellis pulled it open.
The observation room was empty.
A laptop sat on the desk.
On its screen was a live feed from the Isabelle Center.
My mother sat in the community kitchen with Lily.
A woman entered behind her.
Claire.
Isabelle stood.
Claire said something we could not hear.
My mother’s face changed.
She touched Claire’s cheek.
Then she pulled her into her arms.
Thomas’s voice came from the laptop.
“Isabelle always recognized her children.”
I could not breathe.
Claire was not simply my half-sister.
She might be my twin.
On the screen, Claire suddenly looked toward the kitchen camera.
She held up a piece of paper.
Three words were written across it.
May you like
NOAH IS BELOW.
The video cut to black.
