CHAPTER 20 THE CONTINUITY PROGRAM
Nathan tore the speaker from the wall.
“Show yourself!”
Only static answered.
The bell continued ringing below the facility.
Margaret struggled to stand.
“You need to stop that bell.”
Gabriel turned toward her.
“Why?”
“It controls the lower doors. When the tide reaches the foundation, the underground sections seal automatically.”
Claire looked at the steel door behind them.
“How long do we have?”
“Less than twenty minutes.”
Nathan cut Margaret’s restraints but did not help her rise.
“Tell us everything.”
“This is not the time.”
“My daughter was taken because of something you helped create. This is the only time.”
Margaret looked at Evelyn.
“Cole called it the Continuity Program.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“He called stolen children continuity?”
“He believed powerful families failed because bloodlines were unpredictable. Children became sick. Heirs rebelled. Witnesses changed their minds.”
Vanessa understood first.
“So he created replacements.”
“Not exact replacements,” Margaret said. “Alternatives. Twins separated at birth. Infants given new names. Children raised in controlled homes.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“You gave Gideon to Cole.”
“I did not deliver him personally.”
“But you knew he survived.”
Margaret looked away.
Gabriel grabbed her arm.
“You let my mother believe her son was dead.”
“I was trying to keep Cole from taking you too.”
“You helped him build a second version of me.”
“He had already chosen Gideon.”
Claire stepped between them.
“My daughter.”
Margaret looked at her.
“The Shaw Trust contains assets worth more than the Whitmore companies. Cole could never control it directly. The agreement required a verified female descendant.”
“That was Claire,” Nathan said.
“Until tonight.”
Claire felt sick.
“The trust passes to the youngest female.”
“Yes.”
“And because my daughter cannot control it, her legal guardian does.”
Margaret nodded.
Nathan’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You planned to control our child.”
“I planned to protect her until she was old enough.”
“You planned her before Claire and I even met.”
Margaret did not deny it.
Claire turned away.
Every birthday, every unexpected meeting with Nathan, every family invitation and every apparent coincidence suddenly felt contaminated.
Gabriel searched the wall of records.
He found dozens of colored files.
Each contained photographs of twins who had been separated, renamed and placed inside wealthy families.
Some had replaced dead siblings.
Some had appeared during trials to destroy testimony.
Others had married into targeted bloodlines.
Vanessa found two files labeled with her birth date.
One contained her photograph.
The other contained Vera’s.
Vanessa opened Vera’s file.
A recent instruction had been typed on the final page.
ASSUME VANESSA IDENTITY AFTER SUBJECT REMOVAL.
“She was supposed to become me,” Vanessa whispered.
Nathan examined the building plans.
A tunnel extended beneath the lighthouse toward a chapel cut into the cliff.
A red mark indicated a nursery beyond it.
Claire saw it.
“She’s there.”
The lights flickered.
Water began pouring beneath the corridor door.
Veronica’s voice returned through another speaker.
“Time is almost over.”
Claire looked at Evelyn.
“No one is staying behind.”
“You cannot save everyone,” Veronica said.
Nathan took Claire’s hand.
“We’re saving our daughter first.”
They moved toward the stairway leading beneath the Bell Room.
Before following, Margaret pulled Nathan close.
Her voice was barely audible.
“There is something else about the night you married Claire.”
Nathan stared at her.
“What?”
“You signed a document you never read.”
“What document?”
May you like
Margaret looked toward Claire.
“The one that gave us the legal right to take your first child.”
