Chapter 22: The First Visit
Owen arrived with two attorneys, a child psychologist, and several security guards.
He brought Ethan an expensive electric car.
Ethan did not touch it.
Instead, he held Claire’s hand.
Owen crouched to the boy’s level.
“I’m your father.”
Ethan looked at Lily.
“Is he?”
Lily answered carefully.
“He helped create you. But being a father takes more than that.”
Owen’s expression hardened.
The psychologist suggested Lily leave the room.
Ethan began to panic.
Claire intervened.
“He stays with someone he trusts.”
Owen looked at her.
“And who appointed you?”
“Thomas Bennett.”
Claire showed him the trust document.
For the first time, Owen appeared genuinely shocked.
“Thomas made you trustee?”
“You didn’t know?”
Owen glanced toward one of his attorneys.
That reaction told Claire something important.
Victoria had not shared everything with him.
During the visit, Ethan asked Owen one question.
“Did you hurt my mommy?”
“No.”
“Did you know Aunt Victoria did?”
Owen hesitated.
Only for a second.
But Ethan noticed.
“You knew.”
The child turned away.
After the visit, Owen followed Claire into the hallway.
“Victoria is more dangerous than you understand.”
“Yet you keep standing beside her.”
“I stand where I can see her.”
Claire studied him.
“Help us expose her.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because she has the archive.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“No. She thinks she does.”
Owen’s face changed.
Before he could respond, alarms sounded inside Lily’s room.
Claire rushed back.
Lily’s bed was empty.
A nurse lay unconscious on the floor.
May you like
On the window was a message written in red lipstick:
ONE CHILD FOR ELEVEN.
