Chapter 9 - The Woman in Room 214
Vincent sent an address.
Not for Lily.
For my mother.
A private nursing facility outside Chicago.
Room 214.
Roman assumed trap.
I didn’t care.
“You can stay.”
“I’m going.”
Caleb stepped forward.
“So am I.”
Roman looked between us.
“No heroics.”
Caleb almost smiled.
“You really did become Dad.”
Roman’s expression shut down.
At the facility, Roman’s men secured every entrance.
Room 214 contained an elderly woman sleeping beneath thin blankets.
For several seconds, I saw only age.
Then she opened her eyes.
My mother had a tiny brown mark beneath her left ear.
So did this woman.
“Emily?”
My knees gave out.
Roman caught me before I hit the floor.
My mother began crying.
She had been alive for eight years.
Her cancer had been real.
Her death had not.
Vincent arranged an experimental treatment.
Then used her survival to imprison her.
Why?
Because Laura knew the truth about Sebastian.
About Roman.
About Caleb.
And about the Callahan organization.
“You let me bury you.”
“I was told you would die if I contacted you.”
I laughed through tears.
Apparently that sentence had destroyed multiple generations.
Roman stood near the door.
Laura saw him.
Her face changed.
“Sebastian.”
Roman stiffened.
“No.”
She blinked.
Then understood.
“Roman.”
He approached.
“Who is my father?”
Laura closed her eyes.
“Not Sebastian.”
Roman stopped.
The DNA report had been manipulated.
By whom?
Laura whispered:
“Vincent.”
Of course.
She explained that Sebastian knew Roman was not biologically his son but raised him anyway.
Roman’s biological father was Vincent.
Roman’s face went completely blank.
Then Caleb stepped forward.
“And me?”
Laura looked at him.
“You were Sebastian’s.”
Silence.
Vincent had reversed everything.
Roman was Vincent’s biological son.
Caleb was Sebastian’s.
That explained why Vincent protected Caleb publicly while resenting him privately.
Caleb possessed the bloodline Vincent never had.
“And Emily?” I asked.
Laura reached toward me.
“Sebastian’s daughter.”
Roman and I were not siblings.
Caleb and I were.
My stomach turned.
“No.”
Laura immediately shook her head.
“Not biologically.”
I stared.
“Then what?”
“Your mother wasn’t me.”
The room became silent.
Laura began crying.
“I raised you.”
My voice disappeared.
“Who gave birth to me?”
Before she could answer, the fire alarm screamed.
Roman spun toward the hallway.
Smoke poured beneath the door.
Not accidental.
A guard shouted:
“Evacuate!”
Roman lifted Laura.
Caleb grabbed my hand.
We ran.
Then my phone rang.
Vincent.
I answered while moving.
“Where’s Lily?!”
He laughed.
“Safe.”
“You touch her—”
“I already told you, Emily. Lily was never the important child.”
“What does that mean?”
A pause.
May you like
Then:
“You were.”
