Chapter 8 – The Woman with Lily’s Face
Chapter 8 – The Woman with Lily’s Face
Rain hammered against the nursery windows as Lily stood frozen in place.
She stared into the darkness where the mysterious woman had disappeared only seconds earlier.
Same height.
Same hair.
Same face.
It felt as though she had been looking into a mirror.
A guard rushed outside with two others, sweeping the gardens with tactical flashlights.
Nothing.
No footprints.
No movement.
No sign that anyone had ever been there.
Lily slowly backed away from the window.
Her pulse thundered in her ears.
Ethan tugged gently on her sleeve.
"Lily?"
She forced herself to smile.
"I'm okay."
But she wasn't.
Not even close.
St. Catherine Medical Center
Victor lowered his weapon as Gabriel's laughter echoed through the abandoned hospital.
"So," Gabriel said over the speakers, "you noticed."
Victor calmly scanned the hallway.
"You underestimated me."
"No."
Gabriel's voice remained amused.
"I underestimated Lily."
Victor frowned.
"What does she have to do with this?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
The transmission abruptly ended.
Dominic glanced toward Victor.
"He sounds confident."
Victor nodded.
"Because he thinks we're already beaten."
Marcus checked the electronic lock sealing the blast door.
"It's reinforced."
Adrian studied the ceiling.
"No ventilation large enough to crawl through."
Jonah looked toward Victor.
"So what's the plan?"
Victor quietly removed his suit jacket.
"We stop following his plan."
Back at the estate...
Dominic's deputy, Rachel Monroe, reviewed every exterior camera frame by frame.
She replayed the moment Lily saw her double.
Frame 214.
Nothing.
Frame 215.
The mysterious woman appeared near the fountain.
Frame 216.
She smiled directly toward the nursery.
Frame 217.
Gone.
Rachel frowned.
"Impossible."
She enlarged the image.
Then froze.
The woman wasn't disappearing.
She was stepping behind someone.
A gardener pushing a utility cart.
The angle perfectly concealed her.
Thirty seconds later...
The gardener exited through the employee gate.
Rachel immediately radioed security.
"Stop that maintenance worker!"
The answer came back almost instantly.
"Too late."
"He already left."
Inside the hospital...
Victor noticed something strange beneath the emergency lights.
Small scratches along the floor.
Fresh.
Almost invisible.
He crouched.
Dominic joined him.
"What is it?"
Victor traced the marks with one finger.
"Hospital beds."
"They've been moved recently."
He followed the trail.
Straight toward a heavy fire door marked:
Restricted Surgical Wing
Marcus tested the handle.
Locked.
Victor looked toward Adrian.
"Breaching charge."
Thirty seconds later...
The explosion shattered the reinforced door.
Smoke cleared.
The room beyond was empty.
Except for dozens of abandoned patient files.
And one wheelchair.
Slowly rocking back and forth.
Dominic swept the room.
"Clear."
Victor approached the wheelchair.
Something lay folded on its seat.
A child's drawing.
Crayons.
Stick figures.
One tall man.
One woman.
One little boy.
Three smiling faces holding hands.
Written underneath in shaky handwriting:
Daddy. Mommy. Ethan.
Victor's throat tightened.
"This is Ethan's."
Lily often helped him draw.
Dominic frowned.
"How did it get here?"
Victor looked around the silent room.
"Because Isabella was here."
At the estate...
Rachel continued reviewing security footage.
The fake gardener's face remained hidden beneath a cap.
She enhanced another camera angle.
This time...
His tattoo became visible.
A black raven spreading its wings across his neck.
Rachel immediately searched the Blackwood database.
One match appeared.
Former employee.
Michael Reeves.
Maintenance contractor.
Dismissed two years earlier.
Reason:
Recommended by Serena Montigue.
Rachel's eyes widened.
"It started earlier than we thought."
Miles away...
Michael Reeves removed his disguise inside an abandoned parking garage.
Waiting for him sat the mysterious woman who looked exactly like Lily.
She calmly removed a blonde wig.
Her resemblance became even more unsettling.
Michael smiled.
"They believed it."
The woman shrugged.
"They wanted to."
She looked toward a photograph lying on the dashboard.
It showed Lily holding Ethan six months earlier.
Hundreds of handwritten notes surrounded the picture.
Expressions.
Walking posture.
Voice patterns.
Favorite colors.
Daily routines.
Someone had studied Lily obsessively.
The woman quietly folded the photograph.
"When do I replace her?"
Michael looked at his phone.
"Soon."
Deep inside St. Catherine Hospital...
Victor's team finally located an operational elevator.
Power still flowed.
Someone was maintaining the building.
Dominic hacked the control panel.
Only one floor remained accessible.
B4
"No architectural plans mention a fourth basement," Dominic said.
Victor stepped into the elevator.
"Then that's where Isabella is."
The doors slowly closed.
As the elevator descended...
The lights flickered.
A distorted lullaby filled the speakers.
The same melody Isabella used to sing Ethan to sleep.
Victor's face lost all color.
Gabriel's voice quietly followed.
"Memories are powerful weapons."
The elevator doors opened.
A spotless underground corridor stretched before them.
Unlike the abandoned floors above, this level looked brand new.
Bright lights.
Fresh paint.
Modern surveillance cameras.
State-of-the-art laboratories.
Marcus whispered,
"This place never closed."
Victor nodded.
"It evolved."
Halfway down the hallway...
They found something unexpected.
A nursery.
Tiny cribs.
Children's toys.
Shelves stocked with infant formula.
Dominic stared in disbelief.
"Why would they build a nursery underground?"
Victor noticed framed photographs hanging on one wall.
Every picture showed Ethan.
From birth...
To his first birthday.
Thousands of images.
Taken from hidden cameras inside the Blackwood estate.
Someone had been documenting Ethan's entire life.
Back at the mansion...
Ethan suddenly woke from his nap.
He looked around nervously.
"Lily?"
"I'm here."
He grabbed her hand tightly.
"The other Lily."
Lily smiled gently.
"It wasn't me."
He shook his head.
"No."
"She came before."
Lily froze.
"When?"
He struggled to remember.
"Long time."
"Daddy gone."
"She wanted hug."
Lily's heartbeat quickened.
"Did she touch you?"
He nodded.
"She smelled..."
He wrinkled his tiny nose.
"...like flowers."
The same perfume Serena always wore.
Lily immediately called Rachel.
"Search every visitor log from the past year."
"For what?"
"A woman who looks like me."
Inside the underground laboratory...
Victor entered the largest room.
Medical equipment surrounded a single hospital bed.
The sheets were still warm.
Someone had left only minutes earlier.
On the bedside table rested a framed family photograph.
Victor picked it up.
It showed himself.
Isabella.
Baby Ethan.
A picture that had disappeared from the mansion years ago.
Beneath it lay a handwritten note.
Victor unfolded it.
Only one sentence.
You're finally remembering the wrong story.
Before anyone could react...
The laboratory doors slammed shut behind them.
Heavy steel bolts locked automatically.
Red warning lights began flashing.
Gas poured from ceiling vents.
Dominic covered his mouth.
"Gas!"
Victor immediately recognized the faint sweet odor.
Not poison.
Anesthetic.
Marcus staggered first.
Then Adrian.
Jonah collapsed to one knee.
Victor fought to stay conscious.
His vision blurred.
Just before darkness consumed him...
He saw a shadow step through a hidden doorway.
A woman.
She knelt beside him.
Softly touched his face.
And whispered through trembling tears:
"Victor..."
"I'm so sorry."
May you like
Then everything went black.
End of Chapter 8
