Chapter 11 - THE FATHER LILY NEVER KNEW -Lily could not sleep.
The possibility that Samuel Voss was her father twisted every memory she possessed.
She remembered smoke.
A woman screaming.
A man carrying her through darkness.
Then years of foster homes, group residences, and temporary families.
Her official file stated that her parents had died in an electrical fire.
No bodies had been identified.
Agent Hayes ordered a DNA comparison using material recovered from Voss’s office.
The results would take several hours.
Adrian wanted Lily moved to a secure Blackwood property.
Hayes refused.
“Voss escaped because someone knew the transport route.”
“We cannot trust private locations.”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
The security chief had been unusually silent since the island rescue.
“Did anyone from my team receive the route?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
Marcus met his eyes.
“Yes.”
Adrian noticed the answer came too quickly.
At dawn, the DNA results arrived.
Samuel Voss was Lily’s biological father.
The probability exceeded ninety-nine percent.
Lily stared at the report.
Claire sat beside her.
“You are not responsible for what he did.”
“I carry his blood.”
“That is biology.”
“It is not loyalty.”
Lily remembered protecting younger children in the foster home.
She remembered becoming a nursing assistant because she hated seeing frightened children alone.
Perhaps she had spent her life becoming the opposite of her father without knowing it.
Hayes questioned Dr. Voss’s former employees.
One nurse revealed that he often spoke about a daughter taken from him by the Blackwood family.
He believed Evelyn Blackwood caused the fire that separated them.
According to the nurse, Voss joined Evelyn’s operation to remain close enough to take revenge.
His ultimate target was never Claire.
It was the entire Blackwood bloodline.
Vanessa was interrogated again.
She refused to speak until offered protection from Evelyn.
When Hayes agreed to consider a deal, Vanessa revealed that Julian and Voss had never fully trusted each other.
Julian wanted control of the company.
Voss wanted Adrian’s family destroyed.
Evelyn believed she controlled both men.
In truth, each had prepared a separate betrayal.
“What was Voss planning?” Adrian asked.
Vanessa smiled through the glass.
“He wanted Lily inside the manor.”
“He wanted her close to Ethan.”
Lily’s stomach turned.
“Why?”
“To recreate what Evelyn did to him.”
“He wanted Adrian to love you.”
“He wanted the Blackwood family to depend on you.”
“Then he intended to reveal your identity and make it appear that you had harmed the children.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“He wanted Adrian to destroy the person who saved his son.”
Adrian’s face darkened.
“Where is Voss going?”
“He has a laboratory outside Boston.”
“Julian knows the location.”
“Where is Julian?”
Vanessa leaned back.
“Probably preparing to kill his mother.”
Evelyn remained under guard in a federal hospital.
Her gunshot wound was not life-threatening.
Hayes doubled security.
That afternoon, an attorney arrived claiming to represent her.
The attorney carried verified credentials.
He passed every security check.
Inside Evelyn’s room, he removed a thin ceramic blade from his shoe.
Before he could reach the bed, Evelyn opened her eyes.
“You always were predictable, Julian.”
The attorney removed his mask.
Julian had dyed his hair and altered his face with prosthetics.
He locked the door.
“You left me on that roof.”
“You became careless.”
“You planned to replace me with Grace.”
“I planned to preserve the family.”
“I am the family.”
Evelyn almost looked amused.
“You are a tool.”
Julian raised the blade.
Before he could strike, the room’s intercom activated.
Adrian’s voice filled the room.
“Drop it.”
The wall panel slid open.
Federal agents entered with weapons raised.
Julian realized Evelyn’s room had been used as bait.
He grabbed her by the throat and pressed the blade against her neck.
“Back away.”
Evelyn remained calm.
“Do it.”
Julian looked at her.
She smiled.
“You have spent your life waiting for permission.”
His hand trembled.
That hesitation allowed Hayes to fire a stun round.
Julian collapsed.
He was arrested alive.
During questioning, he demanded immunity in exchange for Voss’s location.
Hayes refused full immunity but offered reduced charges if Grace and the missing children were recovered safely.
Julian provided coordinates to an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts.
He warned them that Voss had constructed something called the family room.
“He has been preparing it for years.”
“What is it?” Lily asked.
Julian looked at her through the glass.
“A place where he intends to make Adrian choose.”
“Choose what?”
Julian leaned closer.
“Which child gets to live.”
The rescue team prepared to leave.
Lily insisted on joining.
Hayes objected.
“You are Voss’s target.”
“That is why he will speak to me.”
Adrian supported her decision reluctantly.
Claire remained with Ethan and Grace under guard.
Before Lily left, Grace handed her the stuffed rabbit.
“For luck.”
Lily placed it in her bag.
Ethan hugged her tightly.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
“You always say that.”
“And I always try.”
The team reached the abandoned hospital after dark.
The building stood behind rusted gates.
No lights were visible.
Hayes sent drones over the roof.
Thermal imaging detected only one heat source in the basement.
They entered through the service tunnel.
The corridors were filled with photographs of Lily at different ages.
School pictures.
Employment records.
Images taken from across streets and through windows.
Voss had watched her for years.
At the basement level, they found the family room.
It was designed to resemble the Blackwood Manor nursery.
Two child-sized beds stood behind glass partitions.
One was empty.
The other contained a sleeping boy.
Adrian rushed forward.
It was Ethan.
Somehow, Voss had taken him from the protected hospital.
A speaker crackled.
Voss’s voice filled the room.
“You saved Adrian’s son once, Laura.”
“Now let us see whether you can do it again.”
Gas began filling Ethan’s glass chamber.
May you like
A second chamber opened behind Lily.
Inside lay Grace.
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