Chapter 18 - Claire’s Truth
Rachel went to the church with Daniel anyway.
She no longer cared what Claire wanted.
Inside, Sophie ran to her first.
Rachel dropped to her knees and held both girls so tightly Lily complained she couldn’t breathe.
Claire stood near the altar.
Alive.
Older.
Tired.
Real.
Daniel stared at her.
“Why?”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“Because Victor watched everything.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I let him believe you hated me.”
Rachel stood.
“Enough.”
Both of them looked at her.
“I don’t care who loved who eight years ago. Tell me why my daughters are being hunted.”
Claire nodded.
“Sophie and Lily are not sisters by blood.”
Rachel almost laughed.
“That’s the least shocking thing I’ve heard today.”
“But one of them is Victor Lang’s granddaughter.”
Silence.
Daniel stared.
“What?”
Claire looked at Lily.
“My father wasn’t my biological father. Victor was.”
Rachel’s skin prickled.
“So your baby…”
“Carried Victor’s line.”
“And Sophie?”
“Thomas Morgan’s granddaughter.”
Claire looked at Rachel.
“Your father knew Victor’s investors wanted access to both families for different genetic markers. He switched us into chaos deliberately.”
Rachel shook her head.
“This still doesn’t tell me which child is mine.”
Claire’s expression softened.
“No.”
“Do you know?”
“Yes.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
Daniel whispered, “Claire.”
She reached into her coat and pulled out an envelope.
“DNA results.”
Rachel stared at it.
For days every mystery had led to another mystery.
Now the answer was finally in front of her.
She took the envelope.
Then headlights flooded the church windows.
Claire’s face changed.
“Too late.”
Men entered through the rear doors.
Victor Lang walked between them.
He was sixty, silver-haired, calm.
He looked at Sophie.
Then Lily.
Then smiled.
“You’ve all worked very hard to answer the wrong question.”
Rachel held the envelope against her chest.
“What question should we be asking?”
Victor looked directly at her.
“Which child belongs to you doesn’t matter.”
He raised a small remote.
“What matters is which child your husband was paid to deliver to me.”
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