Chapter 5 - THE LAKE HOUSE
The lake house had been abandoned for years.
Ethan drove there before dawn with Claire, two detectives, and Margaret under protective custody.
The old cabin smelled of dust and damp wood.
Margaret pointed toward the fireplace.
“Your father hid the records there.”
Ethan searched until he found a loose brick.
Behind it was a metal box.
Inside were ledgers, photographs, bank transfers, and handwritten notes.
Claire covered her mouth.
There were dozens of names.
Parents.
Doctors.
Adoption agencies.
Private foundations.
Payments.
And one repeated phrase:
PROJECT STAR.
Ethan turned a page.
His daughter's name was there.
Nora Cole.
Date of placement: eleven days ago.
Status: approved.
He felt sick.
Claire grabbed the document.
“No.”
Another page listed Claire.
Birth mother: Claire Bennett.
Previous infant: female.
Location: unknown.
Ethan stared at Margaret.
“What is Project Star?”
“I don't know everything.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
“It was a system.”
“For what?”
“Matching powerful families with children.”
Claire's voice shook.
“They chose Nora before we even met her?”
Margaret nodded.
“But why?”
Ethan found another document.
A genetic profile.
Nora's DNA had been compared against a list of names.
One was highlighted.
Daniel Vale.
Claire stared.
“That's impossible.”
Ethan looked at the test.
The result showed a biological relationship.
Daniel Vale was Nora's father.
Claire began shaking.
“He's alive.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Ethan turned.
“You said he died.”
“I said he disappeared.”
“You knew.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You've been protecting yourself.”
A sound came from outside.
Branches breaking.
The detectives drew their weapons.
A shot struck the window.
Everyone dropped.
Another shot hit the wall.
The lights went out.
Ethan grabbed Claire and pulled her behind the fireplace.
Margaret crawled toward the metal box.
“Leave it!”
She ignored him.
She took one photograph.
Then the shooting stopped.
Police searched the property.
The shooter was gone.
Ethan found Margaret sitting on the floor.
“What did you take?”
She handed him the photograph.
It showed four people standing outside a hospital eighteen years earlier.
Claire.
Daniel.
Samuel Vale.
And a younger Victor Hale.
But there was a fifth person partially hidden behind them.
Ethan recognized him.
His father.
On the back of the photograph were six words:
THE CHILD WAS NEVER LOST.
Ethan looked at Claire.
“Your first baby survived.”
Claire began sobbing.
“Where is she?”
Margaret whispered.
“That is what Daniel has been trying to find.”
Then Ethan noticed the final line in the ledger.
PROJECT STAR — FINAL SUBJECT: NORA COLE.
His blood ran cold.
Nora wasn't just a baby caught in someone else's conspiracy.
May you like
She was the final piece.
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