MY DAUGHTER, THE ASSASIN

CHAPTER NINE: THE OTHER DAUGHTER

"I think it's time you met your sister."

Sophia couldn't breathe.

The phone remained pressed against her ear.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then she whispered:

"You're lying."

Helena's voice remained calm.

"I knew you would say that."

"You don't have a sister."

"You do."

"Where is she?"

A pause.

"Closer than you think."

Sophia's eyes moved across the room.

Eleanor stood frozen.

Victor looked as though someone had struck him.

Cassian noticed.

"Victor?"

Victor didn't respond.

Sophia stared at her father.

"You knew."

It wasn't a question.

Victor looked away.

Sophia's voice became colder.

"You knew I had a sister."

"I knew there was another child."

Her stomach tightened.

"Another child?"

"Your mother was told the second baby didn't survive."

Sophia turned toward Eleanor.

Eleanor was crying silently.

"Is that true?"

Eleanor nodded.

"I was told you were the only one who survived."

Sophia's fingers tightened around the phone.

"Who told you?"

Helena answered.

"I did."

Sophia's blood ran cold.

"Why?"

"Because if your mother knew your sister was alive, she would have searched for her."

"And you didn't want that."

"No."

"Why?"

Helena's voice softened.

"Because your sister belonged to them."

Sophia felt a chill run through her body.

"Who are they?"

"You've been asking the wrong question again."

Sophia's patience snapped.

"Stop speaking in riddles!"

For the first time, Helena sounded angry.

"Your sister is not the person you remember her to be."

Sophia frowned.

"I've never met her."

"Oh, Sophia."

Helena gave a quiet laugh.

"You're absolutely certain?"

The line went dead.

Sophia lowered the phone.

Cassian watched her carefully.

"What did she say?"

Sophia looked at him.

"She said I have a sister."

Cassian's eyes moved toward Eleanor.

"I heard."

Sophia looked at her mother.

"Tell me everything."

Eleanor wiped her face.

"I can't."

Sophia stepped forward.

"You've said that before."

"I was protecting you."

"From what?"

"From the truth."

Sophia laughed bitterly.

"Truth doesn't kill people, Mum."

Eleanor's voice trembled.

"Sometimes it does."

Sophia stared at her.

Then she asked:

"What was her name?"

Eleanor looked at Victor.

Victor closed his eyes.

"Her name was Lily."

Sophia repeated it quietly.

"Lily."

The name felt strangely familiar.

She didn't know why.

But something inside her reacted to it.

A memory.

A little girl's laughter.

A blue ribbon.

Two small hands holding the same toy.

Sophia staggered backward.

Cassian caught her.

"What happened?"

"I remembered something."

"What?"

Sophia looked terrified.

"A girl."

Eleanor covered her mouth.

"What girl?"

Sophia looked at her.

"Lily."

Eleanor began crying harder.

Sophia's eyes widened.

"You remember her."

"I remember a little girl."

"When?"

"I don't know."

Sophia closed her eyes.

The memory returned.

A bedroom.

Two children sitting on the floor.

One girl had dark hair.

The other looked exactly like Sophia.

The little girl held a stuffed rabbit.

"Promise you won't leave me."

Young Sophia smiled.

"I promise."

Then the memory changed.

A door opened.

A man's shadow appeared.

The girl screamed.

Sophia opened her eyes.

"Someone took her."

Victor nodded.

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Your grandfather."

Sophia looked at him in disbelief.

"Why?"

"He believed one of you was more valuable than the other."

"Which one?"

Victor didn't answer.

Sophia understood.

"Me."

"No."

Victor's voice broke.

"Lily."

Sophia stared at him.

"What?"

"Your grandfather believed Lily was the more stable subject."

The room went silent.

Cassian stepped closer.

"What does that mean?"

Victor looked at him.

"Unlike Sophia, Lily didn't resist conditioning."

Sophia felt sick.

"They trained her."

"Yes."

"To do what?"

Victor hesitated.

"To control people."

Sophia frowned.

"Control?"

"Your memory made you useful as an archive."

Victor looked toward the floor.

"Your sister had another ability."

"What?"

"She could read people."

Cassian's expression hardened.

"Psychological profiling?"

"More than that."

Victor swallowed.

"She could identify fear, weakness, deception. She could manipulate people without them realizing it."

Sophia stared at him.

"That's impossible."

"It's not."

Cassian looked at Sophia.

"The Black Room wouldn't need supernatural abilities. Advanced psychological conditioning can make someone extremely skilled at reading behavior."

Sophia barely heard him.

Her mind was somewhere else.

Lily.

Her sister.

Alive.

Somewhere.

And possibly trained to destroy her.

A noise came from the hallway.

Sophia immediately drew her weapon.

Cassian did the same.

Everyone froze.

Footsteps.

Slow.

Measured.

Approaching.

Sophia motioned for Eleanor and Victor to stay behind her.

The door opened.

A man walked in.

Sophia recognized him.

One of Cassian's security officers.

But something was wrong.

His eyes were empty.

Cassian raised his weapon.

"Stop."

The man continued walking.

"Don't move."

He smiled.

Then he said:

"She says hello."

Sophia's eyes narrowed.

"Who?"

The man pulled a gun.

Cassian fired first.

The man's weapon fell.

He collapsed.

Sophia rushed toward him.

There was a tiny black device attached behind his ear.

Cassian removed it.

"A neural transmitter."

Sophia stared.

"Who put it there?"

Cassian examined it.

"Someone wanted to use him remotely."

Victor's expression changed.

"That's not possible."

Cassian looked at him.

"Apparently it is."

Victor shook his head.

"That technology was destroyed."

"Apparently not."

Sophia suddenly remembered something.

"Helena."

Cassian looked at her.

"What?"

"She said Lily belonged to them."

Cassian nodded slowly.

"And now someone is controlling people from inside their heads."

Sophia looked at the device.

"Then Lily isn't just alive."

Cassian's expression became grim.

"She's active."

A computer beeped.

Cassian turned toward the nearest monitor.

A message appeared.

YOU HAVE 23 MINUTES.

Sophia stepped closer.

Another line appeared.

COME ALONE, SUBJECT 017.

Then an address.

Sophia recognized it immediately.

"That's the old railway station."

Victor shook his head.

"No."

Sophia looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because that's where they took Lily."

Sophia's heart stopped.

Cassian grabbed his coat.

"I'm coming."

The message changed.

NO CASSIAN BLACK.

Cassian stared at the screen.

Another message appeared.

NO VICTOR HAYES.

Then:

NO ELEANOR HAYES.

Only one person remained.

Sophia.

She looked at Cassian.

"They know everything."

Cassian nodded.

"Yes."

Sophia picked up the black drive Marcus had given her.

"Then I'll go."

Cassian caught her arm.

"Not alone."

The screen changed again.

IF YOU BRING HIM, YOUR SISTER DIES.

Sophia stared at the words.

Cassian saw the conflict in her eyes.

"They're manipulating you."

"I know."

"They want you emotional."

"I know."

"They want you isolated."

"I know."

"Then don't go."

Sophia looked at him.

"What if Lily is really there?"

Cassian had no answer.

Sophia gently pulled her arm free.

"I spent my entire life believing I was alone."

She looked toward Eleanor.

"I won't abandon her."

Cassian stared at her.

"You're willing to walk into a trap for someone you've never met?"

Sophia's voice softened.

"She's my sister."

Cassian looked away.

Then he reached into his pocket and handed Sophia a small device.

"Put this in your ear."

She looked at it.

"What is it?"

"An encrypted transmitter."

"You said I had to go alone."

"You do."

He pointed to the device.

"But you won't be without me."

Sophia looked at him.

"Cassian..."

"They won't know I'm listening."

A faint smile appeared on Sophia's face.

"For someone who doesn't like reckless decisions, you're helping me make one."

"I'm helping you survive it."

Their eyes met.

For a moment, the noise around them disappeared.

Then Eleanor spoke.

"Sophia."

She turned.

Her mother walked toward her.

"I need you to know something."

"What?"

Eleanor reached into her pocket.

She pulled out a photograph.

She handed it to Sophia.

Sophia looked down.

Two little girls stood beside a woman.

One was Sophia.

The other was Lily.

But there was something else.

Behind them stood a teenage boy.

Sophia stared at him.

She knew that face.

Her blood ran cold.

"Cassian."

He looked at the photograph.

His expression changed completely.

"That's impossible."

Sophia looked at him.

"Who is he?"

Cassian didn't answer.

Victor did.

"That's Cassian's brother."

Sophia looked at Cassian.

"You had a brother?"

Cassian's face became pale.

"He died twenty-one years ago."

Sophia looked back at the photograph.

The date written on the back was clear.

Twenty-one years ago.

And underneath it, in handwriting she didn't recognize, were five words:

Lily was never the target.

Sophia looked at Cassian.

"Then who was?"

Before he could answer, the lights went out.

And in the darkness, a woman's voice whispered from somewhere inside the building:

"Me."