Chapter Eight : The Lie Beneath the Lie
1665 Words
Elena
Lucien didn't move.
For several seconds, neither of them breathed.
The words Adrian had sent seemed to hang between them.
The baby survived.
She is Elena Vale.
Elena stared at Lucien.
"What did he mean?"
Lucien said nothing.
"Lucien."
His eyes remained fixed on the phone.
She stepped closer.
"What did he say?"
He finally looked at her.
And Elena saw something she had never seen in his face before.
Horror.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for her.
"He lied."
Elena frowned.
"What?"
"Adrian lied."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
"How?"
Lucien picked up the phone.
"Because I remember that night."
"You said you didn't."
"I remembered."
His voice was strained.
"Not everything. But enough."
Elena waited.
Lucien walked toward the window.
"When I was seven, my father took me to the hospital. There was a woman there."
"Seraphina?"
"Yes."
"And the baby?"
"I saw her."
Elena's heart pounded.
"Who was she?"
"My father told me she was family."
"Your sister?"
"I thought so."
He turned toward her.
"But she wasn't."
"Then who?"
Lucien stared at the photograph.
"That's what Adrian wants me to believe."
Elena's eyes narrowed.
"You don't believe him."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because if that baby were my daughter, there would be records."
Elena went completely still.
"Your daughter?"
Lucien looked away.
"I was seven, Elena."
She realized what he meant.
Adrian's claim was impossible.
"He said the baby was yours."
"I know."
"That's impossible."
"Exactly."
Elena exhaled shakily.
"So why would he say it?"
Lucien's expression hardened.
"To destroy us."
The word made Elena's heart skip.
Us.
He had said it without thinking.
Neither acknowledged it.
---
Lucien
Lucien had never wanted to tell Elena about the darkest part of his family's history.
But Adrian had forced his hand.
He opened the old family archive on his computer.
"Look."
Elena approached.
A scanned medical record appeared.
Patient: Seraphina Voss.
Date: March 13.
Lucien pointed.
"She was admitted the day before my father died."
Elena read quickly.
"Pregnancy?"
"Yes."
"Then Adrian was right about the baby being born."
"Partly."
Lucien opened another document.
The delivery record.
Infant: Female.
Time of birth: 11:57 p.m.
Elena stared.
"March 13?"
"No."
Lucien pointed to the date.
"March 14."
Her face went pale.
"Then the baby was born on my birthday."
"Yes."
"Who was the father?"
"Unknown."
"Why?"
"The record was altered."
Elena looked at him.
"By whom?"
"My father."
She swallowed.
"Why would he hide the father's identity?"
"I don't know."
Lucien opened another file.
This one was almost completely redacted.
At the bottom was a signature.
Alexander Voss.
Elena leaned closer.
"What's that?"
"A transfer order."
"Transfer?"
"The baby was moved from the hospital."
"Where?"
"That's missing."
"When?"
"Twenty-three minutes after birth."
Elena's eyes widened.
"Twenty-three minutes?"
"Yes."
"Who took her?"
"We don't know."
"Then how can Adrian claim I'm that baby?"
Lucien stared at the screen.
"Because someone wants you to believe it."
Elena looked at him.
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
A terrible possibility had entered his mind.
Someone had known Elena's entire life.
Someone had constructed her identity.
Someone had ensured she would eventually arrive at Voss International.
Someone who knew exactly how to manipulate both of them.
---
Elena
"There's something you're not telling me."
Lucien looked at her.
"What?"
"You said the baby's father was unknown."
"Yes."
"But you know who it was."
"No."
"You hesitated."
Lucien was silent.
Elena stepped closer.
"Who was he?"
"I don't know."
"Lucien."
"Elena."
Their voices sharpened.
"Stop protecting me from the truth."
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
"I don't want protection."
"What do you want?"
"The truth."
He stared at her.
Then finally said:
"My father believed the baby's father was connected to the Laurent family."
Elena remembered the photograph.
Camille.
"Camille?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"I don't know."
"Could it have been Camille's father?"
Lucien's expression changed.
"Why would you ask that?"
"Because Camille was investigating your family."
"Yes."
"And she died seven years ago."
"Yes."
"Maybe she knew."
Lucien went silent.
Elena knew she had hit something.
"What?"
"Camille's father disappeared six months before she died."
"Where?"
"Nobody knows."
"Does he have a connection to Seraphina?"
"I don't know."
"Then find out."
Lucien stared at her.
"You really don't know when to stop."
"No."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"I've noticed."
---
The File
Three hours later, Lucien and Elena were still searching.
The company was almost empty.
Rain hammered against the windows.
At 3:12 a.m., Elena found something.
"Lucien."
He came over.
"What?"
She pointed to the screen.
An old employee record.
Nora Bell — Voss Memorial Hospital.
"Who is she?"
"Former nurse."
"She worked there on March 14."
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
"She's still alive."
"How do you know?"
"I found her name in a pension database."
Elena stood.
"Then we find her."
Lucien nodded.
But before he could move, the computer screen went black.
Both froze.
A message appeared.
STOP DIGGING.
Elena's breathing quickened.
Another message appeared.
THE TRUTH WILL COST YOU MORE THAN YOUR LIFE.
Lucien immediately disconnected the computer.
Too late.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No one spoke.
Then a woman's voice whispered:
"Lucien?"
His entire body stiffened.
He knew that voice.
Impossible.
"Who is this?"
A pause.
Then:
"Don't trust Adrian."
Lucien's face went pale.
"Who are you?"
The line went dead.
Elena stared at him.
"You know her."
He looked at her.
"Yes."
"Who?"
Lucien couldn't answer.
Because he had heard that voice seven years ago.
On the night Camille died.
It was the last voice she had spoken to him with.
---
Elena
"Who was it?"
Lucien remained silent.
Elena stepped closer.
"Lucien."
"Camille."
Her heart stopped.
"What?"
"That was Camille."
Elena stared at him.
"That's impossible."
"I know."
"You said she was dead."
"She is."
"Then who called you?"
"I don't know."
They looked at each other.
The mystery had just become something else.
Someone was pretending to be dead.
Someone was pretending to be alive.
And someone was manipulating the truth from the shadows.
Elena suddenly remembered something.
"The photograph."
"What?"
"The photograph you showed me."
"Which one?"
"Camille's."
She grabbed her phone and searched the image.
Then she noticed something.
A reflection in the car window.
A man.
Standing behind Camille.
Elena enlarged the image.
Lucien stared.
His face changed.
"No."
"What?"
He took the phone.
The man was unmistakable.
Alexander Voss.
Lucien's father.
Standing beside Camille's car on the night she supposedly died.
Elena's voice became quiet.
"Your father was there."
Lucien couldn't speak.
"Lucien."
He stared at the photograph.
His entire understanding of his father's death began collapsing.
"My father died seventeen years ago."
"I know."
"Camille died seven years ago."
"I know."
"Then why is he in this photograph?"
Elena looked at him.
"Maybe your father didn't die when you were told."
Lucien's eyes hardened.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I saw his body."
"Did you?"
He stared at her.
"Did you actually see him die?"
Silence.
Lucien remembered.
A hospital room.
Blood.
His father's body.
But the memory had always been fragmented.
He had been seven.
He had been terrified.
He had assumed what he saw was death.
What if it wasn't?
What if his father had survived?
What if the entire Voss family history was built on one enormous lie?
---
Lucien
He grabbed his coat.
"Where are you going?"
"To the cemetery."
"Now?"
"Yes."
They drove through the rain.
The Voss family cemetery sat behind an abandoned chapel outside the city.
Lucien walked directly toward his father's grave.
He knelt.
The marble was covered in rain.
ALEXANDER VOSS
1968–2009
Elena stood behind him.
"Seventeen years."
Lucien stared at the dates.
Then pulled a flashlight from his coat.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking something."
He examined the grave.
The stone had recently been disturbed.
The soil around it was different.
Elena's eyes widened.
"Someone opened it."
Lucien stood.
"Yes."
He called Adrian.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Then Adrian answered.
Lucien's voice was ice.
"You opened my father's grave."
Silence.
Then Adrian laughed.
"Did you finally look?"
"What's inside?"
"Nothing."
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
"You're lying."
"Of course I am."
The call ended.
Elena stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
Lucien looked down at the grave.
"It means my father may not be buried here."
They stood in silence.
Then Elena noticed something beneath the chapel steps.
A small metal box.
She crouched and picked it up.
There was an inscription.
For the son who was never meant to know.
Lucien took it from her.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Inside was a letter.
He unfolded it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
His father's.
Lucien,
If you're reading this, then Adrian has returned.
Do not believe him.
Do not believe your grandfather.
And above all, do not believe the story they told you about the child.
Lucien's breathing became shallow.
He read the next line.
The girl is not my daughter.
Elena's eyes widened.
Then came the final sentence.
She is the key to everything.
Lucien slowly lowered the letter.
Elena whispered:
"What does that mean?"
Before he could answer, headlights appeared through the trees.
A black vehicle stopped near the cemetery.
A woman stepped out.
She was wearing a long dark coat.
Her face was hidden beneath an umbrella.
She walked toward them.
Lucien reached for Elena's hand.
The woman stopped several feet away.
Then lowered the umbrella.
Elena gasped.
Lucien went completely still.
The woman looked at Elena.
Tears filled her eyes.
Then she whispered:
"You're alive."
Elena's heart stopped.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it in her childhood dreams.
A voice from memories she couldn't explain.
"Mom?"
The woman began to cry.
Lucien stared at her.
"Seraphina."
The woman looked at him.
And said the words that shattered the last piece of certainty he had:
"Lucien, you have to get her away from the Voss family."
She looked at Elena.
"Because they didn't make you who you are."
A pause.
"They stole you."
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