Chapter 25 The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The voice echoed through the hospital.
“Congratulations.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
James Calloway.
Ethan's father.
Dead for seven years.
The man whose funeral Ethan had attended.
The man whose name appeared on every legal document connected to the Calloway estate.
The man whose grave Audrey had once visited beside her husband.
James continued through the speakers.
“You have finally found the beginning of the truth.”
Ethan stared at the ceiling.
“No.”
His voice was almost a whisper.
“That isn't possible.”
Richard smiled.
“I told you he was difficult to kill.”
Ethan turned toward him.
“You knew.”
“Of course.”
“You knew my father was alive.”
Richard's smile faded.
“I knew he survived.”
“Where is he?”
The speakers crackled.
Then James answered.
“Close enough to hear you.”
Audrey felt Ethan's hand tighten around hers.
Marcus stepped forward.
“James, shut this system down.”
A low laugh came through the speakers.
“You're still giving orders, Marcus.”
Marcus's face became hard.
“You have no idea what you're doing.”
“I know exactly what I'm doing.”
The lights flickered.
A screen appeared at the end of the room.
James appeared on it.
He looked older than Audrey remembered.
His hair had turned silver.
His face was thinner.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
Ethan stared at the screen.
“Dad.”
James looked at him.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
“My son.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Where have you been?”
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you to become strong enough to hear the truth.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“You abandoned us.”
“No.”
“You let us believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
James's face tightened.
“That's what your mother used to say.”
Audrey stepped closer.
“Why did you let Richard control everything?”
James looked at her.
“You were always Claire's daughter.”
Audrey's expression changed.
“Don't call her that as though you knew her.”
“I knew her better than anyone.”
“You failed her.”
James lowered his gaze.
“Yes.”
The admission stunned Audrey.
He continued.
“I failed Claire. I failed Ethan. I failed Nathan. I failed Lydia.”
Lydia stiffened.
“You knew I was alive?”
“Yes.”
“You watched me?”
“I protected you.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Everyone says that.”
James looked at her.
“I know.”
A long silence followed.
Then Audrey noticed something on the screen behind him.
A wall.
A window.
And a painting.
She recognized it.
The painting had hung in Claire's music room.
A field of wildflowers beneath a gray sky.
Audrey looked at Ethan.
“Where is he?”
Ethan stared at the screen.
“That's the old Parker house.”
Marcus's expression changed.
“No.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You know it.”
Marcus nodded.
“It's been abandoned for years.”
“Apparently not.”
James spoke again.
“Come to the house.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Don't.”
James smiled.
“You're afraid.”
“No.”
“I can hear it in your voice.”
Marcus looked at Audrey.
“He wants you there.”
“Why?”
“Because you're the only person who can open the archive.”
James answered through the speakers.
“Not anymore.”
The screen went black.
Then every light in the hospital shut off.
For a moment, darkness swallowed the room.
Then emergency lights came on.
Marcus turned toward the entrance.
“We leave now.”
Richard laughed.
“No.”
Marcus looked at him.
Richard raised his hands.
“I surrender.”
Ethan stared.
“You're not surrendering.”
Richard smiled.
“You've finally learned.”
He glanced at Audrey.
“I'm giving you a choice.”
Audrey's voice was cold.
“I don't want anything from you.”
Richard nodded.
“Good.”
He looked toward Marcus.
“Then ask him why he never told you about the night James disappeared.”
Marcus went silent.
Audrey turned.
“Marcus?”
He didn't answer.
“What happened?”
Marcus looked at Ethan.
“Your father asked me to help him disappear.”
Ethan's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because Richard was going to kill him.”
Richard interrupted.
“That isn't what happened.”
Marcus ignored him.
“James believed that disappearing was the only way to protect you.”
Ethan shook his head.
“And you helped him.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think my father was dead.”
“Yes.”
“For seven years.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked away.
Audrey could see the pain in his face.
Not anger.
Something deeper.
The collapse of another memory.
Another belief.
Marcus stepped closer.
“I thought I was saving you.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You all keep saying that.”
“I know.”
“Then stop.”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
Ethan gave a bitter laugh.
“Sorry doesn't give me seven years back.”
“No.”
Marcus nodded.
“But it can stop me from wasting the next seven.”
The words quieted the room.
Then Graham rushed in.
“Vehicles outside.”
Marcus turned.
“How many?”
“Six.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Richard's men?”
Graham shook his head.
“Not theirs.”
Ethan looked toward the entrance.
“Then whose?”
Graham's face was grim.
“Calloway security.”
Richard smiled.
“Your father came prepared.”
They escaped through the service tunnels.
Marcus led the way.
Audrey followed Ethan.
Lydia stayed close behind.
Anna came next.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
The tunnel seemed endless.
Finally, Audrey whispered,
“Anna.”
Anna looked at her.
“You knew James was alive?”
“No.”
“Did Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because your father was the one person Richard couldn't control.”
Audrey looked at her.
“And James?”
Anna hesitated.
“He controlled him differently.”
“How?”
“Through you.”
Audrey stopped walking.
“What?”
Anna turned.
“James believed Richard would hurt you if he stayed.”
Ethan looked at Anna.
“That sounds like something Richard would do.”
“It was.”
“Then why didn't James tell me?”
“Because he thought you were safer believing he was dead.”
Ethan's face hardened.
“He made the decision for me.”
“Yes.”
Audrey looked at him.
“That is what everyone has been doing.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
The tunnel opened into an underground garage.
A vehicle waited.
Marcus unlocked it.
“Get in.”
They did.
Graham drove.
The vehicle accelerated into the night.
The old Parker house stood beyond the river.
It was smaller than Audrey expected.
White stone.
Dark shutters.
A wide veranda.
The garden had become overgrown, but the house itself was strangely well maintained.
Ethan looked at it.
“I've never been here.”
Audrey frowned.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
Marcus parked.
“James wanted it that way.”
They entered.
The house smelled faintly of wood and old paper.
Audrey walked toward the music room.
The piano was still there.
Her mother's piano.
She touched the lid.
A memory surfaced.
Claire sitting at the instrument.
Audrey as a child beside her.
Anna standing behind them.
Lydia watching from the doorway.
And Mara.
Alive.
Audrey gasped.
“What is it?”
“I remember.”
Ethan moved toward her.
“What?”
“Mara was here.”
Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
“She wasn't sick.”
“No.”
“She was afraid.”
“Yes.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
The memory sharpened.
Mara had knelt in front of her.
She had held Audrey's face.
Then she had said:
You have to promise me something.
Child-Audrey had nodded.
If they ever ask which one is your sister, don't answer.
Audrey opened her eyes.
“I was told not to identify her.”
Lydia looked at Anna.
“That was to protect you.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
Audrey turned.
“What did Mara know?”
Anna answered.
“She knew the children had been switched.”
Audrey frowned.
“What children?”
Anna's voice became quiet.
“Not just us.”
Ethan looked around the room.
“How many?”
“Seven.”
Silence.
“Seven children?”
Anna nodded.
“Seven babies were moved between families.”
“Why?”
“Because their inheritances were connected.”
Audrey stared at her.
“And who arranged it?”
Anna looked toward the hallway.
“James.”
Ethan's face went pale.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“Because he was trying to stop Richard.”
Ethan shook his head.
“You're saying my father switched children to protect them?”
“Some.”
“And others?”
Anna looked at Audrey.
“Some were switched for money.”
Audrey felt sick.
“So which one am I?”
Anna didn't answer.
Audrey turned toward the piano.
A small envelope sat beneath it.
Her name was written across the front.
She picked it up.
The handwriting was Claire's.
Her hands trembled.
She opened it.
Inside was one page.
Audrey,
If you're reading this, then James has finally returned.
Audrey's breath caught.
She read on.
Do not trust him simply because he claims he loved you.
She looked at Ethan.
He read over her shoulder.
The next line was worse.
Your father helped save one of my children.
Audrey's eyes moved across the page.
But he was also responsible for losing the other.
Ethan stepped back.
“No.”
Audrey continued.
I never learned which daughter survived.
The room fell silent.
Audrey stared at the final sentence.
That is why I raised both girls as though they were mine whenever I could.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
She turned toward Anna.
“If Claire didn't know which of us survived…”
Anna whispered,
“Then neither of us knows.”
Audrey looked at Ethan.
He was staring at the letter.
Then a sound came from upstairs.
A floorboard creaked.
Everyone froze.
Marcus reached for his weapon.
Graham moved toward the staircase.
Another step.
Then another.
Someone was coming down.
Ethan moved in front of Audrey.
A man appeared at the top of the stairs.
Silver hair.
Dark coat.
A face Ethan had spent seven years believing was buried.
James Calloway.
He slowly descended.
No one spoke.
When he reached the bottom, he looked directly at Ethan.
“I know what Claire told you.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Then you know what I want.”
James nodded.
“You want the truth.”
“Yes.”
“You're not ready.”
Ethan's voice hardened.
“Try me.”
James looked at Audrey.
“You especially are not ready.”
Audrey stepped forward.
“You don't get to decide that.”
James studied her.
“You sound like your mother.”
“I'll take that as a compliment.”
A faint sadness crossed his face.
“It was.”
Audrey held up the letter.
“Claire said you lost one of her children.”
James closed his eyes.
“I did.”
“Which one?”
He opened his eyes.
“That is the question.”
Audrey's stomach tightened.
“You don't know?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
James looked at Anna.
Then Lydia.
Then Ethan.
Finally, he looked at Audrey.
“Because someone has been lying about the identity of the surviving child.”
He paused.
“And I finally know who.”
The room went silent.
James reached into his coat.
He removed an old hospital bracelet.
Two names were written on it.
AUDREY PARKER
And beneath it, in faded ink:
BABY B — LIVING
Audrey stared.
James turned the bracelet over.
On the back was a date.
Her birth date.
Then another name.
Not Audrey.
Not Anna.
Not Mara.
A name nobody in the room recognized.
James looked at her.
“That is the name of the child who was supposed to inherit everything.”
Audrey's heart pounded.
“Who?”
James answered:
“Someone who has been living under another woman's name for twenty-seven years.”
Before anyone could speak, the front windows shattered.
Gunfire erupted outside.
James grabbed Audrey and pulled her behind the wall.
Ethan shouted,
“Everyone down!”
Lydia dragged Anna toward the hallway.
Marcus returned fire through the broken window.
Then a voice came from outside.
“James!”
Everyone froze.
The voice belonged to Richard.
“You have one minute to give me the girl.”
James looked at Audrey.
Richard continued.
“Not Audrey.”
A pause.
“Anna.”
Anna's face went white.
Richard's voice became colder.
“Because she is not the second child.”
He laughed.
“She is the first.”
And somewhere upstairs, a woman screamed.
Audrey looked toward the ceiling.
Someone else was in the house.