PART 5 — THE FIRE THAT NEVER HAPPENED
“Run.”
Daniel's voice disappeared into the darkness.
I didn't move.
Victor grabbed my arm.
“Now!”
“What about Nora?”
“She can walk.”
Nora pushed herself up.
“I’m fine.”
The three of us ran.
We burst through the storage facility entrance just as flames appeared inside Unit 214.
Someone had set the evidence on fire.
I turned back.
“My father's files!”
Victor grabbed me.
“Forget them.”
“No!”
“You can't save paper.”
I watched the flames climb higher.
Everything my father had hidden for years was disappearing.
Then I saw something.
A metal box sitting beneath the black safe.
It hadn't caught fire.
I ran back.
Victor shouted after me.
I grabbed the box and escaped.
Outside, we crouched behind a concrete barrier.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Nora stared at me.
“Open it.”
My hands were shaking.
The box contained a single cassette tape.
An old photograph.
And a letter.
The photograph showed my family.
My father.
My mother.
Daniel.
And me.
We were standing outside a house.
I recognized it immediately.
The hunting house.
But there was something strange.
My mother was holding a baby.
I looked closer.
The baby wasn't me.
I turned the photograph over.
On the back:
LILY CARTER — 1999.
I looked at Nora.
Her face had gone pale.
“Lily?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Your daughter's name is Lily.”
“Yes.”
“Why is my mother holding a baby with that name?”
Nora couldn't answer.
Victor stared at the photograph.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
“Lily Carter died twenty-seven years ago.”
I looked at him.
“Then who is Nora's daughter?”
Nora began crying.
“I don't know.”
The world seemed to tilt.
“Where is Lily?”
“I don't know.”
“Who took her?”
“I don't know.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Your mother was part of Meridian.”
I stared.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“You said my father exposed them.”
“He did.”
“Then why was she involved?”
“Because she helped create it.”
I felt sick.
The letter was still in my hand.
I opened it.
The handwriting belonged to my father.
Daniel,
If you're reading this, the fire has already happened.
I frowned.
There had never been a fire.
I continued.
You will believe your mother died in that fire.
My breathing stopped.
She didn't.
I looked at Victor.
He nodded slowly.
“Keep reading.”
The letter continued.
Your mother survived. She took Lily and disappeared.
My hands trembled.
I tried to find them. Meridian found me first.
The next sentence was written darker.
Daniel will forget what happened that night.
I stared at my brother's name.
Then another sentence.
Make sure he never remembers the fire.
I couldn't breathe.
“What happened to me?”
Victor looked at me.
“You were there.”
“When?”
“The night your father was killed.”
I shook my head.
“I was seventeen.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Victor lowered his eyes.
“Your father confronted your mother.”
“About Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“There was an explosion.”
I stared.
“Explosion?”
“The house burned.”
“But I remember that night.”
“No.”
Victor pointed at me.
“You remember what they wanted you to remember.”
I suddenly saw flashes.
Fire.
A woman's scream.
My father shouting.
Daniel pulling me away.
A door.
Someone crying.
Then darkness.
I grabbed my head.
Nora rushed toward me.
“Daniel?”
I collapsed to my knees.
The memories were coming back.
My mother was standing in the doorway.
She wasn't alone.
Victor was there.
My father was holding a folder.
And someone else stood behind him.
A young woman.
Emily.
I remembered her face.
She had been crying.
She said something.
I couldn't hear it.
Then my father shouted,
“Get my son out!”
Daniel grabbed me.
The explosion happened.
I screamed.
Then the memory disappeared.
I opened my eyes.
Victor was kneeling beside me.
“You remembered.”
I stared at him.
“Emily was there.”
“Yes.”
“She knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“She knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor hesitated.
“Because Emily was Meridian's daughter.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Her father was one of the founders.”
“No.”
“Your wife was raised around these people.”
“That doesn't mean she was part of them.”
Victor looked away.
“She was.”
Nora suddenly spoke.
“Then why did she try to expose them?”
Victor looked at her.
“Because she discovered what they were doing to children.”
Silence.
“What children?”
Victor didn't answer.
I looked at the photograph again.
The baby.
Lily.
Then I looked at Nora.
“My mother took that baby.”
Nora whispered,
“My daughter was born in 1999.”
“But you're not old enough…”
“I adopted her.”
I froze.
“Who are her biological parents?”
Nora wiped her tears.
“I don't know.”
Victor stared at the photograph.
Then he said something that made my blood freeze.
“You do.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He pointed to the photograph.
“Your mother wasn't holding Lily.”
“She was?”
“No.”
He turned the photograph over.
There was another line beneath the date.
THE CHILD BELONGS TO DANIEL.
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Victor's voice dropped.
“It means Lily isn't your niece.”
I couldn't speak.
“She is your daughter.”
Nora stepped backward.
“No…”
Victor continued.
“Your mother took her after the fire.”
I shook my head.
“That’s impossible.”
“You were seventeen.”
“I didn't have a daughter.”
“You did.”
“Who is her mother?”
Victor looked at me.
“Emily.”
The world stopped.
My wife.
My children.
My entire life.
Suddenly everything was connected.
Emily had known me before I remembered meeting her.
She had known my family.
She had known Meridian.
And she had given birth to a child with me before the life I remembered ever began.
Then Nora whispered:
“If Lily is your daughter…”
She looked at me.
“Why did Emily tell me to protect her from you?”
I stared at Nora.
“What?”
Nora pulled a folded note from her pocket.
“She left this for me.”
I opened it.
One sentence.
WHEN DANIEL REMEMBERS, KEEP LILY AWAY FROM HIM.
I looked toward the road.
A black SUV was approaching.
Victor stood up.
“That's not Meridian.”
“Then who?”
The SUV stopped.
The rear door opened.
A little girl stepped out.
Eight years old.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
Nora screamed.
“Lily!”
The girl looked directly at me.
Then she said:
“Dad?”
I couldn't move.
Because I knew her face.
She looked exactly like me.
