CHAPTER 6 — The Woman With His Eyes
The cabin burned behind them as Richard, Lily, and Samuel disappeared into the surrounding forest.
Sirens echoed in the distance.
But Samuel didn't slow down.
"Those aren't police."
"They're cleaning up."
Hours later, they reached an abandoned railway station where Samuel had hidden emergency supplies years before.
Richard couldn't stop staring at the newspaper photo.
The resemblance haunted him.
The eyes.
The smile.
Even the small scar above her eyebrow.
It couldn't be coincidence.
Samuel finally spoke.
"There was one thing Emily never managed to prove."
Richard looked up.
"What?"
"Whether Grace survived."
Lily carefully removed the VHS tape from the metal box.
An old television still worked inside the station.
The tape crackled to life.
Hospital security footage.
Twenty-eight years earlier.
Two newborn babies lay side by side.
A nurse gently rocked them to sleep.
Then...
The door opened.
Three men entered wearing medical uniforms.
One lifted the little boy.
Another picked up the little girl.
But instead of taking them together...
They separated them.
The footage suddenly froze.
Emily's voice had been recorded over the tape years later.
"If you're watching this..."
"...then you've already discovered the twins."
"I couldn't save both of them."
"I chose the one I could reach."
Richard's breathing became shallow.
Emily continued,
"The little girl was taken by people who planned to erase her identity forever."
"I spent twenty years trying to find her."
The tape ended with one final sentence.
"Forgive me."
Richard broke down for the first time since leaving his family.
For twenty years he believed Emily hated him.
Now he understood.
She had spent those same twenty years trying to reunite a family that had been torn apart before he was old enough to remember.
That evening, Lily searched public records connected to Eleanor Stone's charitable foundation.
One detail stood out.
Every year, on the same date—
Eleanor made a private visit to an unnamed cemetery.
No cameras.
No staff.
No publicity.
Only fresh white lilies left on one forgotten grave.
Richard looked at the date.
It matched the day he had been separated from his family.
Samuel whispered,
"She's mourning someone."
Lily enlarged an old photograph from the cemetery.
A weathered headstone finally came into focus.
The inscription read:
GRACE HAYES
Richard frowned.
"That can't be right."
"If Grace is buried there..."
"Who is Eleanor?"
Lily zoomed in further.
Something was wrong.
The date on the headstone had been carved years after the supposed burial.
A fake grave.
A false identity.
Someone wanted the world to believe Grace Hayes had died.
Samuel quietly smiled for the first time.
"Emily was right."
"Grace was never buried."
Before anyone could celebrate, a black envelope slid beneath the station door.
Inside was a single keycard.
Embossed in silver letters:
STONE GLOBAL – EXECUTIVE ACCESS
Along with one handwritten message.
If you want the truth...
Come to the gala tomorrow night.
Come alone.
Richard turned the card over.
His face turned pale.
May you like
The signature at the bottom was only one word.
Grace.
