Chapter 10 — The Wife Before Lydia
Chapter 10 — The Wife Before Lydia
Charles Caldwell did not raise his voice.
He didn't need to.
The men surrounding the garage already understood what his presence meant.
Adrian stared at his father as though the dead had walked into the room.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Charles smiled faintly.
“That's what I wanted everyone to believe.”
Lydia remained behind Benjamin, one hand protecting her stomach.
“You knew my mother.”
Charles looked at her.
“Yes.”
“How?”
His expression changed.
For the first time, something almost like regret crossed his face.
“Because your mother was once my wife.”
Silence.
Lydia stopped breathing.
Adrian turned sharply.
“What?”
Charles looked at his son.
“You heard me.”
“No.”
Adrian shook his head.
“My mother was your wife.”
“Your biological mother was not.”
The words hit the room like an explosion.
Adrian stared.
“My entire life…”
Charles interrupted.
“Was built on a lie.”
Lydia felt dizzy.
Her mother.
Charles.
Adrian.
Northstar.
The marriage.
Everything seemed connected.
Benjamin stepped forward.
“Explain.”
Charles looked at him.
“You're Benjamin Rowan.”
“Yes.”
“You resemble your father.”
Benjamin's expression hardened.
“Don't change the subject.”
Charles smiled.
“You have always been impatient.”
“And you've always been a coward.”
The smile vanished.
Charles looked toward Lydia.
“Your mother was the only woman who ever made me afraid.”
Lydia whispered:
“Why?”
“Because she knew what I was building.”
The First Marriage
Eighteen years earlier, Charles Caldwell had not been the aging billionaire Adrian remembered.
He had been thirty-eight.
Ambitious.
Brilliant.
Ruthless.
And obsessed with Northstar.
The technology did not begin as a corporate project.
It began as research conducted by Lydia's grandfather.
A biological energy-transfer system designed to allow human cells to withstand extreme metabolic stress.
The research was never supposed to leave the laboratory.
But Charles saw something different.
A weapon.
A medical revolution.
A fortune.
He approached Lydia's mother, Evelyn Harper, who was working with her father.
They fell in love.
At least, Evelyn believed they did.
They married quietly.
And for a brief time, Charles became a different man.
Then Evelyn became pregnant.
With Adrian.
And everything changed.
Charles wanted the child tested.
Evelyn refused.
He demanded access to her father's research.
She refused again.
Then she discovered what Charles had been doing behind her back.
He had created a private laboratory.
He had begun human experiments.
And one of his earliest subjects had been Evelyn's own father.
When she confronted him, Charles gave her a choice.
Hand over Northstar.
Or lose everything.
Evelyn chose her family.
She disappeared.
Charles told the world she had died.
But she hadn't.
She had gone into hiding.
And she had taken the research with her.
Lydia stared at Charles.
“You're saying my mother was your wife.”
“Yes.”
“And Adrian…”
“Is my son.”
Lydia looked at Adrian.
His face had gone completely pale.
“You never knew.”
“No.”
Charles smiled.
“Because Evelyn made sure you wouldn't.”
Adrian looked furious.
“You let me believe my mother died.”
“You needed a clean identity.”
“You lied to me for thirty years.”
“I protected you.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“You call that protection?”
Charles ignored him.
“You were the only person capable of completing Northstar.”
Lydia understood.
“The two bloodlines.”
Charles nodded.
“Evelyn's bloodline carried resistance.”
“My family carried activation.”
“Yes.”
“And you arranged our marriage.”
Charles looked at Adrian.
“I encouraged it.”
Adrian stepped toward him.
“You engineered my entire life.”
“Not your entire life.”
Charles smiled.
“Only the important parts.”
Adrian lunged.
Two guards immediately restrained him.
“Let me go!”
Charles didn't even look at him.
“You're still emotional.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You used Lydia.”
“Yes.”
“You used our daughter.”
Charles finally looked at him.
“I created the conditions necessary for her birth.”
Adrian's face twisted with disgust.
“She isn't a project.”
Charles answered calmly:
“She is the culmination of eighteen years of work.”
Lydia suddenly remembered something.
Her mother's journal.
The final page.
A sentence she had never understood.
If he ever comes back, tell my daughter that the first wife was never the victim.
Lydia stared at Charles.
“My mother knew you would return.”
“Yes.”
“She expected this.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't she stop you?”
Charles hesitated.
Lydia noticed.
“You couldn't find her.”
His eyes narrowed.
“No.”
“She escaped you.”
“Yes.”
“And she's still alive.”
Charles said nothing.
Benjamin stepped closer.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Charles looked at him.
“You'll never find her.”
Lydia's voice trembled.
“I will.”
Charles smiled.
“You sound like her.”
Then the garage lights came back on.
The security monitors activated.
A live feed appeared.
A woman was sitting in a room.
Older.
Gray hair.
Thin.
But unmistakably alive.
Lydia covered her mouth.
“Mom.”
Evelyn looked directly into the camera.
Then she spoke.
“Lydia.”
Her voice was weak.
But clear.
Lydia began crying.
“Mom?”
Charles turned away.
“You weren't supposed to see that.”
Benjamin looked at him.
“You made a mistake.”
Charles stared at the screen.
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“Yes, Charles.”
The voice came through the speakers.
“You did.”
Charles froze.
The image changed.
A second camera activated.
Then a third.
Then dozens.
The entire facility was being streamed.
Evelyn had been recording everything.
Charles's face finally showed fear.
“What did you do?”
Evelyn answered:
“What I should have done eighteen years ago.”
A timer appeared on the screen.
00:09:59
Lydia stared.
“What is that?”
Evelyn looked into the camera.
“The truth.”
The timer continued.
00:09:42
Charles turned toward his men.
“Shut it down.”
They rushed toward the equipment.
Benjamin blocked them.
“No.”
A struggle erupted.
Adrian broke free.
He tackled one guard.
Daniel grabbed another.
Bianca ran toward the control panel.
Lydia remained staring at the screen.
“Mom.”
Evelyn smiled.
“You have your father's eyes.”
Lydia laughed through tears.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I needed you to believe that.”
“Why?”
“Because if Charles knew you were looking for me, he would have found you.”
Lydia looked toward Charles.
“He found me anyway.”
“Yes.”
Her mother's expression hardened.
“But he never understood one thing.”
“What?”
“That you are not helpless anymore.”
The timer reached five minutes.
Charles grabbed Lydia.
Adrian reacted instantly.
“Get your hands off her!”
Charles held Lydia firmly.
“Stop.”
Adrian froze.
Charles placed one hand against Lydia's stomach.
The baby kicked.
Charles smiled.
“She knows me.”
Lydia recoiled.
“She doesn't know you.”
“She knows her blood.”
Adrian moved forward.
“You touch her again, and I swear—”
Charles interrupted.
“You swear what?”
Adrian stopped.
Charles smiled.
“You spent six years trying to escape your inheritance.”
Then he looked at Lydia.
“And she spent six years trying to escape mine.”
Lydia stared at him.
“That's why you wanted us married.”
“Yes.”
“To produce her.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew she would be born with both sequences.”
“Yes.”
Lydia whispered:
“You planned my daughter's birth before I even met her father.”
Charles answered:
“Yes.”
The timer reached two minutes.
Evelyn's voice returned.
“Lydia.”
“Yes?”
“There's something you need to know.”
Charles suddenly looked toward the screen.
“No.”
Evelyn continued.
“Your daughter isn't the only child who carries Northstar.”
Lydia frowned.
“What?”
Evelyn looked directly at Adrian.
“Your father has another child.”
Adrian froze.
Charles's expression changed.
“Evelyn.”
“Tell her.”
“No.”
“Tell her the truth.”
Lydia looked at Charles.
“Who?”
He said nothing.
Evelyn answered.
“Your husband's first wife.”
Silence.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“What?”
Evelyn's voice remained steady.
“Before Lydia, you were married.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
Charles looked away.
“You were never supposed to know.”
Lydia's stomach tightened.
“Who was she?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Then gave the name.
“Clara Caldwell.”
Adrian went completely still.
Lydia recognized the name.
She had seen it once.
In an old legal document.
A marriage certificate.
A woman's name beside Adrian's.
He had told her it was a clerical error.
A woman who had supposedly died before they met.
Lydia turned toward him.
“You were married before me.”
Adrian looked devastated.
“I didn't know.”
Charles interrupted:
“You weren't supposed to remember her.”
Lydia stared.
“What happened to Clara?”
Evelyn answered:
“She disappeared.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“Where?”
Evelyn looked directly at him.
“She is the mother of your first child.”
The room fell silent.
And then the timer reached zero.
Every screen in the building went black.
A single sentence appeared:
CLARA IS ALIVE.
Lydia looked at Adrian.
He looked back at her.
Neither spoke.
Because suddenly, the question was no longer whether Charles had planned their marriage.
The question was much worse.
Why had Adrian's first wife been erased?
And what did her child have to do with Lydia's unborn daughter?
Outside, sirens began approaching.
Inside the garage, Charles smiled.
For the first time, Lydia realized he wasn't afraid of the truth being exposed.
May you like
He had been waiting for it.
Because the truth was exactly where he had hidden his final weapon.
