Chapter 9 — The Mistress Who Knew Too Much
Chapter 9 — The Mistress Who Knew Too Much
Bianca Shaw was waiting when they arrived.
She stood beneath the dim lights of the safe house garage, her cream coat soaked from the rain, one hand pressed against the wall as though she had been standing there for hours.
Adrian stopped.
Lydia's entire body stiffened.
“What is she doing here?”
Bianca looked at Adrian.
“I came because you're about to get your wife killed.”
Lydia stepped out of the car.
“You've done enough.”
Bianca didn't argue.
“I know.”
“You lied for him.”
“Yes.”
“You helped destroy my marriage.”
“Yes.”
“You wore my mother's bracelet.”
Bianca's eyes lowered.
“I know.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You stole it?”
Bianca shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who gave it to you?”
Bianca looked toward the dark road.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Lydia's stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because she wanted me to become you.”
Lydia frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Bianca took a trembling breath.
“She wanted Adrian to marry me after you disappeared.”
Adrian looked stunned.
“I never agreed to that.”
“You didn't have to.”
Bianca looked at him.
“She knew you would eventually break.”
Benjamin approached Bianca.
“Start talking.”
Bianca hesitated.
“I want protection.”
“You're in no position to negotiate.”
“I know.”
“Then talk.”
Bianca looked at Lydia.
“I have evidence.”
“What kind?”
“Everything.”
She opened her handbag.
Inside were several encrypted drives.
Medical records.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Audio files.
And one red folder.
She handed the folder to Benjamin.
He opened it.
His expression immediately changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“From Margaret.”
“Why?”
“Because she stopped trusting me.”
Bianca's voice cracked.
“And when she stopped trusting me, I realized I was next.”
Lydia looked at her.
“You were afraid.”
“Yes.”
“You should have been.”
Bianca nodded.
“I was.”
The first file contained photographs.
Lydia's pregnancy.
Her prenatal visits.
Her medical charts.
Her sleeping schedule.
Her daily routine.
Everything had been monitored.
Bianca pointed to one photograph.
“That was taken two months ago.”
Lydia recognized the location.
The parking garage beneath Lumina Grid.
“I didn't know anyone was there.”
“No one was supposed to.”
“Who took it?”
“A woman named Dr. Evelyn Hart.”
Benjamin looked up.
“She's the head of obstetrics at St. Vincent's.”
Lydia froze.
Her hospital.
The hospital Adrian had chosen.
Bianca nodded.
“She works directly for Margaret.”
Adrian looked sick.
“How long?”
“Six years.”
“Six years?”
“Yes.”
Adrian turned away.
Lydia watched him.
“You brought me to a hospital where they were monitoring me.”
“I didn't know.”
“You should have.”
“I know.”
Bianca interrupted.
“There's more.”
She opened another file.
“This is why Margaret needs your daughter.”
The screen displayed a genetic sequence.
Benjamin studied it.
“What am I looking at?”
“The Northstar activation marker.”
“I understand that.”
“No.”
Bianca shook her head.
“You don't.”
She pointed to a second sequence.
“This is the original.”
Then another.
“This is the modified version.”
Benjamin's eyes narrowed.
“They changed it.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Thirty-two years ago.”
Lydia felt confused.
“What does that mean?”
Bianca looked at her.
“Your mother wasn't carrying the original Northstar gene.”
Lydia's heart stopped.
“What?”
“She was carrying a modified version.”
Benjamin stared.
“Why?”
“To prevent Margaret from controlling it.”
Lydia looked at the screen.
“So my mother knew.”
“Yes.”
“She changed it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why am I carrying it?”
Bianca looked at Adrian.
“Because Adrian's family has the other half.”
Silence.
Adrian stared.
“My family?”
“Yes.”
Bianca opened another file.
“The activation requires two genetic sequences.”
She pointed at Lydia.
“Yours.”
Then at Adrian.
“His.”
Lydia stepped backward.
“No.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“Our daughter…”
“Is the first complete carrier.”
No one spoke.
Then Lydia laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“So this entire marriage…”
Adrian looked at her.
“I didn't know.”
“You were chosen.”
“What?”
“Your mother needed your bloodline.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
Bianca spoke quietly.
“She arranged the marriage.”
Lydia stared at Adrian.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Bianca looked at Lydia.
“He didn't.”
“Then why did she choose me?”
“Because your father died.”
Lydia frowned.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“After his death, Margaret needed access to your family records.”
“And marriage gave her that.”
“Yes.”
Lydia closed her eyes.
Suddenly, six years of memories rearranged themselves.
The sudden attention from Adrian.
The rushed engagement.
The insistence on signing financial documents.
The pressure to merge their estates.
The medical examinations.
The insistence on genetic testing.
It had never been love.
It had been a project.
Adrian looked at Bianca.
“How long have you known?”
“Three years.”
“You knew about the baby.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Margaret wanted her.”
“Yes.”
“And you still helped her.”
Bianca looked at Lydia.
“I was afraid.”
Lydia's voice was cold.
“So was I.”
Bianca lowered her head.
“I know.”
“You had a choice.”
“So did you.”
Lydia froze.
Bianca continued:
“You could have left him six years ago.”
Lydia stared at her.
“I tried.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn't it work?”
“Because every time you tried, Margaret stopped you.”
Lydia looked at Adrian.
He looked devastated.
“She controlled everything.”
Bianca nodded.
“She controlled the banks.”
“She controlled the hospital.”
“She controlled the security company.”
“She even controlled the judge who signed your first financial agreement.”
Benjamin stiffened.
“Which judge?”
Bianca handed him another document.
Benjamin read it.
His face went white.
“Judge Marcus Vale.”
Lydia remembered him.
He had dismissed her request for financial independence three years earlier.
He had told her:
Your husband appears to be acting in your best interests.
Benjamin looked at her.
“He was paid.”
Bianca suddenly grabbed Lydia's hand.
“There's one thing you don't understand.”
“What?”
“The baby isn't just valuable because of Northstar.”
Lydia looked at her.
“Then why?”
“Because she's immune.”
“Immune to what?”
Bianca's eyes filled with fear.
“The compound Margaret used on your mother.”
Lydia's breath caught.
“She poisoned my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And my daughter?”
“Your daughter inherited the resistance.”
Benjamin looked at Adrian.
“That means Margaret doesn't want the baby to control Northstar.”
Adrian understood.
“She wants the baby's blood.”
Bianca nodded.
“To reproduce the immunity.”
Lydia instinctively covered her stomach.
“No.”
Bianca whispered:
“She has already prepared the laboratory.”
A sound came from outside.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps.
Then the garage lights went out.
Benjamin reached for his weapon.
Adrian moved toward Lydia.
Bianca whispered:
“They found us.”
A bullet struck the metal door.
Everyone ducked.
Another bullet.
Then silence.
Benjamin looked toward the security monitor.
The cameras were dead.
“Someone cut the power.”
Bianca shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“They didn't cut the power.”
She pointed at the monitor.
“They took control.”
The screen flickered.
Margaret appeared.
Her face was calm.
“You should have stayed in the city.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Where is my daughter?”
Margaret smiled.
“Not yours yet.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“She is my child.”
“She is a biological asset.”
“No.”
“You still don't understand.”
Margaret looked at Lydia.
“She will never belong to you.”
Lydia stepped closer to the screen.
“My daughter belongs to no one.”
Margaret smiled.
“That's exactly what your mother said.”
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Lydia's mother.
Alive.
Sitting in a hospital room.
Lydia stopped breathing.
“No.”
Benjamin stared.
“That photograph is impossible.”
Margaret smiled.
“Is it?”
Lydia's hands began shaking.
“My mother died eighteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You said she died.”
Margaret's expression remained calm.
“I said she died.”
The image zoomed closer.
Lydia could see her mother's face.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Alive.
Lydia whispered:
“Where is she?”
Margaret leaned toward the camera.
“Come and find her.”
The screen went black.
Lydia turned toward Daniel.
He was staring at the floor.
She noticed.
“You knew.”
Daniel didn't answer.
“You knew my mother was alive.”
Still nothing.
“Daniel.”
He finally looked at her.
“I suspected.”
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
She stepped backward.
“Everyone says that.”
Her voice broke.
“Everyone.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“I couldn't risk telling you.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother wasn't being held by Margaret.”
Lydia froze.
“Then who has her?”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“Your father.”
Adrian stared.
“My father is dead.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice was barely audible.
“Charles Caldwell is alive.”
The room went silent.
Adrian shook his head.
“That isn't possible.”
Daniel nodded.
“I thought the same thing.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
Bianca whispered:
“I do.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Bianca opened the red folder.
Inside was a photograph.
A man standing beside a private aircraft.
Older.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakable.
Charles Caldwell.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
“Where?”
Bianca pointed to a handwritten address.
“Mexico.”
Benjamin looked at the date.
“Taken yesterday.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Then we go.”
Lydia shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She placed a hand over her stomach.
“We don't go to them.”
Adrian frowned.
“Then what do we do?”
Lydia looked at Bianca.
“You said you wanted protection.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted a deal.”
Bianca nodded.
“I'll give you one.”
Lydia turned toward Benjamin.
“We expose everything.”
Benjamin understood.
“All of it.”
“Every account.”
“Every recording.”
“Every name.”
“Every person Margaret paid.”
Adrian looked at her.
“That will destroy Lumina Grid.”
“I know.”
“It could destroy me.”
“I know.”
“My company could collapse.”
Lydia met his eyes.
“Then let it.”
Adrian stared at her.
For the first time, he understood.
Lydia wasn't trying to save their old life.
She was building a new one.
Without secrets.
Without control.
Without fear.
Bianca stepped forward.
“There is one problem.”
Lydia looked at her.
“What?”
Bianca pointed toward the garage door.
“The people outside aren't Margaret's.”
Benjamin frowned.
“Then whose are they?”
Bianca's face went pale.
“Charles.”
The garage door exploded inward.
Men stormed through.
Adrian pulled Lydia behind a concrete pillar.
Benjamin returned fire.
Daniel dragged Bianca to safety.
Then a voice echoed through the smoke.
“Adrian.”
Everyone froze.
An older man stepped through the doorway.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
Cold eyes.
Charles Caldwell.
He looked directly at Adrian.
“My son.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You're alive.”
Charles smiled.
“Of course.”
Then his eyes moved to Lydia.
Then to her stomach.
“I've been waiting six years to meet my granddaughter.”
Lydia's blood turned cold.
Charles raised one hand.
The men lowered their weapons.
Then he said:
“Bring me the baby.”
And Adrian finally understood the truth.
Margaret had never been the mastermind.
She had only been protecting someone far more powerful.
Charles Caldwell.
The man who had built the entire plan.
The man who had arranged Adrian's marriage.
The man who had hunted Lydia's family for eighteen years.
May you like
And the man who now stood inside their safe house—
ready to take his granddaughter before she was even born.
