Chapter 13 - The Truth About ClaraVivian stopped breathing.
Room Twelve.
The truth about Clara.
Clara looked up at her mother.
“What does she mean?”
Vivian had no answer.
Celeste saw the fear and smiled again, recovering herself.
“Oh, Vivian. Arthur never told you?”
Reyes snapped, “Sit down.”
Celeste ignored her.
“Ask yourself why Helena protected Clara more than she protected anyone else. Ask yourself why Arthur never allowed a simple school medical form to leave the house without legal review.”
Vivian felt the room tilt.
Clara’s fingers tightened in hers.
Celeste spoke softly now, each word chosen to wound.
“Clara is not Arthur’s biological daughter.”
The room went silent.
Vivian stared at her.
“That’s not possible.”
Celeste’s eyebrows lifted.
“Isn’t it?”
Vivian remembered the year Clara was born.
Arthur had controlled every doctor’s appointment. Every test. Every visitor. He had chosen the hospital, the staff, the nurses.
He had taken Clara away for hours after delivery.
He said there had been complications.
Vivian had been too weak to fight.
Reyes looked at Celeste.
“Whose child is she?”
Celeste smiled.
“That is in Room Twelve.”
Vivian turned to Reyes.
“We’re going.”
Celeste laughed.
“You can’t open Room Twelve without me.”
Clara lifted the gold key.
“Yes, we can.”
Celeste’s eyes hardened.
“That key opens the outer lock. Not the inner door.”
Reyes stood.
“Then you’ll open it.”
“I want immunity.”
“No.”
Celeste leaned back.
“Then Noah dies.”
Vivian lunged forward before anyone could stop her.
She slapped Celeste across the face.
The sound cracked through the room.
Celeste slowly turned back, cheek reddening.
Vivian’s voice shook with fury.
“You will not threaten another child in front of me.”
Clara stared at her mother with wide eyes.
For ten years, she had seen Vivian survive.
Tonight, she saw her fight.
Reyes gave an order.
“Take Celeste into custody.”
As officers moved in, Celeste began to laugh.
“You think handcuffs matter? Arthur was a hammer. I am the hand that picked him up.”
They dragged her toward the door.
She looked back at Clara.
“When Room Twelve opens, your mother will never look at you the same way again.”
The door slammed.
Clara’s eyes filled.
Vivian knelt immediately.
“Listen to me. Nothing in any room changes who you are to me.”
Clara whispered, “What if I’m not yours?”
Vivian pulled her close.
“You are mine because I loved you first.”
Reyes looked away, giving them the dignity of privacy.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
Vivian stood.
“What happened?”
Reyes lowered the phone.
“Noah has been found.”
Vivian exhaled.
Reyes added, “He’s at Whitehaven.”
Clara looked toward the window.
May you like
Reyes’s voice dropped.
“In Room Twelve.”
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