Chapter 1 - The Shadow in the Room
The movement in the darkness was swift and completely silent.
I spun around, raising my fists to defend myself against whatever my mother had hidden in this nightmare of a room.
A trembling hand reached out from the pitch-black corner and caught the edge of the bolted hospital bed.
It was Martin, our butler, though he looked entirely broken.
His usually immaculate uniform was torn at the shoulder, and his breathing was shallow and erratic.
In his right hand, he held a heavy medical syringe filled with a cloudy, metallic fluid.
I stepped back, my mind racing to comprehend why the man who had raised me was hiding in a makeshift prison cell.
"I am so sorry, Ethan," Martin whispered, his voice cracking with undeniable guilt.
He dropped the syringe onto the cold concrete floor, where it shattered into a dozen pieces.
"She told me to sedate you if you found this room," he confessed.
Before I could ask him what he meant, the heavy steel door slammed shut behind me with a deafening metallic crash.
The deadbolt slid into place with a heavy, final click.
We were entirely trapped inside the west wing.
I rushed to the door, pounding my fists against the reinforced steel until my knuckles began to bleed.
"Open this door, Evelyn!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
My mother's voice drifted through the small intercom speaker mounted above the frame, sounding terrifyingly calm.
"You are exhausted, darling, and you just need some time to process the new reality of our family," she purred softly.
I turned back to Martin, my heart hammering furiously against my ribs as I showed him the dried blood on my hand.
"Where is my wife?" I demanded, grabbing the terrified old man by his collar.
Martin looked up at me with tears spilling over his wrinkled cheeks.
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"Grace did not leave you eleven days ago, Ethan," he choked out.
"She gave birth to your son right here on that bed two days ago."
