Chapter 9 - The Other Twin
Sofia remembered very little.
A playground.
A blue swing.
A woman in sunglasses.
And a girl who looked like her reflection.
“She came three times,” Sofia said.
“How old were you?” Bell asked.
“Maybe six.”
Maria looked stunned.
“You never told me.”
“I thought she was imaginary.”
“What did she say?”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“She said her name was Lily.”
Stallone stopped breathing.
Bell leaned forward.
“You’re sure?”
“I remember because she said flowers were stupid names for people.”
Ethan almost smiled despite everything.
“What else?”
“She told me we had the same birthday.”
“Did you ask why you looked alike?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Sofia opened her eyes.
“She said, ‘Because they split us up.’”
Maria started crying again.
Stallone walked to the window.
Two daughters.
Both alive.
One had grown up inside his own house without him knowing.
The other had found her twin years ago.
Then vanished again.
Bell received a message.
“The DNA lab can rush Sofia’s test against a sample from Mr. Stallone.”
“How fast?”
“A few hours.”
“Do it.”
Vanessa was taken to the station.
She refused to speak.
Her lawyer arrived before sunrise.
Keller remained missing.
But investigators recovered security footage from the abandoned clinic.
It showed him leaving through a maintenance door.
A dark sedan waited outside.
Bell paused the footage.
The driver’s face was unclear.
But there was a sticker in the windshield.
A private school permit.
Sofia leaned closer.
“I know that logo.”
Everyone turned.
“Where?”
“My school.”
Bell zoomed in.
The permit belonged to Westbrook Academy.
A private school outside Pasadena.
Stallone’s stomach tightened.
“Why would Keller’s getaway driver have a school permit?”
Sofia whispered:
“Maybe Lily goes there.”
They searched enrollment records.
No Lily Carter.
No Rose Carter.
No girl with a birth date matching Sofia’s.
Then Bell found a student listed under a guardian’s protected record.
Lillian Vale.
Age twelve.
Guardian: Vanessa Hale.
Stallone stared at the screen.
“She has a child?”
“Not according to anything public,” Bell said.
“Address?”
Bell clicked.
An apartment owned by a shell company.
Stallone was already moving.
The apartment was empty.
Almost.
There was a bed.
School books.
Girls’ clothes.
A violin.
And dozens of photographs of Stallone cut from magazines.
Ethan found a box under the bed.
Inside were handwritten letters.
None had been mailed.
Dear Dad,
My name is Lily.
I don’t know if you know I exist.
Vanessa says you don’t want me.
But sometimes I think she’s lying.
Stallone had to sit down.
He opened another.
Dear Dad,
I saw Sofia again today.
She looks like me.
I think she is my sister.
Vanessa got angry when I asked.
Another.
Dear Dad,
Dr. Keller said you would find me someday.
Vanessa heard him.
Now we’re moving again.
And the final letter:
Dad,
If you ever come looking for me, don’t trust Vanessa.
She says I belong to her.
But I found a paper with your name.
I think I belong to you.
Stallone pressed the letter to his mouth.
Bell searched the room.
“Here.”
He held up a photograph.
Lily stood beside a bus.
On the back was a handwritten date.
Three days earlier.
And one word.
Nevada.
Stallone was already reaching for his jacket.
Then Bell’s phone rang.
He listened.
His face tightened.
“What?”
He looked at Stallone.
“The DNA results are back.”
Nobody moved.
Bell swallowed.
“Sofia is your biological daughter.”
Maria covered her face.
Sofia stared at Stallone.
He stared back.
Twelve years lost.
Then Bell added:
“And we found Keller.”
“Where?”
Bell’s expression darkened.
“Dead.”
On Keller’s body, police found one final message.
May you like
Three words written on his hand.
LILY IS NEXT.
