Chapter 29
“Annie was the name assigned to the last file in the trust,” she said. “Not only to my daughter.”
Victor frowned.
“A code name?”
“A protection designation. Any child connected to the final record would be identified as Annie until her identity was confirmed.”
I stared at her.
“Why would Lily be connected?”
“Because of the locket.”
“It belonged to my mother.”
“And Elena left instructions that the locket should pass only to a child born after her death.”
My stomach tightened.
“That makes no sense.”
“Elena believed the danger would end with our generation. But if someone continued searching, the next child would become the signal that the records were still at risk.”
Victor looked at Lily’s locket.
“So the photograph outside the daycare was not about Lily herself.”
“Probably not,” Sofia said. “Someone saw the locket and assumed the chain had continued.”
I let out a breath I had not realized I was holding.
“She isn’t Annie.”
“No.”
“She is not part of this.”
“She is part of your family,” Sofia said. “But she is not the child who disappeared.”
Relief moved through me slowly.
Not completely.
But enough.
I looked at Lily.
“You’re just Lily,” I whispered.
She reached up and touched my chin.
Victor stood.
“We open the blue room.”
This time, no one argued.
The sealed entrance was on the second floor behind a long bookshelf in what had become a music room.
May you like
Victor ordered the security staff to move it. Behind the shelf was a smooth section of wall, painted to match the rest of the room.
Rosa pointed to one corner.
