Chapter 13 - THE SISTERS
Violet and Claire met under supervision.
No forced hug.
No dramatic music.
Claire said, “I knew about you.”
Violet answered, “I didn’t know about you.”
Claire looked ashamed.
“The program said you had my life.”
Violet touched the fading bruise on her cheek.
“It didn’t feel like your life.”
The girls refused the inheritance contest.
An independent board transferred the assets into a survivor fund.
No daughter owned the other’s loss.
Then Catherine’s hidden son was found.
Six years old.
Named Ethan Hayes.
A replacement child created from my stolen genetic material and Catherine’s.
Another son designed to enter the family if Violet and Claire both failed.
He knew my face from training films.
He called me Colonel.
I did not claim him.
I introduced myself.
Choice before title.
Then Continuity House activated one final protocol.
RETURNING FATHER.
A replica of my suburban hallway existed beneath a training facility.
A child lay unconscious.
A wife waited in the hospital.
A detective blamed robbery.
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The entire scene had become a product sold to other families.
Our trauma was a template.
