Chapter 11 - The Last Security GuardRoman fired at the window.
Glass shattered.
Fresh air rushed in.
Marcus dragged him toward the opening.
They escaped through the balcony onto the adjacent roof.
Roman coughed.
“You knew.”
Marcus nodded.
“For eleven years.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Vincent made me promise.”
Roman stared.
“Where is he?”
Marcus looked toward the city.
“Alive.”
Roman's heart pounded.
“Where?”
Marcus handed him a small key.
“Under the old Callaway warehouse.”
Roman knew the place.
It had been abandoned for years.
They drove there.
Sophia followed with Gabriel.
Inside the warehouse was a hidden elevator.
It descended seven floors.
The doors opened.
A hospital corridor waited below.
Roman stared.
“This is underneath my property.”
Marcus nodded.
“Your family built it before you were born.”
They walked past rooms filled with old files.
Medical equipment.
Birth certificates.
Photographs.
Then Roman saw a wall.
Hundreds of names.
Hundreds of children.
Some names had been crossed out.
Some had been rewritten.
Sophia covered her mouth.
“This was real.”
Roman stared at the records.
Then he saw Gabriel's name.
Not under his legal name.
Under another.
GABRIEL VINCENT CALLAWAY.
Roman touched the page.
Beside it was a note.
TRANSFER STATUS: COMPLETE.
Roman looked at Marcus.
“Transferred where?”
Marcus didn't answer.
A door opened.
A man stepped into the corridor.
Roman recognized him.
Graham Vale.
Roman's lawyer.
His mentor.
His friend.
Graham smiled.
“You finally came home.”
Roman raised his gun.
Graham didn't react.
“You always were your father's favorite weapon.”
Roman's voice hardened.
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“You stole my brother.”
“No.”
Graham looked toward Sophia.
“She did.”
Sophia froze.
Roman turned.
“What?”
Graham pointed at her.
“Ask her who Gabriel's real mother is.”
Sophia's face went white.
Roman stared at her.
“Is he telling the truth?”
She didn't answer.
Graham smiled.
“She wasn't his mother.”
Roman's eyes widened.
Sophia finally whispered:
“I was.”
Graham shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Roman.
“She carried him.”
A pause.
“But Gabriel was created from someone else's genetic material.”
Roman's face drained of color.
Graham opened a file.
Inside was a photograph of a woman.
Roman recognized her.
His mother.
Elena.
Underneath her photograph were the words:
GENETIC MOTHER: ELENA CALLAWAY.
Roman looked at Sophia.
May you like
The room went silent.
Then Gabriel started crying.
