Chapter 14 - The Real BetrayalRoman stood completely still.
His mother held the baby.
Elena looked at him.
“He has to go.”
Roman shook his head.
“No.”
“He isn't safe here.”
“You're the reason he isn't safe.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
She handed Gabriel to Sophia.
Then she walked toward Roman.
“Your father wasn't the mastermind.”
Roman frowned.
“What?”
“He was a servant.”
“To whom?”
Elena looked toward the city below.
“Families richer than yours.”
Roman's stomach tightened.
“The Callaway empire was only one branch.”
She continued.
“Your father thought he controlled the network.”
“He didn't.”
“He was controlled.”
Roman looked toward the floor.
Graham stood behind the doorway.
A gun raised.
Elena turned.
Too late.
Gunshot.
She fell.
Roman caught her.
“Mom!”
Blood spread across her dress.
Graham stepped forward.
“Now you understand.”
Roman looked at him.
Graham smiled.
“You were never the heir.”
Roman stared.
“Then who is?”
Graham pointed toward Gabriel.
“The child.”
Roman slowly stood.
“You want to use him.”
“No.”
Graham shook his head.
“I want to use you.”
Roman frowned.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Graham revealed a document.
Roman's signature was already on it.
The inheritance transfer.
All Callaway assets.
Millions of dollars.
Billions.
Everything.
Transferred to Gabriel.
Graham whispered:
“Your father prepared this eleven years ago.”
Roman realized the trap.
The entire crisis had been engineered.
The stairwell.
The photographs.
The DNA report.
The fake death.
The attack.
They had pushed Roman toward one conclusion.
Then another.
Always moving him.
Always controlling where he went.
Until he signed.
But there was one thing Graham hadn't planned.
Sophia.
She stepped forward.
“You forgot me.”
Graham turned.
Sophia held the brown envelope.
The original.
She opened it.
Inside was a small recording device.
Her voice shook.
“I recorded everything.”
Graham's face changed.
Sophia pressed play.
His own voice filled the room.
Every confession.
Every threat.
Every detail.
Graham lunged.
Roman attacked.
The two men crashed through a glass table.
Marcus arrived with the police.
Graham was arrested.
The tower filled with sirens.
Roman ran to Vincent.
His brother was still alive.
Barely.
Elena was alive too.
Sophia held Gabriel.
For the first time in eleven years, the truth was finally outside the walls.
But then Marcus found one final document.
He handed it to Roman.
Roman read it.
His face changed.
“What?”
Sophia asked.
Roman slowly looked toward Gabriel.
The document contained one sentence.
PROJECT CALLAWAY SUBJECT: GABRIEL.
Beneath it was a date.
ACTIVATION: 18 YEARS OLD.
Sophia stared.
“What happens when he turns eighteen?”
Roman folded the paper.
“I don't know.”
From somewhere downstairs came the sound of a phone ringing.
No one answered.
The ringing continued.
Then a message appeared on Roman's phone.
YOU STOPPED GRAHAM.
Another appeared.
CONGRATULATIONS.
May you like
Then the final message.
NOW YOU GET TO MEET HIS BOSS.
