Chapter 4 - Emergency lights flickered on.Adrian spun toward Nora.
“What did you say?”
Nora's face had gone white.
“She said she's Mom.”
Adrian looked toward the monitor.
Evelyn was still there.
Watching.
“You're not my mother,” Nora said.
Evelyn's expression broke.
“Nora…”
The little girl backed away.
“Mom doesn't blink like that.”
Silence.
Adrian stared at Evelyn.
“What does she mean?”
Evelyn didn't answer.
Instead, she looked at the ceiling camera.
“Adrian, get the girls out.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“Not here.”
“You've lied to me for fourteen months.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Then start protecting me with the truth.”
A gunshot struck the monitor.
The screen shattered.
Adrian grabbed the girls.
“Move!”
They ran.
Elena led them through a maintenance corridor.
Behind them, boots thundered.
Adrian fired twice.
The attackers retreated.
They reached a metal staircase.
At the top stood a locked gate.
Elena pulled out a key.
It didn't fit.
“Wrong key.”
She looked at Adrian.
“This should open it.”
“Unless someone changed the lock.”
Suddenly Nora spoke.
“There's another way.”
She pointed to a vent.
Adrian stared.
“You know this place?”
Nora shook her head.
“I've been here before.”
His blood ran cold.
“When?”
“Before Mom died.”
Adrian crouched.
“Evelyn brought you?”
Nora nodded.
“She told us to remember the blue door.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“Blue door?”
Elena's eyes widened.
“What?”
“You know something.”
“No.”
“You just recognized it.”
Elena shook her head.
Then footsteps echoed behind them.
Adrian tore the vent open.
“Everybody in.”
They crawled through.
The tunnel was barely large enough.
Sophie crawled ahead.
Olivia behind her.
Nora followed.
Adrian went last.
Halfway through, they heard voices below.
Victor.
“She can't get through the blue door.”
Another voice answered.
A woman's voice.
Evelyn.
“She will.”
Adrian stopped.
Elena almost crashed into him.
“What is it?”
He whispered.
“She's here.”
They continued.
The vent opened above a laboratory.
Adrian looked down.
Evelyn stood below.
Alive.
A man faced her.
Adrian recognized him.
Marcus Vale.
His older brother.
Dead for eighteen years.
Adrian nearly forgot how to breathe.
Marcus looked up.
Their eyes met.
Marcus smiled.
“Hello, little brother.”
Adrian stared.
“You died.”
Marcus shrugged.
“That's the story.”
“You've been alive this entire time?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Because your father made a deal.”
“What deal?”
“To build the empire.”
Adrian's voice shook.
“And Evelyn?”
Marcus looked at her.
“She found out.”
“About what?”
“The Vale fortune wasn't built legally.”
Adrian frowned.
Marcus smiled.
“Your father never made billions.”
“He stole them.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed toward the laboratory.
“He bought them.”
Adrian didn't understand.
Marcus continued.
“People disappeared.”
“Businesses collapsed.”
“Families lost everything.”
“Assets moved.”
“Records erased.”
Then he looked at Adrian.
“And your father built a private network to make sure no one could ever expose him.”
Adrian stared.
“My father died.”
“So did I.”
Marcus smiled.
“And yet here we are.”
He took a folder from the table.
“Everything your wife found is inside.”
Adrian watched.
Marcus opened the folder.
The first page showed dozens of names.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Bankers.
Doctors.
Security contractors.
Then Adrian saw a familiar name.
ELENA MERCER.
His head snapped toward the nanny.
Elena stopped breathing.
Adrian turned slowly.
“What is your name?”
She looked at the floor.
“Elena Mercer.”
“That isn't your real name.”
Silence.
Marcus laughed.
“She finally knows.”
Adrian raised his gun.
“Elena.”
She whispered:
“My real name is Evelyn Mercer.”
The room went silent.
Adrian stared.
“What?”
She looked up.
And for the first time, Adrian saw something different in her eyes.
Not fear.
Grief.
“I was Evelyn's sister.”
Then Olivia screamed.
“Daddy!”
Adrian turned.
May you like
Marcus was standing behind his daughters.
Holding a knife.
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