CHAP 8: PROJECT DAWN – THE SECRET UNDER BLACKWOOD TOWER
CHAP 8: PROJECT DAWN – THE SECRET UNDER BLACKWOOD TOWER
The entire Blackwood Tower began to shake.
Not like an earthquake.
Not like a structural failure.
Something else.
Something beneath them was moving.
Something enormous.
The marble floor vibrated beneath their feet.
The lights flickered between darkness and red emergency signals.
Everyone in the room looked toward Alexander Voss.
Because only one person knew what was happening.
And he looked completely calm.
Almost satisfied.
“Project Dawn.”
The name echoed through the room.
Ethan stared at him.
“What did you build under my company?”
Alexander smiled.
“Not under your company.”
A pause.
“Under your family.”
The words made Ethan’s expression harden.
“You used my family name.”
“No.”
Alexander slowly walked toward the window.
“I used what your family created.”
He looked down at the city.
“The Blackwoods were never just businessmen.”
A pause.
“They were architects of influence.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Mr. Blackwood…”
But Ethan already understood.
His entire life.
His entire identity.
Everything he believed about his family…
was incomplete.
The floor suddenly opened.
A hidden elevator emerged from beneath the boardroom.
Everyone stepped back.
Inside was darkness.
Alexander looked at Ethan.
“The truth is waiting.”
Ethan did not move.
“I’m not following you.”
Alexander smiled.
“You already are.”
He pointed toward the screen.
The image changed.
Ava’s face appeared.
Then Lily’s.
Then Amelia’s.
A warning appeared.
PROJECT DAWN TARGETS: BLACKWOOD BLOODLINE
Amelia immediately reacted.
“No.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What is it?”
Her breathing became unstable.
“Alexander…”
She looked at the elevator.
“He didn’t create this to control the company.”
“Then what?”
She whispered:
“He created it to control us.”
Seven years earlier.
Before the hospital fire.
Before the disappearance.
Before everything collapsed.
Ethan remembered something.
His father.
A man who rarely showed emotion.
A man who always said one sentence:
"Power is useless unless you can preserve it."
At the time, Ethan thought it was a business philosophy.
Now…
he wondered if it was something darker.
Alexander stepped into the elevator.
“You want answers?”
He looked at Ethan.
“Come.”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
“Prepare the team.”
Daniel nodded.
But Ava stopped them.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“The lower levels are not protected like normal facilities.”
“What do you mean?”
Ava looked toward Alexander.
“He built them to prevent escape.”
Daniel frowned.
“Security systems?”
Ava shook her head.
“Not just security.”
She hesitated.
“Psychological traps.”
Lily moved closer to her sister.
“What does that mean?”
Ava looked at her.
“It means…”
A pause.
“He knows what people fear.”
The answer made everyone uncomfortable.
Because Alexander had spent seven years studying them.
Their weaknesses.
Their memories.
Their pain.
The elevator descended.
Slowly.
The numbers changed.
Level -1.
Level -2.
Level -3.
Then…
the screen went blank.
No number.
Just a symbol.
A black circle.
With a silver line.
The same symbol Amelia remembered.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed in.
The underground facility was enormous.
Bigger than the Blackwood Tower itself.
Rows of computers.
Glass rooms.
Security systems.
Archives.
A hidden world beneath the company everyone knew.
Ethan looked around.
“How long?”
Alexander answered:
“Twenty years.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“You built this before I became CEO.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Alexander smiled.
“Because your father knew the world was changing.”
They walked through the facility.
Inside one glass room were hundreds of files.
Names.
Photographs.
Family trees.
Daniel stopped.
“What are these?”
Alexander answered:
“Bloodline records.”
Ethan looked closer.
The files belonged to powerful families around the world.
All connected.
All monitored.
“This is impossible.”
Alexander shook his head.
“No.”
He touched one file.
“This is history.”
Then Ethan saw something.
A file with his name.
He opened it.
Inside were documents.
His childhood.
His education.
His personality analysis.
Even his fears.
One page caught his attention.
SUBJECT: ETHAN BLACKWOOD
PRIMARY WEAKNESS: FAMILY ATTACHMENT
MANIPULATION POSSIBILITY: EXTREMELY HIGH
Ethan stared.
They had studied him.
Like an experiment.
Alexander watched.
“You always thought losing your family was an accident.”
Ethan slowly looked up.
“It wasn’t.”
“No.”
Alexander smiled.
“It was the final stage of your evaluation.”
The anger inside Ethan exploded.
“You burned a hospital.”
“I removed obstacles.”
“You killed innocent people.”
Alexander remained emotionless.
“Necessary losses.”
Ethan grabbed him by the collar.
The guards immediately aimed weapons.
But Alexander did not react.
“You think because you can control people, you are powerful?”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
“You’re just a coward hiding behind plans.”
For the first time…
Alexander looked truly angry.
Only for a second.
Then he smiled again.
“Good.”
“What?”
“You finally stopped thinking like a victim.”
Suddenly, alarms started.
Different from before.
Daniel checked the system.
“That’s not us.”
Ava looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
“What?”
A new message appeared.
INTRUDER DETECTED
Alexander frowned.
Impossible.
Everyone looked at him.
Even he looked surprised.
A voice came through the speakers.
A woman.
Calm.
Cold.
“You always thought you were the smartest person in the room, Alexander.”
Everyone froze.
Because Alexander recognized the voice.
“No.”
The woman continued:
“You created Eclipse Circle.”
“You created Project Dawn.”
“You created your little soldiers.”
A pause.
“But you forgot one thing.”
The screen turned on.
A woman appeared.
Older.
Elegant.
Powerful.
Ethan did not recognize her.
But Alexander did.
His expression changed completely.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Mother…”
The room went silent.
Alexander Voss…
had a mother.
And she was alive.
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Alexander.”
Ava stepped back.
“Who is she?”
Alexander said nothing.
The woman answered for him.
“I am Helena Voss.”
A pause.
“The person who created the monster standing in front of you.”
Ethan stared.
Another hidden layer.
Another secret.
Another enemy.
The woman continued:
“Alexander was never the leader of Eclipse Circle.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
Helena smiled.
“He was my creation.”
Alexander’s face became darker.
“Stop.”
But Helena ignored him.
“For years, he believed he controlled the world.”
She looked at Ethan.
“But the truth is…”
A pause.
“He was only my experiment.”
The room went silent.
Alexander’s entire identity began collapsing.
The same way he had destroyed others.
Now someone was destroying him.
Then Helena looked at Lily and Ava.
“My granddaughters.”
The girls froze.
Ethan stepped forward.
“You knew about them?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you allow this?”
Helena looked at him.
“Because I needed to know something.”
“What?”
“Whether the Blackwood bloodline was still strong.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“Children are not experiments.”
Helena smiled.
“Interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because that is exactly what Alexander said when he was young.”
Everyone looked at Alexander.
For the first time…
he looked like a child.
Not a monster.
A broken person.
Suddenly, the entire facility locked down.
A new countdown appeared.
Not 24 hours.
Not 10 minutes.
Only:
05:00
Daniel looked alarmed.
“Five minutes until what?”
Nobody answered.
Then Helena spoke:
“Project Dawn will activate.”
Ethan stared.
“What happens?”
Helena smiled.
“The Blackwood Tower will become the first demonstration.”
“Demonstration of what?”
She looked at the screens.
Thousands of files appeared.
Thousands of names.
Thousands of people connected to Eclipse Circle.
“Of a new world.”
The countdown began.
04:59
Ethan looked at his family.
His wife.
His daughters.
Seven years ago, he lost them.
Tonight, he had finally found them.
And now…
he might lose them again.
But this time…
he was not alone.
Lily held Ava’s hand.
Ava looked at Ethan.
And whispered:
“Dad.”
Everyone froze.
It was the first time Ava called him that.
Ethan looked at her.
Ava’s eyes filled with tears.
“Don’t let them take us again.”
Ethan tightened his fist.
“No.”
He looked toward the countdown.
04:32
“No one takes my family again.”
The Blackwood family stood together.
Not as heirs.
Not as weapons.
As a family.
May you like
And beneath the tower…
Project Dawn began waking up.
