Chapter 9 - We escaped through a service tunnel beneath the warehouse.Marcus led us.
My father stayed behind.
I wanted to go back.
But he blocked the entrance.
“Protect the children.”
Then the steel door slammed shut.
Lily was crying.
Claire was carrying her.
I followed Marcus through the dark.
“You knew this tunnel?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Dad built it.”
“Where does it lead?”
“Your house.”
I stopped.
“You're taking us back there?”
“Yes.”
“That's insane.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at me.
“That's where they expect us to go.”
I understood.
A trap.
We reached the end of the tunnel.
A panel opened beneath my garage.
My house looked untouched.
Too untouched.
I entered first.
The storage room door was still broken.
I knelt beside the mattress.
“Under the floor.”
Lily pointed.
“Here.”
We pulled the mattress aside.
There was a tiny metal plate.
I pried it open.
Beneath it was a steel box.
No lock.
Inside was a single key.
And a note.
I unfolded it.
THE FIRST ROOM IS A DISTRACTION.
I stared at Marcus.
“What does that mean?”
He pointed toward the wall.
“There is another one.”
We searched.
Nothing.
Then Lily walked toward the bookshelf.
She touched one shelf.
“Here.”
I moved it.
The entire wall shifted.
A hidden compartment appeared.
Inside was a safe.
The key fit perfectly.
I opened it.
Documents.
Passports.
Cash.
Photographs.
A hard drive.
And one envelope with my name.
I opened it.
My father's handwriting.
Ethan,
If you found this, the first trap has failed.
The person you need to fear is not Claire.
It is the person who raised you.
I frowned.
My mother.
My blood ran cold.
The next page contained an old photograph.
My mother.
My father.
And a third person.
A woman.
Claire recognized her.
“That's my mother.”
I stared.
“My parents knew each other.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Before Claire could answer, the hard drive beeped.
A file opened automatically.
Video.
My mother appeared.
She was younger.
Standing inside the exact storage room.
She was holding a baby.
Tommy?
No.
The baby was me.
I watched in silence.
A younger version of my father entered.
My mother said,
“You promised they'd never find him.”
My father answered,
“I promise.”
She lifted me.
“Then why is the other one still alive?”
My heart stopped.
The baby wasn't me.
It was Marcus.
My mother had known.
She had known we were twins.
She had separated us.
I turned to Marcus.
He looked devastated.
“My whole childhood...”
He couldn't finish.
The video continued.
My mother handed Marcus to another woman.
Claire's mother.
Then she said,
“Only one of them can inherit.”
My father replied,
“That's not what I wanted.”
My mother looked at him.
“You never get what you want.”
The video ended.
I sat down.
Everything I remembered from childhood was suddenly uncertain.
My birthday.
My mother.
The stories.
The family photographs.
All lies.
Claire touched my shoulder.
I moved away.
“I need space.”
She nodded.
Then Marcus found another file.
A medical report.
Tommy's.
I looked at it.
It had been altered.
The date of birth was wrong.
His blood type was wrong.
And beside his name was a handwritten note.
GENETIC MATCH CONFIRMED.
I looked at Claire.
“What is this?”
She stared at the page.
“I don't know.”
Marcus went pale.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
He pointed to the bottom.
The laboratory name.
It belonged to the same private clinic that had handled my father's records.
My father had suspected something.
Maybe Tommy wasn't just a beneficiary.
Maybe he was proof.
Proof of a bloodline.
A bloodline someone wanted erased.
Then the front door unlocked.
All three of us froze.
I whispered,
“Who's there?”
A woman's voice answered from the hallway.
“Ethan.”
My mother's voice.
She stepped into view.
Alive.
Calm.
May you like
Holding a gun.
“Put the documents down.”
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