Chapter 11 - Ethan could not speak.Twins.
The word echoed through his mind.
Lily.
Another girl.
Two daughters.
Two lives hidden.
Two identities manipulated.
Daniel Cross lowered himself into a chair.
“Your father knew.”
“He knew Amelia was pregnant with twins?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because he didn’t trust Victor.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“What happened?”
Daniel explained.
Amelia had gone into labor prematurely.
The first child, Lily, was born healthy.
The second arrived twenty minutes later.
A fragile girl.
Doctors believed she might not survive.
Victor saw an opportunity.
He paid the neonatal director to alter the records.
One child would become the Blackwood heir.
The other would disappear.
“But why?”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Because your father’s trust had a hidden clause.”
He opened an old file.
“If Ethan produces twins, only the firstborn inherits.”
Ethan frowned.
“That still makes no sense.”
“It does when the second child is a threat.”
Daniel pointed to another document.
“If the firstborn dies, the second automatically becomes heir.”
Victor could not control either girl.
So he created a false reality.
One daughter supposedly died.
The other became an abandoned child with an uncertain identity.
That allowed Victor to control both possibilities.
He could eliminate one.
Replace one.
Or manipulate the order if necessary.
Ethan stared at the papers.
“This is insane.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Your father built a brutal empire.”
“Why would he make a clause like that?”
“To prevent anyone from claiming the company through a manufactured marriage.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Then why was Victor able to keep the trust?”
“Because he had Daniel Cross.”
“You.”
Daniel nodded.
“I altered the legal filings.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor threatened my daughter.”
Ethan’s expression softened for one second.
Then hardened again.
“Where are my daughters?”
Daniel pointed toward the underground parking level.
“Victor moved them.”
“Where?”
“Blackwood Tower.”
Ethan stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He already used the tower.”
“That was the point.”
Daniel reached into his coat.
He pulled out a key.
“This opens the private archive beneath the boardroom.”
Ethan took it.
“What’s there?”
“Every transaction Victor has ever made.”
Ethan turned to Marcus.
“We go now.”
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Victor knows Adrian is alive.”
Ethan froze.
“How?”
Daniel looked toward the surveillance camera.
“Because Victor wanted you to find me.”
The lights went out.
A gunshot sounded.
Daniel collapsed.
Ethan caught him.
“Daniel!”
Blood spread across his chest.
Marcus returned fire.
Someone ran through the dark.
Ethan pressed his hand against Daniel’s wound.
“Stay with me.”
Daniel gasped.
“Archive…”
“What?”
“Not the money.”
He coughed.
“The birth records.”
“What about them?”
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“Victor changed the order.”
Ethan frowned.
“What order?”
“The twins.”
Daniel’s grip weakened.
“Lily may not be the firstborn.”
Then he died.
Ethan stared at him.
May you like
His daughter’s entire identity had just been thrown into question.
And somewhere above them, Victor was waiting.
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