Chapter 6 - The Brother Who Never DiedI had not heard my father's voice in twenty years.
Yet I knew it instantly.
The same measured tone.
The same calm authority.
The same voice that had taught me never to show fear.
The darkness felt suddenly colder.
“Come out,” I said.
No answer.
Then a single light flickered on.
A man stood inside the elevator.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
A thin scar near his jaw.
My father had died when I was seventeen.
The man looked exactly like him.
But that was impossible.
I raised my firearm.
“Who are you?”
He smiled.
“Your father.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“No.”
The man glanced at him.
“Daniel.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“So are you.”
I kept the gun trained on him.
“Take off your glasses.”
He did.
I stared at his eyes.
My father's eyes.
Same color.
Same shape.
Same small scar above the left eyebrow.
Then he said something only my father could have known.
“When you were nine, you broke the study window and blamed the gardener.”
My finger tightened around the trigger.
He continued.
“You cried for twenty minutes before admitting the truth.”
My breathing stopped.
“That was you.”
He nodded.
“My name is Adrian Vale.”
I had never heard the name.
Yet every bone in my body knew him.
“My father had only one son.”
Adrian smiled.
“Wrong.”
He stepped closer.
“You had an older brother.”
I shook my head.
“Elliot died before I was born.”
“That is what you were told.”
Daniel pulled me aside.
“Marcus, listen.”
I didn't.
I kept staring at Adrian.
“Why?”
“Because your father needed an heir.”
“Why hide me?”
“Because Helix wanted Elliot.”
The word hung in the room.
Elliot.
My brother's name.
Adrian continued.
“When I refused to obey them, they took me.”
“What happened?”
“They changed my identity.”
“And my father?”
“He made a deal.”
I lowered my weapon slightly.
“What deal?”
Adrian looked at Daniel.
“The same deal that destroyed your life.”
Daniel's eyes hardened.
“Don't.”
Adrian ignored him.
“Your father promised Helix control of the city if they left his younger son alive.”
My stomach turned.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“So all these years…”
“You were the protected son.”
Daniel interrupted.
“And Elliot was the sacrifice.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You know what they did to him.”
Daniel said nothing.
That silence was devastating.
I turned.
“Daniel.”
He finally spoke.
“I found Elliot's files eleven months ago.”
“Where?”
“In a Helix facility.”
“What did they do?”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“Ask him.”
Adrian's face changed.
For the first time, his composure cracked.
“They trained me.”
“To do what?”
“Anything.”
The room fell silent.
Then Rachel groaned from the floor.
She was alive.
Daniel rushed to her.
I looked back at Adrian.
“Why now?”
“Because Helix is collapsing.”
“How?”
“Someone has stolen the ledger.”
“The ledger that exposes them?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Adrian looked at me.
“You.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“The ledger isn't a book.”
He pointed to Caleb.
“It is a memory.”
Caleb stepped backward.
“What?”
Adrian continued.
“Daniel hid the information in the only place Helix could never search.”
I stared at the boy.
“Caleb?”
Daniel nodded.
“Not in his mind.”
He looked at Caleb's small wrist.
“Inside him.”
I felt the room spin.
Adrian explained.
“Your father developed a method of encoding financial keys into children's medical records.”
“That sounds insane.”
“It worked.”
He pointed at Caleb's wrist.
“A tiny implant.”
Elena grabbed Caleb.
“What?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“I never wanted this for him.”
“Then why?”
“Because I had no choice.”
I stared at Caleb's wrist.
The boy looked terrified.
Then he said something that chilled me.
“My dad said they would cut me open if they found out.”
The vault door slammed shut.
Adrian looked toward the ceiling.
“They found out.”
A red light began flashing.
Then a message appeared across the wall.
HELIX HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING.
Adrian drew a firearm.
“For once, Marcus, stop asking questions.”
“What do we do?”
May you like
He looked at Caleb.
“Run.”
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