Chapter 10 - THE BOY IN THE LOCKED ROOMLeo was nine years old.

We found his location through the phone.

An abandoned property on the outskirts of the city.

We arrived before dawn.

Marcus insisted on waiting for backup.

I refused.

Every minute mattered.

The house had no lights.

The front door was unlocked.

Inside was silence.

No furniture.

No photographs.

No signs of a family.

Then we heard crying.

Upstairs.

We found the boy inside a locked room.

He was thin.

Pale.

His wrists were bruised.

He looked at me through the bars.

"Are you Clara?"

I knelt.

"Yes."

He stared at my stomach.

"You're the lady from the news."

"What happened here?"

"They said I had to stay."

"Who?"

"Daddy's people."

"Where is your mother?"

He shook his head.

"I don't know."

Marcus opened the lock.

Leo rushed toward me.

I caught him.

He clung to my coat.

"He said you were dead."

My chest tightened.

"When?"

"Yesterday."

"Who told you that?"

"Daddy."

I looked at Marcus.

Julian had lied to a child about my death while I was alive.

Why?

Leo whispered:

"Daddy said you were going to hurt me."

"I would never hurt you."

Leo looked at me.

"Then why did Daddy say you wanted me gone?"

Because he needed another heir.

Another piece on the board.

"Leo, what do you know about your father?"

The boy hesitated.

Then reached inside his shirt.

He pulled out a small key.

"Daddy told me never to give this to anyone."

"What does it open?"

He shook his head.

"He said only the woman who came back from the dead."

I stared.

Marcus stared.

Natalie stared.

The key had a tiny engraving.

A symbol.

A stylized serpent wrapped around the letter V.

My father used that symbol on documents that were never meant to be public.

"Where did he get this?"

"From the old man."

"What old man?"

Leo pointed toward a second room.

"He's in there."

We opened the door.

An elderly man sat strapped to a chair.

My heart stopped.

He looked familiar.

Then I recognized him.

My father's former chief accountant.

Thomas Gray.

He had been missing for fifteen years.

"My God."

Thomas smiled weakly.

"I wondered when Richard's daughter would finally come."

"What did Julian do to you?"

"Nothing."

Thomas coughed.

"Your father did."

I froze.

"What?"

"He kept me here because I knew the truth."

"What truth?"

Thomas looked at Leo.

"The boy's father is not Julian."

I stared.

"Then who?"

Thomas looked at Marcus.

Marcus closed his eyes.

Thomas said:

"Richard Vale."

I felt the room spin.

"No."

"The boy carries your father's blood."

I looked at Leo.

The resemblance suddenly seemed obvious.

The eyes.

The jaw.

The expression.

"No."

Thomas continued.

"Julian discovered the record."

"And Elena?"

"Same arrangement."

"So both children..."

"Are connected to your father's lineage."

I felt sick.

My father had created a secret bloodline system.

Multiple descendants.

Hidden identities.

Protected heirs.

And Julian had found it.

"He wanted all of them."

Thomas nodded.

"Because the person who controls the descendants can challenge the trust."

"How?"

"By creating legal uncertainty."

The same strategy.

Different pieces.

I looked at Leo.

"You've been used."

The boy nodded.

"I know."

Then he pulled another object from his pocket.

A small audio recorder.

"Daddy told me to play this if you found me."

I pressed the button.

Julian's voice filled the room.

"Leo, if you're hearing this, Clara has survived."

A pause.

"And if she survives, the only way to stop her is to expose what her father did."

Then another voice.

Marcus.

My stomach dropped.

Julian had recorded Marcus.

"You promised me you'd handle the genetic files."

Marcus's recorded voice answered.

"I did."

Julian:

"Then why is she still alive?"

Marcus:

"Because I failed."

The recorder stopped.

I turned toward Marcus.

He looked broken.

"You worked with him."

Marcus didn't deny it.

"I was trying to protect you."

"You helped him."

"Yes."

Leo stepped closer to me.

"He told me everyone lies."

I looked at Marcus.

"For once, the child is right."

My phone rang.

A live news alert appeared.

JULIAN VANCE RETURNS TO VANGUARD.

Then another headline.

MYSTERY DOCUMENTS ALLEGE CLARA VANCE'S FATHER RAN SECRET ILLEGAL GENETIC PROGRAM.

A photograph appeared.

My father.

And beside him...

Marcus.

I looked up.

Marcus was already reaching for his phone.

"I didn't leak that."

"Then who did?"

He stared at me.

"I think I know."

"Who?"

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Marcus's face went white.

"Your mother."