Chapter 5 - CHLOE'S WEDDING RINGThey escaped through an underground service tunnel beneath Manhattan.
Julian had never known the tunnel existed.
His father had built it decades earlier.
A network of forgotten passages ran beneath Sterling-owned buildings, connecting basements, garages, and private vaults.
“This is insane,” Julian whispered.
Daniel walked beside him, pale but steady.
“Insane is what keeps rich men alive.”
Elena carried Daniel.
Julian kept one hand on the ledger.
Rebecca walked behind them.
Margaret was silent.
Too silent.
Julian noticed.
“Mom.”
She didn't answer.
“Mom.”
She finally looked at him.
“What?”
“You knew Chloe.”
Margaret stopped walking.
“What about her?”
“How long?”
“Since before you met her.”
Julian felt sick.
“You introduced us.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Margaret looked away.
“Because I thought she could control you.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Control me?”
“You were becoming reckless.”
“So you gave me a mistress?”
“I gave you a woman who understood the family business.”
Julian stepped closer.
“She was sleeping with me.”
“I know.”
“And you knew?”
“I knew.”
Elena turned her head.
Her eyes met Margaret's.
“You knew she was destroying my marriage.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Yes.”
Elena's voice was quiet.
“Why?”
Margaret didn't answer.
Daniel did.
“Because Elena was getting too close to the truth.”
Julian's eyes hardened.
“So the divorce was planned.”
Daniel nodded.
“By your mother, Chloe, and three board members.”
Julian felt something inside him break.
“And my father?”
“I tried to stop it.”
“By disappearing?”
“I disappeared because they tried to kill me.”
Julian looked down at the ledger.
“And now?”
“Now they know I failed.”
They reached a steel door.
Daniel entered a code.
The door opened into a hidden room.
There were computers.
Documents.
Maps.
Photographs.
A wall covered in strings connecting dozens of names.
Julian stopped.
This wasn't a safe house.
It was a war room.
Elena entered behind him.
Rebecca closed the door.
Daniel sat down.
“We don't have much time.”
Julian placed the ledger on the table.
“Start talking.”
Daniel looked at him.
“The person running this operation is not Chloe.”
Julian frowned.
“Then who?”
“Your brother.”
Julian laughed.
“I don't have a brother.”
Daniel's expression didn't change.
“Yes, you do.”
The room went silent.
“Dad…”
“Your mother had a child before she married me.”
Margaret finally spoke.
“He died.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Julian looked at his mother.
“You told me I was your only child.”
“I thought he was dead.”
“Who was he?”
Daniel's eyes moved to the wall.
There was a photograph.
A teenage boy.
Brown hair.
Pale eyes.
Standing beside a young Julian.
Julian stared.
He remembered the boy.
Not clearly.
Only fragments.
A summer house.
A swimming pool.
Someone teaching him how to ride a bicycle.
Then nothing.
“What was his name?”
Daniel answered.
“Adrian.”
Julian stepped backward.
“Adrian Sterling.”
“No.”
“He was ten years older than you.”
“You said he died.”
“We were told he drowned.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“Who told you?”
“The doctors.”
“What doctors?”
“The ones who worked for your grandfather.”
Julian suddenly understood.
Adrian had not died.
He had disappeared.
And someone had spent years turning him into a ghost.
Julian touched the photograph.
“Where is he?”
Daniel looked at the red ledger.
“Inside it.”
Julian opened the book.
A photograph slipped from between two pages.
A grown man.
Late thirties.
Scar across his jaw.
Cold eyes.
Julian recognized him instantly.
He had seen that face before.
In one of Chloe's old photographs.
Standing beside her at a charity event.
Julian whispered.
“That's…”
“Elijah Kane,” Rebecca said.
Julian looked at her.
“Who?”
“Your brother uses many names.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
“No.”
Daniel turned the photograph over.
Written on the back were four words.
HE MARRIED YOUR ENEMY.
Julian looked at the date.
Two years earlier.
His stomach dropped.
“What enemy?”
Nobody answered.
Elena stepped toward the desk.
She picked up a file.
Inside were photographs.
Her.
Julian.
Chloe.
Daniel.
And the baby.
The photographs had been taken months before Daniel's birth.
One photograph showed Elena entering a prenatal clinic.
Another showed Chloe watching her from a parked car.
Another showed Julian signing the divorce papers.
Then the final photograph.
Taken three hours ago.
Elena holding Daniel.
The hospital room.
A red circle around the baby's wrist.
Julian looked at Rebecca.
“They've been watching us.”
“Since before the pregnancy.”
“Why?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Because of his blood.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
Rebecca pointed at the mark.
“It isn't just a mark.”
“What is it?”
“A genetic seal.”
Julian stared.
Rebecca opened a medical file.
“Your grandfather was obsessed with hereditary traits.”
“That sounds insane.”
“It was.”
She turned a page.
“The Sterling family carried a rare mutation linked to a biological data project.”
Elena frowned.
“What project?”
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
“Project Genesis.”
Julian's face hardened.
“What is Genesis?”
Rebecca said:
“Your grandfather used your family as a living key.”
The lights flickered.
Everyone froze.
Then the computer screens switched on.
A single message appeared.
CONGRATULATIONS, JULIAN.
Another line appeared.
YOU FINALLY FOUND YOUR BROTHER.
Then:
NOW BRING ME YOUR SON.
The room's steel door slammed shut.
Locks engaged.
Margaret screamed.
Rebecca reached for her gun.
Julian grabbed Elena.
Daniel started crying.
And through the speakers came a voice Julian knew better than anyone.
May you like
Chloe.
“Hello, darling.”
Related Stories
