CHAPTER 9 THE CHILD THEY NEVER KNEW ABOUT
For three seconds, nobody moved.
I stared at Lily.
My eight-year-old daughter was standing beside the burning vehicle, tears running down her face.
“Noah isn't Noah?”
My mother's lips trembled.
“He is.”
I shook my head.
“You just said he isn't the child they took.”
“I said they took a decoy.”
“Then what does that mean?”
My father looked toward the road where the black vehicle had disappeared.
“Victor expected Noah to be the primary heir.”
“But he isn't?”
“No.”
“Then who is?”
My father looked at Lily.
“Her.”
Lily's face crumpled.
“Me?”
I dropped to my knees in front of her.
“Lily, look at me.”
She did.
“You're my daughter.”
She nodded.
“I'm your dad.”
Another nod.
“Nothing else matters.”
My mother stepped closer.
“It matters.”
I turned toward her.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Adrian, listen.”
“No more secrets.”
“I know.”
“Then explain.”
She took a breath.
“Lily was never supposed to be born.”
The words hit me like a punch.
I stared at my daughter.
“What?”
My mother continued.
“Victor knew about Noah's existence before he was born.”
“How?”
“Because Lena was reporting everything.”
Lena flinched.
I looked at her.
“Is that true?”
She nodded slowly.
“I reported the pregnancy.”
My stomach turned.
“You reported my wife being pregnant?”
“I was ordered to.”
“And when Lily was born?”
Lena began crying.
“I reported her too.”
“Then why did Victor believe Noah was the heir?”
My mother answered.
“Because we changed the records.”
I froze.
“We?”
“Your father, me, and one other person.”
“Who?”
She looked at Lena.
Lena whispered:
“My doctor.”
I stared at her.
“You changed Lily's identity?”
“We changed her bloodline records.”
“Why?”
“To hide what she was.”
I looked at Lily.
“What is she?”
My mother stepped closer.
“The final descendant of the original Cole line.”
I shook my head.
“You said I was.”
“You were the legal heir.”
She pointed at Lily.
“She is the biological key.”
The words made no sense.
“Explain it.”
My father finally spoke.
“The trust wasn't designed to pass to the oldest child.”
“Then what was it designed for?”
“The child carrying the original genetic marker.”
I looked at Lily.
She was wiping tears from her cheeks.
“What marker?”
My mother hesitated.
“A mutation.”
“A mutation?”
“Yes.”
“Something inherited from your grandfather.”
I stared at Lily.
“And Noah doesn't have it?”
“No.”
“Then why did Victor take him?”
“Because Victor didn't know.”
I looked toward the road.
“He thinks Noah is the heir.”
My father nodded.
“He took the wrong child.”
For the first time that night, hope appeared.
Then it vanished.
“Wait.”
I looked at my mother.
“If Victor took Noah by mistake, why did his system accept him?”
My mother went silent.
My blood ran cold.
“It did accept him.”
“Yes.”
“Then the system knows something we don't.”
She didn't answer.
I looked at Lily.
“Come here.”
She walked toward me.
I pulled her into my arms.
She whispered:
“Daddy, am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“Are they going to take me?”
I held her tighter.
“No one is taking you.”
My father looked away.
I noticed.
“What?”
He didn't respond.
“Dad.”
Nothing.
“Why are you looking away?”
He finally met my eyes.
“Because there is something else.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course there is.”
He swallowed.
“The system didn't identify Noah as the heir.”
I frowned.
“Then what did it identify?”
He looked at the burning vehicle.
“The device wasn't selecting a child.”
“What was it selecting?”
“A bloodline.”
I felt cold.
“And?”
“It recognized both.”
“Both?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did it reject Lily?”
“It didn't.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He pointed toward Lily's wrist.
She was wearing a tiny silver bracelet.
I had given it to her for her seventh birthday.
My father whispered:
“That's the key.”
I looked at the bracelet.
I suddenly remembered something.
Lena had never allowed Lily to take it off.
Not once.
Even during baths.
Even during doctor's appointments.
I looked at Lena.
“You knew.”
She nodded.
“I was told never to remove it.”
“By Victor?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She looked at my mother.
My mother closed her eyes.
“By me.”
I stared at her.
“You put it on Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To hide her.”
“From who?”
She didn't answer.
A distant siren sounded.
Marcus looked toward the road.
“We have to leave.”
I nodded.
“Where?”
My father looked at the industrial buildings around us.
“There is a safe house nearby.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
I stared at him.
“You have a safe house?”
He gave me a tired look.
“I've had several.”
We moved quickly.
Marcus led the way.
Lena carried Lily.
I followed.
Every few seconds, I looked behind us.
No vehicles.
No headlights.
Nothing.
That frightened me more.
People who wanted us dead usually made noise.
Victor was silent.
And silence meant planning.
We reached an old warehouse.
My father entered a code.
The steel door opened.
Inside was a surprisingly sophisticated command center.
Screens.
Radios.
Maps.
Medical equipment.
Weapons.
Documents.
A dozen photographs covered one wall.
I walked toward them.
The first photograph was my father.
The second was my mother.
The third was Victor.
Then Lena.
Then Daniel.
Then Hale.
Then Alexander.
I looked closer.
There was one more photograph.
A woman.
I recognized her immediately.
The woman from Victor's car.
Alexander's supposed sister.
I turned.
“Who is she?”
Alexander entered the room.
He looked at the photograph.
His face hardened.
“Her name is Mara.”
“She's really your sister?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You said she was.”
“I said Victor wanted me to believe she was.”
“Then who is she?”
Alexander looked at my father.
Jonathan finally spoke.
“Mara was created.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Genetically.”
I stared at him.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
He pointed at the photograph.
“She was part of Project Heir.”
My stomach tightened.
“What project?”
“Your grandfather wanted to create children with specific genetic traits.”
I looked at Lily.
My father continued.
“Children who could access the trust.”
I felt sick.
“You're saying Lily was engineered?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“She was born naturally.”
“Then why does she have the marker?”
“Because the original line survived.”
I stared at my daughter.
She was sitting beside her grandmother, quietly coloring on a piece of paper.
She looked completely ordinary.
Like any eight-year-old.
And yet everyone around her was terrified.
Then the lights flickered.
Marcus looked at the security monitors.
“Movement.”
Everyone turned.
Six vehicles were approaching the warehouse.
I looked at my father.
“Victor?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
The screen zoomed in.
A symbol appeared on the vehicles.
Three black vertical lines inside a circle.
My father went pale.
“That isn't Victor.”
“Who is it?”
He whispered:
“The original network.”
The warehouse doors suddenly locked.
Every screen turned black.
Then one screen illuminated.
A live video appeared.
Noah was sitting in a chair.
His hands were free.
He wasn't crying.
He was staring directly into the camera.
I stepped forward.
“Noah!”
He couldn't hear me.
Then a man entered the frame.
Not Victor.
Not Daniel.
Not Hale.
An older man.
White hair.
Dark suit.
He sat across from Noah.
Then he looked directly into the camera.
As if he could see me.
“Adrian.”
My blood froze.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
“You've spent your entire life looking for your father.”
He leaned toward the camera.
“But you never asked who your grandfather's father was.”
My father whispered:
“No.”
The old man smiled.
“Jonathan.”
My father looked terrified.
“You should have stayed dead.”
The man laughed.
“Dead?”
He turned toward Noah.
Then back to the camera.
“I built this family.”
I stared at him.
“Who are you?”
He smiled.
“My name is Elias Cole.”
My father's face collapsed.
“That can't be.”
Elias looked directly at him.
“Hello, son.”
I couldn't move.
My grandfather's father.
A man who was supposed to have died before my father was even born.
A man who had supposedly disappeared more than fifty years ago.
He leaned toward Noah.
“Your father doesn't know the truth.”
Then he smiled.
“But I do.”
He lifted a small photograph.
It showed my family.
My father.
My mother.
Me.
Lena.
Noah.
Lily.
And one more person.
Someone who had never been part of our family.
A baby.
Elias said:
“This child was born before you, Adrian.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Who is that?”
He smiled.
“Your first daughter.”
My breath stopped.
I looked at Lily.
Then at Lena.
Lena began shaking.
I turned toward her.
“You had another child?”
She couldn't speak.
Elias's voice came through the speakers.
“She wasn't stillborn.”
Lena collapsed into a chair.
My mother covered her face.
I looked at my wife.
“Lena…”
She whispered:
“They took her.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“Victor.”
My heart shattered.
Elias continued:
“And now…”
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
A little girl.
Around ten years old.
Standing beside Victor.
She had Lena's eyes.
My eyes.
And the same small scar above her eyebrow that I had seen on Alexander.
Elias smiled.
“Your daughter is alive.”
Then the screen went black.
A message appeared:
FIND HER BEFORE VICTOR DOES.
May you like
And beneath it, a second line:
BECAUSE SHE IS THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN STOP HIM.
