Chapter 10 - THE CALLFour minutes.
That was all we had.
The facility erupted into movement.
My mother rushed toward the servers.
Marcus grabbed weapons.
Adrian stared at the ring.
I looked at him.
“Can you stop it?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
He nodded.
The countdown dropped.
03:41.
03:40.
I ran to the terminal.
Adrian connected the ring.
The system immediately rejected him.
ACCESS DENIED.
He tried again.
“Come on.”
Nothing.
My mother shouted:
“Use the original authentication!”
“What?”
“Your first login!”
Adrian froze.
He entered a password.
The system unlocked.
WELCOME, AGENT A-17.
I stared.
“Agent?”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“That was my Blackwell designation.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I wanted to forget.”
The screen displayed hundreds of files.
One folder had my name.
He opened it.
Inside were surveillance records dating back fifteen years.
My school.
My friends.
My first job.
My wedding.
Everything.
I felt sick.
“They've watched me my entire life.”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
Then he noticed something.
“There.”
A file named:
PROJECT DAUGHTER
He opened it.
We read in silence.
The project had one goal.
Raise me outside Blackwell.
Keep me unaware.
Wait until I reached adulthood.
Arrange a marriage with a controllable asset.
Then force the heir to activate the Trust.
I looked at Adrian.
“So our marriage…”
“Was designed.”
Every memory suddenly felt contaminated.
Our first date.
Our wedding.
Our honeymoon.
His proposal.
Had anything been real?
Adrian looked at me.
“I loved you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You don't get to say that.”
“I know.”
“I don't believe you.”
“I know.”
“Then prove it.”
He looked at the screen.
“How?”
“Destroy Blackwell.”
He nodded.
The countdown reached two minutes.
He began typing.
Files disappeared.
Accounts collapsed.
Blackwell's entire digital network started unraveling.
Marcus shouted:
“They're losing control!”
My mother smiled.
“Keep going.”
Then the doors opened.
Alexander walked in.
Blood covered his shirt.
But he was smiling.
Behind him stood Vanessa.
She held a gun to my father's head.
My mother went still.
“Alexander.”
He smiled.
“Hello, Elena.”
My father was dragged behind him.
I screamed:
“Dad!”
He looked at me.
“Don't give them the ring.”
Alexander laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He pointed at me.
“She doesn't need the ring.”
He looked at Vanessa.
“She never did.”
Vanessa smiled.
Then she removed the device from her pocket.
The pregnancy story had been a lie.
Her stomach was flat.
Adrian stared.
“What?”
She laughed.
“There was never a baby.”
Adrian looked like he had been stabbed.
“All this time…”
“Fake.”
My mother stared at her.
“Why?”
Vanessa's eyes turned cold.
“Because everyone trusts a pregnant woman.”
Alexander applauded softly.
“Beautiful, isn't it?”
I looked at him.
“You wanted me to activate the Trust.”
“Yes.”
“But Vanessa already has the key.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“She has something better.”
He pointed at Adrian.
“He is the key.”
Adrian froze.
I understood.
His blood.
His father's blood.
His connection to the founders.
He was the second authentication.
I turned toward the terminal.
The system flashed.
SECOND HEIR DETECTED.
My mother whispered:
“Adrian isn't Blackwell's enemy.”
She looked at him.
“He is Blackwell's successor.”
Adrian stepped backward.
“No.”
Alexander smiled.
“Your choice, son.”
He raised his gun toward my father.
“Come with me…”
“…or he dies.”
Adrian looked at me.
I could see the war inside him.
Three years of lies.
Three years of manipulation.
And one decision.
He stepped forward.
“I'll come.”
I stared at him.
“Adrian…”
He looked at me.
“Trust me once.”
I shook my head.
“I can't.”
He smiled sadly.
“Then trust yourself.”
He walked toward his father.
Vanessa lowered her weapon.
Alexander smiled.
Then Adrian suddenly grabbed Vanessa's wrist.
A gunshot exploded.
Marcus fired at Alexander.
My mother pulled my father to safety.
The servers overloaded.
The lights exploded.
The entire facility shook.
Adrian slammed the ring into the terminal.
“NOW!”
I hit the final command.
DESTROY BLACKWELL?
I pressed YES.
For five seconds, nothing happened.
Then every screen in the room went black.
Accounts vanished.
Servers crashed.
Secret databases erased.
Across the world, Blackwell's hidden network began collapsing.
Alexander screamed.
“No!”
He lunged toward Adrian.
They fought.
Marcus stopped him.
Security dragged him away.
Vanessa disappeared through a side door.
I ran after her.
But when I reached the tunnel, she was gone.
Only her phone remained.
I picked it up.
One message was open.
From an unknown number.
YOU THINK YOU WON.
Another message arrived.
YOU DESTROYED BLACKWELL.
Then:
BUT BLACKWELL WAS ONLY ONE BRANCH.
I stared at the screen.
My mother came up behind me.
“What does it say?”
I turned the phone toward her.
Her face changed.
“No.”
“What?”
She read the final message.
ASK YOUR FATHER WHO REALLY CALLED YOU THAT NIGHT.
I looked at my father.
He stood at the end of the corridor, bleeding, exhausted.
“Dad?”
He said nothing.
“Who called me?”
His eyes filled with something I had never seen there before.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for me.
He slowly looked at my mother.
Then at Marcus.
Then at Adrian.
Finally, he whispered:
“It wasn't me.”
The corridor fell silent.
I felt the phone slip from my hand.
“What?”
My father swallowed.
“The call that started all of this…”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“…came from your mother's number.”
My mother went pale.
“That isn't possible.”
My father shook his head.
“It happened three years ago.”
“Whoever called you that night…”
He took one step forward.
“…wasn't your mother.”
I stared at the woman beside me.
At the woman I had believed was my mother.
She stared back.
Then her lips slowly curved into a smile.
And behind her ear, hidden beneath her hair, I saw it.
A tiny black scar.
The same scar Marcus had described.
The mark of Blackwell.
My mother whispered:
“Run.”
I couldn't move.
She looked behind me.
“RUN!”
The lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, a phone began to ring.
The same ringtone.
The same number.
The same call that had started everything.
I reached for my phone.
The screen lit up.
INCOMING CALL: MOM
I answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Then she said the four words that turned my blood to ice.
“Your father is dead.”
May you like
And behind me...
my father screamed.
