Chapter 12 - Alexander drove like a man being chased by death.For twenty minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then he handed me a phone.
“One call.”
“Who?”
“Sofia.”
I dialed.
She answered immediately.
“Elena?”
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
My heart dropped.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere Richard can't find me.”
“Can Alexander help you?”
Silence.
Then Sofia said:
“Do you trust him?”
I looked at Alexander.
“No.”
“Good.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He wants you to trust him.”
Alexander glanced at me.
I put the phone on speaker.
Sofia continued.
“Alexander isn't innocent.”
He sighed.
“I never said I was.”
“Then tell her.”
Alexander kept driving.
“Tell me what?”
“Your brother's first attempt to kill me wasn't the helicopter.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
Sofia said:
“Six years ago.”
I looked at Alexander.
“Six years ago, Richard tried to poison you.”
The road blurred.
I remembered that time.
I'd been sick for weeks.
Doctors had blamed stress.
Richard had taken care of me.
He had cooked for me.
Stayed beside my bed.
I had thanked him.
He had almost killed me.
Sofia continued.
“Alexander found out.”
“And?”
“He covered it up.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
Alexander finally spoke.
“Because Richard promised to stop.”
“You believed him?”
“I was twenty-nine.”
“You knew he was dangerous.”
“I thought I could control him.”
I laughed bitterly.
“No one controls Richard.”
Alexander looked at me.
“You're right.”
He slowed the vehicle.
“That's why I want to end this.”
“Why help me now?”
He reached into the glovebox.
Inside was a flash drive.
“Because your father left something for me too.”
I took it.
The label read:
ORION ENDGAME.
We stopped at an abandoned coastal warehouse.
The drive contained a single video.
My father again.
But this time he looked terrified.
“Richard will eventually discover the third key.”
He paused.
“When he does, he'll believe the child gives him control.”
My father's eyes looked directly into the camera.
“He'll be wrong.”
A document appeared.
ORION FINAL PROTOCOL
The child did not grant control.
The child triggered destruction.
If the system detected unauthorized genetic activation, every asset linked to Orion would automatically transfer to a nonprofit foundation selected by my father.
No one could access it.
Ever.
Unless the twins jointly authorized it.
Richard had spent years chasing something that would give him nothing.
But there was another line.
SECONDARY CONDITION: IF BOTH PRIMARY SUBJECTS DIE, ORION TRANSFERS TO SUBJECT THREE.
My stomach tightened.
“That means the baby inherits everything.”
“Yes,” Alexander said.
“But Richard could kill Sofia and me.”
“And then he would have to keep the baby alive.”
I understood.
The baby wasn't just a target.
The baby was a vault.
Richard needed me dead.
Sofia dead.
But the baby alive.
Suddenly, all of his actions made sense.
I asked:
“Where is Richard now?”
Alexander looked at me.
“Coming here.”
“How do you know?”
He lifted the phone.
A location tracker showed a moving dot.
Ten miles away.
“Then we leave.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because this ends tonight.”
He showed me another file.
A list of offshore accounts.
Richard had stolen millions.
But the biggest transfer was scheduled for midnight.
Amount:
$2.7 billion.
Destination:
An account controlled by the Moretti family.
Alexander looked at me.
“If Richard activates the transfer, Orion will be exposed.”
“Then we stop him.”
“We need both sisters.”
I called Sofia.
“Where are you?”
She finally gave us the address.
An old monastery.
Sofia was waiting.
When I arrived, she hugged me for the first time.
Then she whispered:
“There's someone you need to meet.”
She opened a locked room.
Inside was an elderly man.
Bound to a chair.
I recognized him.
The company's original security architect.
My father's right hand.
Mr. Walter Kane.
I thought he was dead.
He looked at me.
“You finally came.”
“Who are you?”
He smiled sadly.
“Your father's last mistake.”
“What mistake?”
He looked at Sofia.
Then at me.
“Choosing which daughter to save.”
The room went silent.
I asked:
“What do you mean?”
Walter answered:
“He didn't save you.”
“He saved your sister.”
Sofia stared at him.
“That isn't true.”
Walter shook his head.
“He ordered the hospital to switch the records.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“What?”
Walter looked at me.
“You were supposed to be the daughter who disappeared.”
I couldn't breathe.
“You weren't supposed to inherit anything.”
“Then why did I?”
Walter smiled.
“Because your father changed his mind.”
He leaned forward.
“Twenty-four hours before he died.”
“Why?”
Walter's eyes filled with fear.
“Because he learned Richard was already inside Orion.”
Then the monastery doors exploded open.
Richard's men stormed inside.
Walter screamed:
“RUN!”
And as I grabbed Sofia's hand, a gunshot echoed through the hall.
Alexander collapsed.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Richard stepped through the doorway.
He looked at me.
Then at my pregnant stomach.
May you like
And smiled.
“Now,” he said, “we can finally finish what your father started.”
