Chapter 9 - Julian stared at the detonator.“How much explosive?”
“Enough.”
“You're bluffing.”
The woman smiled.
“You always did underestimate your father.”
Julian looked at his mother.
“Who is she?”
His mother whispered:
“Celeste.”
The woman smiled.
“That's right.”
Julian had heard the name.
His father's chief geneticist.
Officially dead for fifteen years.
Celeste looked at Mara.
“Or should I say Evelyn?”
Mara stepped forward.
“Why did you erase me?”
Celeste laughed.
“Because your father couldn't control you.”
“I wasn't his daughter.”
“No.”
“You were.”
Celeste's smile faded.
“You were the child Victor believed could inherit the company without resistance.”
Mara shook her head.
“I don't understand.”
“You were raised to be obedient.”
“Then why did you rebel?”
“Because your memories were altered.”
Mara went still.
“What?”
Celeste looked at Elise.
“She remembers more than she should.”
Elise stepped forward.
“You don't own her.”
Celeste smiled.
“You think you escaped?”
She pointed the detonator.
“Every person in this room is standing on land owned by the Mercer Foundation.”
Julian looked around.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She pressed a button.
A red light appeared on the wall.
“Five minutes.”
His mother gasped.
Julian moved toward the exit.
Celeste stopped him.
“Where do you think you're going?”
Julian raised the gun.
“I will kill you.”
“You won't.”
“Why?”
“Because Noah is between us.”
Julian looked at his son.
Celeste smiled.
“You know what happens if you shoot me?”
“The explosives remain.”
“Correct.”
Julian lowered the gun.
Celeste's voice softened.
“You're not like your father.”
“No.”
“You're worse.”
Julian stared.
“You believed your wife loved you.”
Elise looked down.
“You believed your son was yours.”
Mara tightened her arms around Noah.
“You believed money could protect you.”
Celeste shook her head.
“But the truth is simple.”
She pointed at Mara.
“The baby belongs to her.”
Then she pointed at Julian.
“And you were never supposed to know.”
Julian looked at Mara.
For a second, neither spoke.
Then Noah reached toward him.
Julian took the baby's hand.
“I know.”
Celeste laughed.
“Know what?”
“That you lost.”
She frowned.
Julian held up the old file.
“I read enough.”
Celeste's eyes narrowed.
“You didn't have time.”
“I didn't need time.”
He opened the file.
Inside was a copy of a genetic report.
At the bottom:
CHILD: NOAH MERCER
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: JULIAN MERCER
BIOLOGICAL MOTHER: MARA ELLIS
Celeste froze.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your network made one mistake.”
Julian tapped the page.
“You never erased the original.”
Celeste stared.
Then smiled.
“That report is fake.”
Mara looked at her.
“Then why are you afraid?”
Celeste's face hardened.
She pressed the detonator.
Nothing happened.
She pressed again.
Still nothing.
A third time.
Nothing.
Julian smiled.
“Daniel disabled the trigger.”
Celeste's face changed.
“You don't know what you're doing.”
“No.”
Julian stepped closer.
“But you forgot something else.”
“What?”
“I own the power grid.”
He pulled out his phone.
Every light in the facility turned on.
The explosives were visible.
So were the wires.
And one wire had already been cut.
Celeste backed away.
“You think this changes anything?”
Julian shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Mara.
“It changes everything.”
Suddenly another door opened.
Two armed men entered.
Behind them stood a woman in a white coat.
Mara recognized her.
The nurse from her dreams.
The woman who had told her her baby was dead.
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Mara.”
Mara's blood ran cold.
“You.”
The nurse walked forward.
“You've grown.”
Mara stared.
“I remember you.”
The nurse smiled.
“You should.”
She held out a medical chart.
“Because I was holding your son when they told you he had died.”
Mara whispered:
“Where did you take him?”
The nurse looked at Noah.
Then back at Mara.
“To your sister.”
Mara's eyes narrowed.
“You gave him to Elise?”
The nurse shook her head.
“No.”
“To whom?”
She pointed at Julian.
“To his father.”
Julian froze.
“My father?”
May you like
The nurse smiled.
“Victor Mercer never died.”
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