CHAPTER 11 THE REPLACEMENT SUBJECT
The words remained frozen on the screen.
REPLACEMENT SUBJECT: READY FOR EXTRACTION.
Gavin stared at them.
He had spent his entire life believing he was a son.
A grandson.
A billionaire.
A man who had inherited an empire through hard work, ambition, and the legacy of the Roberson family.
Now one sentence had reduced his entire existence to something colder.
A replacement subject.
A substitute.
A body chosen to wear another man's name.
Taylor clung to his jacket.
“Mr. Gavin…”
Gavin looked down.
“I'm here.”
“Why do they want you?”
Gavin didn't know how to answer.
Because for the first time in his life, he wasn't sure who he was.
Behind him, Victor stepped closer.
“Gavin.”
Gavin turned.
“You knew.”
Victor shook his head.
“Not this.”
“You knew there was a system.”
“No.”
“You knew I was a replacement.”
“I knew your grandfather used you as one.”
“You knew they were going to kill me.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“I would never allow that.”
Gavin laughed.
“You already allowed twenty-two years of lies.”
Victor flinched.
Richard stepped forward.
“Gavin, listen to me.”
Gavin turned toward him.
“You knew too.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And you still raised me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard's voice trembled.
“Because I loved you.”
Gavin stared at him.
“You weren't my father.”
“I know.”
“But you were the only father I knew.”
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“That was enough for me.”
Gavin looked away.
For years, he had wanted answers.
Now that he had them, they hurt more than the questions.
Suddenly, a siren began screaming.
Red lights flashed across the underground facility.
SECURITY BREACH.
SUBJECTS COMPROMISED.
EXTRACTION PROTOCOL INITIATED.
Samuel cursed.
“We have to leave.”
Gavin looked at him.
“Where?”
“Through the eastern tunnel.”
“What about the boy?”
Samuel looked toward the original Gavin.
“We take him.”
“What about Taylor?”
“We take her too.”
Gavin shook his head.
“No.”
Samuel frowned.
“What?”
“I'm not leaving anyone behind.”
Richard nodded.
“Then we move now.”
They ran.
The underground facility was enormous.
Gavin had assumed the Roberson vault was a simple storage room.
It wasn't.
It was an entire underground complex.
Computer servers lined the walls.
Steel doors led to unknown rooms.
Hundreds of files were stacked behind reinforced glass.
Some dated back decades.
Others were labeled with recent dates.
Gavin stopped at one.
The label read:
TAYLOR BELL
He reached for it.
Samuel shouted,
“Don't!”
Gavin ignored him.
He ripped open the file.
Inside were photographs.
Taylor sleeping.
Taylor walking.
Taylor playing.
Taylor at Nora's side.
Every photograph had a date.
Someone had been watching her from birth.
Then Gavin saw something that made his blood run cold.
A photograph of Taylor at the age of two.
Standing beside Priscilla.
Gavin looked at Priscilla.
She was staring at the photograph.
“You knew about her.”
Priscilla shook her head.
“I didn't know they were watching her.”
“Then why were you there?”
“I was investigating.”
“Investigating what?”
“The trust.”
Gavin stepped closer.
“You've been lying to me all night.”
Priscilla's eyes filled with tears.
“I lied because I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone says that.”
“Because it's true.”
Gavin looked at the photograph again.
“When did you meet Taylor?”
Priscilla swallowed.
“Three years ago.”
“Where?”
“At St. Catherine's.”
Gavin's heart stopped.
“The hospital.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was there.”
“I knew a baby had survived.”
“Did you know she was my sister?”
“No.”
“Then what did you know?”
Priscilla hesitated.
“That the child was connected to the Roberson trust.”
Gavin stared.
“And you never told me.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because I was working for your mother.”
Gavin froze.
“Evelyn?”
Priscilla nodded.
“She asked me to infiltrate your engagement.”
Gavin stared at her.
“So the engagement…”
“Wasn't real.”
Silence.
Priscilla's voice broke.
“I was never trying to marry you.”
Gavin felt something inside him collapse.
Even after everything he'd discovered, that revelation still hurt.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You pretended to love me.”
“I did love you.”
“You just said the engagement wasn't real.”
“It wasn't.”
“Then what was real?”
Priscilla looked at him.
“You.”
Gavin couldn't answer.
Before he could respond, the original Gavin stepped between them.
“She's telling the truth.”
Everyone turned.
The boy looked at Gavin.
“She came to see me too.”
Gavin frowned.
“When?”
“Before they moved me here.”
“What did she say?”
“That she was sorry.”
Priscilla nodded.
“I found him three years ago.”
Gavin stared.
“You knew where he was?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel threatened to kill him.”
Samuel's expression darkened.
“That isn't what happened.”
Priscilla looked at him.
“You know it is.”
Gavin turned toward Samuel.
“What happened?”
Samuel said nothing.
Gavin stepped closer.
“What did you do to him?”
Samuel finally answered.
“I kept him alive.”
“You imprisoned him.”
“I protected him.”
“You locked a child underground.”
“Because the moment the world knew he existed, people would have killed him.”
Gavin looked at the boy.
“How long?”
The boy answered.
“Three years.”
Gavin's chest tightened.
Three years.
The same amount of time Taylor had been alive.
Three years of two children being hidden from the world.
Three years of adults fighting over their blood.
Three years of lies.
Then Gavin noticed something.
A small scar on the boy's neck.
He looked at Taylor.
She had the same scar.
Gavin crouched.
“Taylor, did you ever have surgery?”
She shook her head.
“My mommy says no.”
Gavin looked at the boy.
“Did you?”
The boy nodded.
“When I was little.”
Gavin's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
The boy touched the scar.
“They said it was to identify me.”
Gavin froze.
“Identify you?”
The boy nodded.
“Like a barcode.”
Gavin's stomach turned.
He looked at the computer terminal.
The system was still running.
PROJECT HEIR.
He walked toward it.
A password screen appeared.
ENTER GENETIC KEY.
Gavin frowned.
Samuel stepped forward.
“You can't access it.”
“Why?”
“Because it requires the original heir.”
Gavin looked at the boy.
The boy approached the terminal.
He placed his hand against the scanner.
Nothing happened.
Red.
ACCESS DENIED.
Everyone stared.
The boy stepped back.
Gavin tried.
Red.
Taylor approached.
Gavin grabbed her wrist.
“Wait.”
Taylor placed her hand against the scanner.
The screen changed.
GENETIC MATCH DETECTED.
Everyone froze.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Gavin stared at Taylor.
“Why can she open it?”
Samuel whispered:
“Because the system recognizes her as the primary heir.”
Gavin looked at the boy.
“Then why doesn't it recognize him?”
Samuel's face changed.
Because he knew.
Gavin saw it.
“You knew.”
Samuel looked away.
“What?”
“You knew the boy wasn't the real heir.”
The boy stared at Samuel.
“What?”
Samuel remained silent.
Gavin stepped toward him.
“Tell him.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Tell him!”
Samuel finally whispered:
“He was never the original heir.”
The boy's face went white.
“Then who am I?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“A decoy.”
The boy stared at him.
“What?”
“You were created to draw attention away from the real heir.”
Gavin's eyes moved toward Taylor.
Taylor looked frightened.
Samuel nodded.
“She is the real heir.”
Gavin's jaw tightened.
“Then why does the boy look exactly like me?”
Samuel didn't answer.
Gavin suddenly understood.
“The replacement.”
Samuel nodded.
“They used him first.”
Gavin stared at the boy.
The child had been created as another replacement.
A false heir.
A distraction.
A human shield.
And then Gavin had been chosen after him.
“How many?”
Samuel looked at him.
“How many replacements?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Five.”
Gavin's blood ran cold.
“Five?”
“Five children.”
“Where are they?”
Samuel didn't answer.
Gavin grabbed his collar.
“Where?”
“Dead.”
Silence.
Five children.
Five lives.
All sacrificed to protect a secret.
Taylor suddenly started crying.
“I don't want to die.”
Gavin immediately pulled her into his arms.
“You're not going to.”
A loud metallic crash echoed through the facility.
The security door at the far end buckled.
Someone was coming.
Samuel looked terrified.
“It's too late.”
Gavin raised his weapon.
“Who?”
Samuel whispered:
“Victor's men.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
He looked toward the security monitors.
“They aren't mine.”
The screen flickered.
A live camera appeared.
Dozens of armed men were moving through the underground tunnels.
At the front was an elderly man.
Gavin recognized him.
Samuel Bell.
But Samuel was standing beside him.
Gavin looked from the screen to the man beside him.
Then back.
His blood froze.
There were two Samuels.
The man on the screen looked identical.
Same white hair.
Same face.
Same posture.
Gavin slowly turned toward the Samuel beside him.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
And for the first time, Gavin noticed something he had missed.
The scar.
The man beside him had a scar above his left eyebrow.
The man on the screen didn't.
Gavin raised his weapon.
“You're not Samuel.”
The impostor smiled.
“No.”
He reached into his jacket.
Richard shouted,
“GAVIN!”
The impostor pulled out a detonator.
“I'm the man who has been running this operation from the beginning.”
Gavin stared.
“Who?”
The man pressed one button.
A countdown appeared across every screen.
00:59
00:58
00:57
The impostor smiled.
“My name…”
He paused.
“…is Richard Roberson.”
Gavin's face went white.
Richard standing beside him stepped backward.
“No.”
The impostor laughed.
“Hello, brother.”
Gavin looked between the two men.
Two Richards.
Two identities.
Two versions of the man who had raised him.
And then Taylor screamed.
“Mommy!”
Gavin turned.
Nora was standing at the end of the corridor.
Blood covered her clothes.
She was holding something in her hands.
A small black box.
She looked directly at Gavin.
Then at Taylor.
And whispered:
“Don't let them open it.”
Gavin ran toward her.
“What is it?”
Nora's eyes filled with tears.
“The truth about who Taylor's father really is.”
The countdown continued.
00:41
00:40
And then Nora dropped the box.
It hit the floor.
The lid opened.
Inside was a single photograph.
Gavin picked it up.
His hands began to shake.
Because the man standing beside Nora in the photograph was someone Gavin had never expected to see.
May you like
Richard Roberson.
But the photograph was dated yesterday.
