Chapter 19 - TWO CHILDREN, ONE CHOICEThe room shrank.
Metal panels slid from the walls.
Victor grabbed Chloe.
Amelia searched for a mechanism.
Daniel ran toward the piano.
“Wait!”
He opened the bottom panel.
Inside was a second keyboard.
Chloe sat down.
Daniel whispered:
“Follow me.”
“What do I play?”
“The song you know.”
Chloe began.
Daniel pressed keys on the hidden keyboard.
The melody changed.
The walls stopped moving.
Victor stared.
“What is he doing?”
Amelia answered:
“Creating a second sequence.”
Daniel looked at Chloe.
“Together.”
They played.
The system activated.
Every screen displayed a countdown.
Five minutes.
Four.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
SELECT PRIMARY HEIR.
Victor shouted:
“Neither!”
The system didn't respond.
SELECT PRIMARY HEIR.
Chloe stopped.
Daniel stopped.
Amelia cried:
“Keep playing.”
Chloe resumed.
Daniel did too.
The system malfunctioned.
Warnings appeared.
ERROR. TWO HEIRS DETECTED.
Victor realized.
The system had never been designed for cooperation.
It demanded a winner.
Chloe looked at Daniel.
“We choose each other.”
Daniel smiled.
The music became stronger.
The countdown froze.
Samuel appeared on the screen.
“Stop.”
Nobody listened.
Samuel's voice became angry.
“You'll destroy everything.”
Daniel answered:
“That's what you were afraid of.”
Samuel slammed his hand against the console.
“Your grandmother built this system to preserve the family!”
Chloe continued playing.
“The family is more important than the system.”
Daniel nodded.
The last melody began.
One by one, the secret files appeared.
Then disappeared.
The Blackwood system was deleting itself.
Samuel rushed into the room.
“No!”
Victor blocked him.
Samuel attacked.
The two men fell to the floor.
Richard intervened.
Evelyn appeared behind Samuel.
She looked at the children.
Then at her father.
“It's over.”
Samuel stared at her.
“You betrayed me.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
She lowered her weapon.
“I chose my daughter.”
Samuel froze.
Victor stared.
“Evelyn…”
She looked at Chloe.
“She deserves a childhood.”
Then she surrendered.
Police stormed the mansion.
Samuel was arrested.
Evelyn was arrested.
The Blackwood empire was seized.
Edward gave a full confession.
Richard cooperated.
The conspiracy collapsed.
But after everything ended, Victor found one last file.
It contained a photograph.
Amelia as a baby.
Beside her stood another child.
A boy.
The caption read:
Subject Zero.
Victor looked at Amelia.
“Who is this?”
She stared at the picture.
“I don't know.”
Victor turned it over.
On the back was a message.
THE FIRST CHILD WAS NEVER FOUND.
Then someone knocked on the mansion door.
Everyone went silent.
A man stood outside.
He was around thirty.
He looked exactly like Edward.
Exactly like Victor.
Exactly like Amelia.
He smiled.
“My name is Alexander Blackwood.”
Victor froze.
May you like
Alexander raised an old photograph.
“I believe you misplaced me.”
