Chapter 8 - THE BROTHER NO ONE KNEW ABOUTVictor couldn't speak.
A brother.
Chloe had a brother.
Evelyn disappeared before anyone could stop her.
Victor turned to Chloe.
“Do you have a brother?”
Chloe hesitated.
“Yes.”
Nora covered her face.
Victor looked at her.
“You knew?”
Nora nodded slowly.
“He's older.”
“How much older?”
“Two years.”
Victor's voice shook.
“Where is he?”
Nora whispered:
“I don't know.”
Victor was furious.
“You don't know?”
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Chloe stepped closer.
“He's looking for Mom.”
Victor stared.
“What's his name?”
“Daniel.”
Marcus froze.
“Daniel?”
Victor looked at him.
“What?”
Marcus turned pale.
“The guard.”
Everyone stopped.
The man they had arrested earlier.
Daniel Reed.
The supposed employee.
Victor rushed downstairs.
Daniel was gone.
The guards were unconscious.
On the wall was a single message.
FAMILY IS NEVER WHAT YOU THINK.
Victor understood.
The infiltrator wasn't simply working for someone.
He was part of the family.
They drove toward Victor's childhood home.
The road cut through dense forest.
Rain began falling.
Nora sat beside Chloe.
Victor drove.
Marcus followed.
No one spoke.
Then Chloe whispered:
“Mom is there.”
Victor looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
Victor's hands tightened on the wheel.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she said you weren't ready.”
Victor almost laughed.
“Ready for what?”
Chloe looked out the window.
“To meet the person who killed Grandma.”
Victor slammed the brakes.
The car stopped.
“What?”
Chloe looked at him.
“Grandma didn't die naturally.”
Victor's blood ran cold.
“What are you saying?”
“Mom said someone made her sick.”
Victor remembered his mother's final months.
Her unexplained weakness.
Doctors had never found a cause.
He had blamed age.
Now everything felt different.
They reached the old house.
Burned walls.
Collapsed roof.
Trees growing through the windows.
Victor stepped inside.
Chloe immediately walked toward the basement.
“How do you know where to go?”
“Mom showed me.”
They descended.
At the bottom was a metal door.
Victor found a key hanging beside it.
He opened it.
Inside was a laboratory.
Still intact.
Computers.
Medical equipment.
Old files.
Photographs.
And a crib.
Victor stared at it.
A memory returned.
Amelia had been eighteen.
She had begged him to visit the basement.
He had refused.
He had been preparing for a merger.
Now he realized the truth.
She had wanted to show him this.
Chloe approached one of the monitors.
A recording activated automatically.
A young Amelia appeared.
She was holding a baby.
Behind her stood a little boy.
Two years old.
Daniel.
Victor stared.
Amelia looked directly at the camera.
“Dad, I know you think I disappeared.”
She smiled sadly.
“I didn't.”
The screen changed.
Amelia's expression became terrified.
“They took him.”
Victor leaned closer.
“Who?”
Amelia whispered:
“Your mother.”
The recording ended.
Victor stumbled backward.
Then a voice spoke behind him.
“Not exactly.”
Victor turned.
An old man stood in the doorway.
Victor recognized him immediately.
His father's former attorney.
Samuel Hart.
Everyone believed he had died twenty years ago.
Samuel smiled.
“Your mother ordered the experiment.”
He raised a folder.
“But I was the one who kept the children alive.”
Victor stared.
“Where are they?”
Samuel pointed toward Chloe.
“Here.”
Then toward the darkness behind him.
“And the other one is closer than you think.”
A boy stepped into the light.
Chloe gasped.
“Daniel.”
May you like
Her brother smiled.
And Victor realized he had been staring at him for months.
