Chapter 9 - The DoubleVictor couldn’t move.
His double walked forward.
“I’m Gabriel.”
Victor stared.
“How?”
Gabriel smiled.
“Our father made copies.”
Lily looked sick.
“Copies?”
“Not perfect ones.”
Gabriel pointed at Victor.
“You were the original.”
Victor’s heartbeat thundered.
“And you?”
“Backup.”
Gabriel explained that their father had used experimental treatments to create genetically compatible heirs.
Victor had been raised as the public son.
Gabriel had been hidden.
Adrian had been another attempt.
And Ethan?
“The final child,” Gabriel said.
Victor shook his head.
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
Gabriel pulled out a medical file.
“Ethan was born with a rare genetic marker.”
Victor looked at the report.
“What marker?”
“The one required to activate the Black Trust.”
Lily whispered:
“So Ethan really is the heir.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Yes.”
Victor suddenly understood Serena’s obsession.
“If Ethan turns eighteen…”
“The trust activates.”
“And whoever controls Ethan controls the fortune.”
Gabriel nodded.
“But your father has another problem.”
Victor looked at him.
“What?”
“Evelyn discovered the trust contains more than money.”
Gabriel opened another file.
Inside were international bank records, political contacts, private companies, secret properties.
Victor stared.
“This could destabilize entire corporations.”
“Exactly.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“And that is why so many people want Ethan.”
Victor looked at her.
“Then why did you come back?”
“To stop your father.”
A gunshot rang out.
Evelyn collapsed.
Victor caught her.
“Evelyn!”
Blood spread across her dress.
Gabriel shouted:
“Down!”
More bullets hit the walls.
Security forces stormed the corridor.
Victor pushed Lily and Ethan behind a pillar.
Gabriel fired back.
“Who are they?” Lily screamed.
Evelyn, barely conscious, whispered:
“Your father.”
Victor looked toward the end of the hallway.
His father stood there.
Beside him was Serena.
And beside Serena was Adrian.
Victor’s stomach dropped.
“Adrian?”
Adrian stared at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Why?”
Adrian’s voice cracked.
“Because he has my sister.”
Victor froze.
“Your sister?”
Adrian pointed toward Evelyn.
“No.”
He pointed at Lily.
Victor turned.
Lily’s face had gone white.
Adrian whispered:
“She is the fourth child.”
Victor stared at Lily.
Lily began crying.
“I didn’t know.”
Her hand touched the necklace around her neck.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a tiny photograph.
Four babies.
Four names.
Victor.
Gabriel.
Adrian.
Lily.
Victor’s world shattered.
“You’re my sister.”
Lily nodded.
“I think so.”
Then Serena laughed.
“Now you understand.”
Victor looked at her.
Serena smiled.
“The family never had one heir.”
She lifted a gun.
May you like
“It had four.”
And suddenly every light in the hospital exploded.
