CHAPTER 10: THE MAN WHO CREATED DAUGHTERS
The chapel fell silent.
Only the distant rumble beneath Blackwood Manor could be heard.
Victor stared at Dr. Derek Hartman.
The same man who had signed Elena's death certificate.
The same man who had lied to the police.
The same man who had somehow become the center of every secret.
Hartman smiled as though they were meeting at a charity dinner instead of standing above a hidden labyrinth of conspiracies.
"You look disappointed, Victor."
Victor's voice turned cold.
"You should be dead."
Hartman chuckled.
"A lot of people should be."
His eyes drifted toward Emma and Serena.
"My girls."
Emma visibly recoiled.
"Don't call us that."
Hartman sighed.
"Sixteen years."
"I fed you."
"I educated you."
"I protected you."
Serena laughed bitterly.
"You implanted bombs in children."
Hartman's expression didn't change.
"I gave you purpose."
Victor suddenly understood.
The way Hartman spoke.
The way he viewed people.
They weren't human beings to him.
They were projects.
Experiments.
Assets.
Emma.
Serena.
Even Ethan.
Tools.
Nothing more.
Hartman pressed a button on the remote.
The floor beneath the chapel trembled.
The hidden staircase illuminated with rows of lights.
Far below...
Something ancient was awakening.
Victor tightened his grip on Ethan.
"What is the Vault?"
Hartman smiled.
"You still think it's a room."
Silence.
Victor frowned.
"What?"
Hartman stepped closer.
"The Vault isn't a place."
"It's a system."
No one spoke.
Hartman seemed pleased.
Like a professor about to reveal the answer to a puzzle.
"Two hundred years ago, twelve families built an organization."
"They accumulated wealth."
"Influence."
"Governments."
"Corporations."
"Wars."
Victor's expression hardened.
"The Twelve."
Hartman nodded.
"The wealth wasn't the treasure."
"The information was."
Victor felt a chill.
Information.
Not gold.
Not money.
Knowledge.
The most valuable currency in history.
Hartman continued.
"For generations, the Twelve collected everything."
Political secrets.
Corporate blackmail.
Hidden accounts.
Assassinations.
Entire governments manipulated from the shadows.
Every secret was stored.
Protected.
Passed down.
Generation after generation.
"The Vault contains all of it."
Victor stared.
"You're telling me there's a database controlling half the world?"
Hartman smiled.
"Now you're beginning to understand."
Emma whispered,
"And Ethan?"
Hartman looked delighted.
"Ethan is special."
Victor's heart sank.
"What did you do to my son?"
Hartman answered calmly.
"Nothing."
"His grandfather did."
Victor froze.
"My grandfather?"
Hartman nodded.
"The old man betrayed the Twelve."
"He knew the organization would eventually destroy itself."
"So he hid the master access."
Victor frowned.
"The last key."
Hartman smiled.
"Exactly."
Victor remembered Ethan speaking in his sleep.
The last key is under Father's blood.
At the time, it sounded meaningless.
Now...
Nothing sounded meaningless anymore.
Hartman continued.
"Your grandfather encoded the final access sequence into a bloodline."
Victor's stomach tightened.
"No."
Hartman's smile widened.
"Yes."
"Ethan wasn't chosen after birth."
"He was designed before it."
The room became deathly silent.
Victor felt sick.
"What are you talking about?"
Hartman looked genuinely surprised.
"You still don't know?"
Emma slowly stepped forward.
"Don't."
But Hartman ignored her.
"Your father discovered the project."
"He tried to stop it."
"He failed."
Victor clenched his fists.
"My father had nothing to do with this."
Hartman laughed.
"He helped create it."
The words hit like a gunshot.
Victor's world tilted.
His father.
The man he had admired.
The man he mourned.
The man he believed was honest.
Hartman continued.
"He helped develop the genetic encryption."
"He helped build the bloodline key."
"He helped create Ethan."
Victor's face drained of color.
"No."
The word barely escaped his lips.
Hartman shrugged.
"Believe whatever comforts you."
"But facts don't care."
Before Victor could respond...
Serena suddenly moved.
Fast.
Much faster than anyone expected.
She grabbed a fallen candle stand and hurled it directly at Hartman's head.
Crash!
The remote flew from his hand.
Emma reacted instantly.
She lunged forward.
The remote skidded across the marble floor.
Victor kicked it away.
For the first time...
Hartman looked annoyed.
Not angry.
Not frightened.
Annoyed.
Like someone whose meeting had been interrupted.
"You girls always were emotional."
Serena glared.
"You killed my sister."
Hartman stopped.
The room went silent.
Victor frowned.
"Sister?"
Emma looked confused.
Serena's hands trembled.
"The real sister."
The photograph from the tunnel flashed through Victor's mind.
The blonde girl.
The child Serena grew up with.
Hartman sighed.
"That was unfortunate."
Unfortunate.
The word ignited something inside Serena.
Years of fear.
Years of obedience.
Years of loss.
All condensed into pure rage.
"UNFORTUNATE?"
Her voice echoed through the chapel.
"You locked her in a room!"
"You experimented on her!"
"You watched her die!"
Hartman simply adjusted his cufflinks.
"You were both assets."
Victor had never wanted to kill another human being more than he did at that moment.
Suddenly...
A low mechanical hum rose from beneath the chapel.
The staircase glowed brighter.
Then brighter still.
Hartman's expression changed.
For the first time all night...
He looked surprised.
"No."
Emma immediately noticed.
"What is it?"
Hartman turned toward the darkness below.
"Someone activated the Vault."
Victor frowned.
"I thought you were activating it."
Hartman's face tightened.
"So did I."
The lights beneath the chapel shifted from white...
To red.
An alarm echoed from deep underground.
A female voice filled the air.
Calm.
Artificial.
Ancient.
AUTHORIZED USER DETECTED.
Silence.
Nobody moved.
The voice continued.
WELCOME BACK, ELENA BLACKWOOD.
Victor stopped breathing.
Emma's eyes widened.
Serena froze.
Hartman slowly turned pale.
Because the impossible had just happened.
Elena wasn't merely alive.
She had somehow reached the Vault before any of them.
The artificial voice continued.
PRIMARY ACCESS REQUEST ACCEPTED.
TRANSFER OF CONTROL IN PROGRESS.
Hartman's calm mask finally cracked.
"No."
He rushed toward the staircase.
"No no no no..."
For the first time, Victor saw fear in the doctor's eyes.
Real fear.
Emma whispered,
"What happens if Mom gains control?"
Hartman spun around.
His voice exploded.
"You don't understand!"
Victor grabbed him.
"Then explain."
Hartman looked directly into Victor's eyes.
And finally told the truth.
"If Elena gains full access..."
His voice trembled.
"...every secret the Twelve have hidden for two centuries will become public."
Silence.
Victor frowned.
"That sounds like a good thing."
Hartman stared at him.
"You fool."
"Governments will collapse."
"Markets will crash."
"Presidents will fall."
"Wars will begin."
Victor didn't care.
After everything the Twelve had done...
Maybe they deserved it.
Then the AI voice spoke again.
This time louder.
Urgent.
WARNING.
UNAUTHORIZED TERMINATION SEQUENCE DETECTED.
Victor's heart sank.
"What does that mean?"
Emma looked horrified.
"No..."
Hartman whispered,
"Someone set the Vault to self-destruct."
The entire chapel shook violently.
Stone dust rained from the ceiling.
Deep underground...
Something massive began counting down.
59:59
59:58
One hour.
The Vault.
The secrets.
Possibly Elena herself.
All scheduled to disappear forever.
Then the AI delivered one final message.
A message directed specifically at Victor.
VICTOR BLACKWOOD.
ELENA IS WAITING FOR YOU.
May you like
BUT YOU MUST COME ALONE.
END OF CHAPTER 10
