CHAPTER 8: THE CHOICE
Victor crushed the white card in his fist.
His pulse thundered in his ears.
"No..."
His voice echoed through the abandoned tunnel.
"LILY!"
"ETHAN!"
Only silence answered.
A few seconds earlier, they had been right behind him.
Now they had vanished without a sound.
Emma knelt beside the spot where Lily's necklace lay.
There were no signs of a struggle.
No blood.
No bullet casings.
No footprints leading away.
She closed her eyes.
"They used the sleep gas."
Victor frowned.
"What?"
Emma pointed toward a tiny metal cylinder hidden beneath a broken pipe.
"They've used it before."
"You lose consciousness in less than ten seconds."
Victor stared at the canister.
That explained everything.
The attackers hadn't wanted a firefight.
They wanted Ethan.
Lily had simply been in the wrong place.
Victor immediately called the security captain.
No answer.
He called another guard.
Nothing.
Then another.
Every phone rang.
No one picked up.
Emma slowly lowered his hand.
"They've already taken the mansion."
Victor looked at her.
"How do you know?"
"Because this is exactly how they work."
"They never attack one target."
"They erase the entire board."
Twenty minutes later, Victor and Emma reached a hill overlooking Blackwood Manor.
Victor's heart sank.
Every light inside the mansion was on.
Police cars had disappeared.
Fire trucks were gone.
Security vehicles were gone.
It looked... normal.
Too normal.
Emma handed Victor a pair of binoculars.
"Look at the front gate."
Victor focused.
His blood froze.
His security guards were standing exactly where they should be.
Smiling.
Greeting arriving vehicles.
But something was wrong.
None of them were his men.
They were wearing identical uniforms.
Identical faces.
Identical expressions.
"They replaced them..."
Emma nodded.
"The Twelve always replace before they remove."
Victor zoomed toward the balcony outside Ethan's bedroom.
A small figure stood beside the window.
Ethan.
Victor almost shouted.
Then another figure stepped into view.
Serena.
She gently brushed Ethan's hair.
The little boy smiled at her.
Victor's stomach twisted.
"Why isn't he afraid of her?"
Emma looked away.
"They're using her."
Victor frowned.
"Using who?"
"Lily."
Inside the mansion...
Lily slowly opened her eyes.
Her wrists were tied to a chair.
A bright light shone directly into her face.
She struggled against the ropes.
"Where am I?"
Someone applauded softly.
Serena stepped from the darkness.
Elegant as always.
Perfectly composed.
"You wake up faster than expected."
Lily glared at her.
"What have you done with Ethan?"
Serena smiled.
"He's having breakfast."
Lily's breathing quickened.
"You monster."
Serena's smile faded.
"I've been called worse."
She placed a photograph on the table.
Lily looked down.
It showed a little girl.
About seven years old.
Standing beside Serena.
Both smiling.
"Do you know who she is?"
Lily shook her head.
Serena traced the girl's face with one finger.
"My sister."
Lily frowned.
"You have a sister?"
"I did."
"What happened to her?"
Serena looked toward the ceiling.
"They needed to prove loyalty."
Silence.
"So they asked my father to choose."
Lily felt a chill.
"Choose what?"
Serena answered without emotion.
"Which daughter deserved to live."
Back outside...
Victor and Emma circled toward the old servants' entrance.
Emma suddenly stopped.
She pointed at a stone angel near the garden.
"There."
Victor examined it.
Nothing unusual.
Until Emma pressed one of the wings.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside lay a satellite phone.
Victor looked surprised.
"You hid this?"
Emma nodded.
"Mom prepared safe places everywhere."
Victor picked up the phone.
One message had already arrived.
If you're alive, don't trust the police.
Meet me where the roses never die.
E.
Victor's heart pounded.
"E."
Elena.
She was alive.
And somehow she knew he had escaped.
Emma whispered,
"I know where that is."
The place was deep inside the estate's forgotten botanical garden.
Years ago, Elena had planted dozens of rare white roses there.
After her death, no one had maintained the garden.
Victor expected weeds.
Decay.
Instead...
Every rose was blooming.
Perfectly.
Someone had cared for them.
Every single day.
At the center stood an old stone bench.
Beneath it was a small iron box.
Victor unlocked it using the golden key from the night Serena disappeared.
Inside were dozens of letters.
All addressed to him.
Every envelope carried a different date.
The oldest...
Three years ago.
The newest...
Yesterday.
Victor opened the first letter.
Victor,
If you're reading this, then I finally reached you.
I wrote these letters because I knew they were intercepting every phone call, every email, every message.
If I disappear again, remember one thing.
Never believe what you see inside Blackwood Manor.
Victor swallowed.
He opened another.
Today Emma turned fourteen.
You weren't there to see her smile.
Victor closed his eyes.
Another year stolen.
He opened the next.
Ethan lost his first tooth today.
I watched through the nursery window.
He laughed exactly like you.
Victor's hands trembled.
She had been there.
Watching.
Unable to hold her own son.
Emma quietly wiped away tears.
"I helped Mom write those."
Victor looked at her.
"You knew where these were?"
"She told me never to open them."
Victor nodded silently.
Then he reached the final envelope.
Yesterday's date.
He opened it.
Inside was only one sentence.
If Serena reaches Ethan before you do... don't let him hear the lullaby.
Victor frowned.
"The lullaby?"
Emma's expression changed instantly.
"Oh no..."
Victor looked at her.
"What?"
"That's how they activate the memory."
Victor felt the ground shift beneath him.
"What memory?"
Emma whispered,
"They've been conditioning Ethan since he was a baby."
Before Victor could ask another question...
Music drifted across the garden.
Soft.
Gentle.
A woman's lullaby.
Emma's face turned white.
"They've started."
Victor sprinted toward the mansion.
The melody grew louder with every step.
He reached Ethan's bedroom.
The door was slightly open.
Inside, Serena sat beside Ethan's bed, singing softly.
The same lullaby Elena used to sing years ago.
Ethan's eyes remained closed.
But he spoke in a calm, unfamiliar voice.
Not like a three-year-old child.
Like someone much older.
"There are... twelve keys..."
Victor froze.
Ethan continued speaking in his sleep.
"The last key... is under Father's blood..."
Serena smiled without looking up.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to arrive."
She slowly turned toward Victor.
Then she said the one sentence that shattered everything he believed.
"Victor... Ethan doesn't remember because he's your son."
"He remembers..."
May you like
"...because he was born inside the Vault."
END OF CHAPTER 8
