Chapter 10: The Girl Who Was Built to Control the Heir
Lily stared at the file.
Her name was printed across the top.
PROJECT BLACK WOLF: SUBJECT L-01
Below it, another line.
STATUS: ACTIVE
Her fingers trembled.
“What does this mean?”
Elena stood behind Ethan, watching her.
“It means you were never an accident.”
Lily looked at her twin.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Elena placed Ethan gently into a padded chair.
The baby stared at Lily through the glass barrier.
Lily rushed toward him.
“Ethan!”
A transparent wall suddenly rose between them.
Lily slammed her hands against it.
“Open it!”
Elena didn't move.
“Read the file.”
“I don't care about the file!”
“You will.”
Lily turned.
“Give me Ethan!”
Elena shook her head.
“First, you need to remember.”
“I remember enough.”
“No.”
Elena walked toward the shelves.
“You remember being abandoned.”
She pulled out an old photograph.
“You remember your father disappearing.”
Another photograph.
“You remember being sent to an orphanage.”
Lily stared.
Then Elena held up a third.
“You don't remember this.”
Lily looked.
Her entire body froze.
It showed her at fourteen.
Standing in the Blackwood mansion.
Holding a newborn baby.
Ethan.
Lily whispered:
“No.”
Elena nodded.
“You were there.”
“I don't remember.”
“Because they erased it.”
“Who?”
“Your grandfather.”
Lily stared at the photograph.
“Why?”
Elena opened the file.
“Because you failed your first test.”
Lily looked at her.
“What test?”
Elena pointed to a page.
SUBJECT L-01 RESPONSE TO HEIR: PROTECTIVE ATTACHMENT CONFIRMED.
Lily's heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
“It means they gave you Ethan.”
“Fourteen years ago?”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“Fourteen months ago.”
Lily stared.
“But I was only fourteen in the photograph.”
“That photograph is dated incorrectly.”
Lily looked again.
The date had been altered.
Elena whispered:
“You were twenty-eight.”
Lily's face went blank.
“No.”
“You don't remember your own age.”
“I know how old I am.”
“Do you?”
Lily's breathing became shallow.
Elena stepped closer.
“You believe you're twenty-eight.”
Lily stared at her.
“I am.”
“Then tell me your birthday.”
Lily opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Elena waited.
Lily's face changed.
She couldn't remember.
Not the date.
Not the year.
Not even the month.
“No…”
She backed away.
Elena's expression softened.
“They didn't erase your entire memory.”
She touched the file.
“They erased the parts that would lead you back here.”
Lily looked at the shelves.
Thousands of documents.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Surveillance tapes.
Her life was inside this room.
But none of it felt like hers.
“What is Project Black Wolf?”
Elena answered:
“A program designed to create the perfect successor.”
“For the Blackwood empire?”
“No.”
“For Ethan.”
Lily froze.
Elena nodded.
“Ethan was born with the bloodline.”
“And I?”
“You were trained to control him.”
Lily shook her head.
“I would never control a child.”
“You already did.”
“What?”
Elena pulled out another photograph.
It showed Lily holding Ethan.
But something was different.
Lily's eyes were closed.
Her hand was pressed against the baby's forehead.
A strange black symbol appeared on Ethan's wrist.
Lily stared.
“What did I do?”
“You activated the mark.”
“What mark?”
“The Black Wolf mark.”
Lily looked at her own wrist.
The crescent birthmark was glowing faintly.
“No…”
Elena whispered:
“You can command the heir.”
Lily's voice cracked.
“I don't want that.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“Because I need you.”
“For what?”
Elena looked toward the vault.
“To destroy it.”
Outside the vault, Victor slammed his shoulder against the steel door.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
“Move!”
His men stepped back.
Victor fired into the locking mechanism.
The bullet ricocheted.
“Sir!”
“Again.”
Isabella grabbed his arm.
“Stop.”
Victor turned furiously.
“Lily is in there.”
“I know.”
“Then get out of my way.”
“You'll kill her.”
Victor froze.
Isabella pointed toward the door.
“The vault was designed to survive gunfire.”
Victor stared at her.
“Then how do we open it?”
Isabella looked toward Lily's mother.
“You know.”
Her mother nodded.
“There is another entrance.”
Victor turned.
“Where?”
“Under the chapel.”
“What chapel?”
“The old Blackwood cemetery.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“Of course.”
He turned toward his men.
“Move.”
Inside the vault, Lily continued reading.
The documents were becoming more disturbing.
Her childhood wasn't what she remembered.
She had been trained.
Observed.
Tested.
Every emotional reaction recorded.
Every relationship monitored.
Even her attachment to Ethan had been documented before she consciously understood it.
Then she found a document marked:
SUBJECT L-01: FINAL CONDITIONING
Lily opened it.
The first sentence made her blood run cold.
If Subject L-01 attempts to reveal the truth, terminate her memory permanently.
Lily dropped the paper.
Elena looked away.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you let them do this to me?”
“I was trying to stop them.”
“You're my sister.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn't you save me?”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I failed.”
Silence.
Lily stared at her.
“You were the first daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You were supposed to control Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did they choose me?”
Elena answered:
“Because you resisted.”
Lily frowned.
“What?”
“You were the only one they couldn't control.”
Elena stepped closer.
“They trained me to obey.”
She pointed toward Lily.
“They couldn't train you.”
Lily shook her head.
“Then why erase my memory?”
“Because they were afraid of you.”
Lily looked at the files.
“What were they afraid of?”
Elena whispered:
“You weren't created to control Ethan.”
She paused.
“You were created to destroy the Black Wolf.”
Lily stared at her.
“What?”
Elena pulled out the final document.
There was a photograph attached.
Lily's father stood beside a younger Victor.
Between them was a newborn girl.
Lily.
Written beneath it:
SUBJECT L-01: ORIGINAL PURPOSE
DESTROY THE BLACKWOOD SUCCESSION.
Lily's heart pounded.
“Why would my father agree to this?”
“He didn't.”
Elena's voice became quiet.
“He created the program to destroy your grandfather.”
Lily looked at her.
“Then why did he die?”
Elena looked down.
“Because he succeeded.”
“What?”
“He discovered the vault.”
Lily stared.
“And he hid the key.”
“Where?”
Elena smiled sadly.
“Inside you.”
Lily touched her chest.
“What key?”
Elena pointed to the crescent pendant.
“That isn't a necklace.”
Lily looked down.
“Then what is it?”
“A biometric key.”
“For the vault?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't it open before?”
“Because it needs both sisters.”
Lily looked at Elena.
“Both?”
Elena nodded.
“You carry the blood.”
“I carry the blood.”
“I carry the code.”
Lily looked toward the massive steel door.
“And Ethan?”
Elena whispered:
“He carries the authority.”
Three pieces.
One vault.
One empire.
And one baby.
Suddenly, a loud metallic boom echoed through the chamber.
The vault door shook.
Victor.
He was trying to break in.
Elena looked toward Lily.
“They found the other entrance.”
Lily ran toward Ethan.
“Open the barrier.”
“No.”
“Please!”
“You have to choose.”
“Choose what?”
Elena pointed toward two doors.
One led toward Ethan.
The other toward the deepest section of the vault.
“Ethan…”
Lily stared.
“Or the truth.”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“You're cruel.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“I've spent fourteen years watching people choose power over family.”
She looked at Ethan.
“I want to know what you'll choose.”
Lily looked at the baby.
Then at the vault.
Then at the files containing every secret her family had hidden.
She took a breath.
“Ethan.”
Elena smiled.
“I knew you would.”
She pressed her hand against the wall.
The glass barrier disappeared.
Lily rushed to Ethan and pulled him into her arms.
The baby immediately grabbed her shirt.
Lily held him tightly.
“I've got you.”
Elena watched them.
Then the entire vault began shaking.
A red warning light appeared.
VAULT PURGE INITIATED.
Lily looked up.
“What did you do?”
Elena's face went pale.
“I didn't.”
A countdown appeared on the wall.
09:59
09:58
09:57
Lily stared.
“What's happening?”
Elena whispered:
“Someone activated the self-destruct.”
“Who?”
The speakers suddenly crackled.
A man's voice echoed through the vault.
Victor's father.
“You finally opened the vault.”
Elena froze.
The voice continued.
“Now every secret buried inside it will disappear.”
Lily looked at the countdown.
Eight minutes.
Fifty seconds.
She tightened her grip on Ethan.
Then the voice added one final sentence:
“And when the vault explodes…”
A pause.
“…everyone inside dies.”
Lily looked at Elena.
Elena looked at her.
And somewhere beyond the steel walls, Victor was still trying to break through.
The countdown continued.
08:42
08:41
08:40
Lily whispered:
“We have eight minutes.”
Elena nodded.
Then Lily noticed something.
A small red light blinking beneath the floor.
Her eyes widened.
“That isn't a bomb.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
Lily stared at the light.
“It's a tracker.”
Suddenly, the vault doors locked completely.
A hidden screen activated.
A live video appeared.
Victor stood outside.
But behind him stood Damian.
Holding a gun to Victor's head.
Damian smiled directly at the camera.
“Hello, Lily.”
Then he lifted the gun.
“And now…”
May you like
He pulled back the hammer.
“…we negotiate.”
