Chapter 14: The Third Brother
Victor stood frozen in front of the black screen.
For the first time since Lily had met him, she saw something she had never imagined could exist in his eyes.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for Ethan.
“Cain,” Victor whispered.
Adrian stepped closer.
“You know where he is.”
Victor didn't answer.
“Victor.”
“I thought he was dead.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“So did I.”
Lily looked between them.
“Who is Cain?”
Neither brother answered.
“Tell me.”
Victor finally looked at her.
“He was our brother.”
“Your third brother?”
“Yes.”
“Why was his face erased from the photograph?”
Victor's expression darkened.
“Because our father wanted everyone to believe he never existed.”
Lily swallowed.
“What happened to him?”
Adrian answered.
“He was sent away.”
“Where?”
“A facility.”
Lily's eyes narrowed.
“The laboratory.”
Adrian nodded.
“He was the first Black Wolf subject.”
Lily looked at the burning corridors behind them.
“And he survived?”
“No.”
Victor interrupted.
“He didn't survive.”
Adrian turned toward him.
“Then who is holding Ethan?”
Victor stared at the screen.
“I don't know.”
Lily suddenly understood.
“You do know.”
Victor said nothing.
“You recognized him immediately.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“When I was seventeen, Cain escaped.”
Lily waited.
“He came back for us.”
“What happened?”
Victor's voice became quieter.
“Our father caught him.”
“And?”
“He was beaten.”
Adrian looked away.
“He was twelve.”
Lily's heart sank.
“Your father did that to a child?”
“He wanted to turn Cain into the perfect successor.”
Victor continued.
“But Cain refused.”
“What did you do?”
Victor looked at Lily.
“I was told to stop him.”
Lily froze.
“Did you?”
“I tried.”
“And Adrian?”
“I wasn't there.”
Victor's voice cracked.
“Cain disappeared that night.”
“Dead?”
“We never found a body.”
Lily stared at him.
“And you thought he was dead.”
“Yes.”
She looked at the black screen.
“But he survived.”
Victor nodded.
“And now he has Ethan.”
A distant alarm suddenly sounded.
Elena looked at the ceiling.
“We need to leave.”
Victor didn't move.
“Not without my son.”
“Victor, this entire facility is collapsing.”
“I don't care.”
Lily stepped toward him.
“Victor.”
He looked at her.
“You can't save Ethan by walking into a trap.”
“I have to.”
“That's exactly what Cain wants.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“He's my brother.”
“And Ethan is your son.”
That stopped him.
Lily held his gaze.
“You can't let Cain use your love for Ethan against you.”
Victor looked down.
Then slowly nodded.
“Fine.”
He turned to Adrian.
“Find him.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I already know where he's going.”
“Where?”
“The Blackwood cemetery.”
Victor's face changed.
“Why there?”
“Because that's where Cain was buried.”
Lily frowned.
“He was never buried.”
Adrian looked at her.
“No.”
He paused.
“His name was.”
Thirty minutes later, the cemetery was covered in rain.
Victor's convoy stopped outside the old Blackwood mausoleum.
Lily stepped out.
The air was freezing.
She held Ethan close.
Victor approached.
“Stay behind me.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“He wants me too.”
Victor stared at her.
“That is exactly why you stay behind me.”
She looked toward the mausoleum.
“If Cain really is Ethan's father…”
Victor's expression hardened.
“He isn't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know enough.”
Lily lowered her voice.
“You heard the recording.”
Victor looked away.
Her father's unfinished message still echoed in his mind.
Ethan's real father isn't Adrian.
Adrian only raised him.
His father is...
Then the video had cut out.
Victor clenched his fists.
“I won't let Cain take him.”
A slow clap echoed through the cemetery.
Everyone turned.
Cain stood on top of the mausoleum.
No guards.
No weapon.
Just a black coat soaked by the rain.
Ethan was in his arms.
Lily's heart stopped.
“Ethan!”
Cain smiled.
“He's fine.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Put him down.”
Cain looked at him.
“You still give orders.”
“Put my son down.”
Cain laughed.
“Your son?”
He looked at Ethan.
“That's interesting.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Cain.”
Cain's smile vanished.
“Don't call me that.”
“It's your name.”
“No.”
Cain looked toward the old grave beneath him.
“That was the name your father gave me.”
He looked at Victor.
“My name was erased.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You're alive.”
Cain looked at him.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“You never looked for me.”
Adrian's expression tightened.
“I did.”
“Not hard enough.”
Lily stepped forward.
“Where is Ethan's mother?”
Cain looked at her.
“Dead.”
Lily froze.
“Isabella?”
Cain nodded.
“She died protecting him.”
Victor's face hardened.
“Who killed her?”
Cain looked at him.
“You did.”
Victor went completely still.
“What?”
“You don't remember.”
Cain smiled bitterly.
“Of course you don't.”
He looked at Lily.
“Your grandfather erased the memory.”
Lily whispered:
“What happened?”
Cain walked slowly down the mausoleum steps.
“Fourteen months ago, Isabella discovered the truth about Ethan.”
“What truth?”
“That he wasn't supposed to inherit the Blackwoods.”
Victor frowned.
“Then what was he supposed to inherit?”
Cain looked at Lily.
“The Crescent empire.”
Lily's heart skipped.
“There is no Crescent empire.”
“There was.”
Cain continued.
“Your family built it before the Blackwoods stole it.”
He looked at Ethan.
“And Ethan is the first child born with both bloodlines.”
Victor stared.
“So everyone wants him.”
“Exactly.”
Cain smiled.
“But there's one problem.”
“What?”
“Ethan doesn't belong to the Blackwoods.”
Victor stepped forward.
“He's my son.”
Cain's eyes hardened.
“No.”
He held Ethan slightly higher.
“He's mine.”
Silence.
Lily's heart pounded.
Victor stared at him.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
Cain reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small envelope.
“DNA results.”
Victor's face changed.
Cain tossed it toward him.
Victor caught it.
He opened the envelope.
His hands trembled.
The report showed Ethan's DNA.
Then the father's identification.
Victor read the name.
His face went white.
Lily stepped closer.
“What does it say?”
Victor couldn't speak.
Adrian grabbed the paper.
He read it.
Then stared at Cain.
“No.”
Cain smiled.
“Finally.”
Lily looked at Adrian.
“What?”
Adrian whispered:
“Cain is Ethan's biological father.”
Victor's eyes became empty.
“No.”
Cain laughed.
“You spent fourteen months believing Ethan was yours.”
He stepped closer.
“Then you spent years believing I was dead.”
Victor raised his gun.
Cain didn't flinch.
“You're going to shoot me?”
Victor's finger tightened.
“You took my son.”
Cain's expression changed.
“No.”
He looked down at Ethan.
“I saved your son.”
Victor hesitated.
Cain continued:
“Because someone inside your family has been trying to kill him since the day he was born.”
Lily looked around.
“Who?”
Cain looked directly at Victor.
“Your brother.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“What?”
Cain smiled.
“Not me.”
He pointed at Adrian.
“Him.”
Everyone turned toward Adrian.
Adrian slowly raised his hands.
“You're insane.”
Cain shook his head.
“Ask him where he was the night Isabella died.”
Victor stared at Adrian.
“Where were you?”
Adrian didn't answer.
“Adrian.”
Still nothing.
Lily stepped backward.
“Where were you?”
Adrian finally looked at her.
His eyes were filled with pain.
“I was there.”
Victor's face hardened.
“What did you do?”
“I tried to save her.”
Cain laughed.
“You arrived too late.”
“I wasn't the one who killed her.”
“Then who was?”
Adrian looked toward Lily.
And whispered:
“Your mother.”
Lily's blood ran cold.
“My mother?”
Adrian nodded.
“She killed Isabella.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“She believed Isabella had betrayed her.”
“No.”
“She thought Ethan was being used.”
“No!”
Lily's voice echoed through the cemetery.
Then Ethan began crying.
Cain looked down.
The baby suddenly stretched his tiny hand toward Lily.
Lily stepped forward instinctively.
Cain hesitated.
For one strange second, the baby stopped crying.
Then the crescent mark appeared on Ethan's wrist again.
But this time, it wasn't black.
It was red.
Every Blackwood man in the cemetery stepped backward.
Cain's smile disappeared.
“What?”
Lily stared at the mark.
“What does that mean?”
Cain looked terrified.
“No.”
Victor approached.
“Cain?”
Cain backed away.
“That shouldn't be possible.”
“What?”
Cain stared at Ethan.
“The bloodline has awakened.”
Lily looked at Victor.
“What bloodline?”
Cain's voice trembled.
“The one your grandfather spent his entire life trying to destroy.”
Thunder exploded overhead.
The cemetery lights went out.
Then every grave began glowing with the same red crescent.
Lily looked around in horror.
One by one, ancient tombstones illuminated beneath the rain.
And on the oldest grave appeared a name.
ELENA VALE.
Lily's mother.
Lily whispered:
“She died years ago.”
Cain stared at the grave.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“She didn't.”
The ground beneath the tombstone suddenly cracked.
A hidden door opened.
And from the darkness below came a woman's voice.
Lily knew it instantly.
Her mother's voice.
“Lily…”
She froze.
The voice continued:
“Don't trust Victor.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“It's a recording.”
But Lily shook her head.
“No.”
Because the voice whispered one final sentence.
And this time, there was no recording.
It came from beneath the earth.
“Your mother is waiting for you.”
The hidden door opened wider.
And someone slowly climbed out of the darkness.
A woman.
Alive.
Older.
Bloodied.
But unmistakably Lily's mother.
She looked directly at Victor.
Then at Cain.
Then at Ethan.
Finally, her eyes stopped on Lily.
And she whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
Then she raised a gun.
Not at Cain.
May you like
Not at Victor.
At Lily.
