Chapter 12: The Butler's Secret
The photograph lay on Dominic's desk.
Edwin Harper.
Age: 68.
Position: Estate Butler.
Years of Service: 11.
Everything about the file looked ordinary.
Too ordinary.
Marcus stared at it for nearly a full minute.
"I've known this man for over a decade."
Daniel swallowed.
"So have I."
Dominic said nothing.
His mind replayed hundreds of memories.
Edwin greeting guests.
Serving coffee during strategy meetings.
Helping Harper tie her shoes only days earlier.
Quiet.
Polite.
Invisible.
The perfect disguise.
"Find him."
Marcus didn't wait for another order.
Every radio on the estate came alive.
"All units."
"Locate Edwin."
"Do not engage alone."
"Repeat..."
"Do not engage alone."
Within seconds, forty heavily armed guards spread throughout the mansion.
The kitchen.
The servants' quarters.
The greenhouse.
The wine cellar.
The tunnels.
Nothing.
Edwin had vanished.
Five minutes later...
A guard's voice crackled over the radio.
"Movement in the west library!"
Marcus sprinted through the hallway with six men behind him.
The library doors stood open.
Books covered the floor.
A ladder had been knocked over.
One guard pointed toward the fireplace.
"Sir..."
The portrait above the fireplace had shifted.
Marcus pushed it aside.
Behind it...
A narrow passage descended into darkness.
Another hidden tunnel.
"This place is a maze," one guard muttered.
Marcus led the team inside.
The passage ended beneath the oldest section of the estate.
Unlike the archive, this chamber had electricity.
Computers.
Monitors.
Communication equipment.
Maps covered the walls.
Every room in the mansion was marked.
Red lights blinked beside moving dots.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
"They've been tracking us."
Marcus looked closer.
Not just them.
Harper.
Dominic.
Mia.
Even Isabella.
Every movement had been monitored in real time.
Then he noticed the largest monitor.
It displayed a live camera feed.
Dominic's bedroom.
Harper was sleeping peacefully.
The camera angle came from inside the room.
Hidden.
Watching.
Marcus felt a surge of anger.
"Destroy everything."
The guards began smashing monitors.
Hard drives.
Servers.
The room filled with sparks.
Then...
One monitor refused to shut off.
Instead, the screen changed.
Edwin appeared.
He was sitting calmly in an armchair.
Wearing the same neat suit.
The same white gloves.
Except now...
He smiled.
"Good evening, Marcus."
Marcus raised his pistol toward the screen.
"Where are you?"
Edwin chuckled.
"You've been asking the wrong question."
The screen split into four windows.
Each displayed a different part of the estate.
"Instead..."
"...ask how many of me there are."
Marcus frowned.
"What?"
Edwin's smile widened.
"I've never been alone."
The screen went black.
Back upstairs...
Dominic sat beside Harper's bed.
She had finally fallen into a peaceful sleep.
Isabella stood near the window.
"I know that look."
Dominic didn't move.
"What look?"
"The same one your father had."
He looked at her.
"I'm not him."
"No."
She smiled sadly.
"That's why they're afraid."
Before Dominic could answer...
The bedroom door slowly opened.
Mia entered.
She still looked weak.
"I remembered something."
Everyone turned toward her.
"The night they took me underground..."
"They weren't arguing about Harper."
Dominic frowned.
"They were arguing about Edwin."
Marcus returned just in time to hear the statement.
"What did they say?"
Mia closed her eyes.
"I heard Claire shouting."
"'He's not supposed to wake up.'"
Marcus exchanged a glance with Isabella.
Wake up?
Mia continued.
"Then Nathan answered..."
"'He doesn't even know who he is anymore.'"
Silence.
Dominic slowly looked toward Isabella.
"You know what that means."
She nodded.
"I was hoping I was wrong."
Marcus folded his arms.
"Someone explain."
Isabella whispered,
"Edwin..."
"...isn't the Director."
The room froze.
"What?"
"The Director died years ago."
Daniel blinked.
"Then who have we been chasing?"
Isabella looked toward Harper.
"A man carrying the Director's memories."
Dominic suddenly understood.
Project Falcon.
Memory transfer.
Harper.
Everything connected.
"The Director transferred his mind."
"Yes."
"Into Edwin?"
"No."
She shook her head.
"Into many people."
Marcus frowned.
"Many?"
"The procedure was never stable."
"Every host eventually lost themselves."
"Except one."
Silence.
Isabella's voice dropped to almost a whisper.
"Edwin was the last successful vessel."
The realization settled over the room like ice.
Edwin wasn't pretending.
He truly believed he was the Director.
Because, in every way that mattered...
He was.
Suddenly...
Every light inside the mansion shut off.
Again.
Emergency generators failed to start.
Darkness swallowed the estate.
Then every television...
Every computer...
Every phone screen...
Lit up at once.
One face appeared everywhere.
Edwin.
He smiled calmly.
"My dear Dominic."
His voice echoed through every room.
"You've been searching for me."
A pause.
"I've been watching you since you were born."
Harper woke with a frightened gasp.
Dominic held her close.
Edwin continued speaking.
"You still think this story is about your daughter."
"It isn't."
"It's about you."
Marcus whispered,
"Kill the signal."
Daniel shook his head desperately.
"We can't."
"It's coming from inside every device."
Edwin smiled again.
"Twenty-three years ago..."
"...your father made a choice."
"He saved one child."
"And sacrificed another."
Dominic's heartbeat quickened.
"What child?"
Edwin looked directly into the camera.
"You."
The room fell silent.
Edwin's smile disappeared for the first time.
"You were never Victor Vale's son."
"...You were Project Falcon's first success."
Before anyone could react...
Every screen went black.
At the exact same moment...
A hidden door inside Dominic's office slowly unlocked with a metallic click.
None of them had ever seen it before.
The ancient steel door swung inward by itself.
Inside...
A staircase descended deep beneath the mansion.
At the bottom...
A single light was already on.
May you like
And someone was waiting.
End of Chapter 12
