Chapter 5 - The Second DaughterWe landed in Milan before dawn.
Rain streaked the private aircraft windows.
Nobody spoke.
Caroline had vanished.
Lily slept in the cabin behind us.
And somewhere in northern Italy was another child carrying my blood.
A daughter I had never known existed.
The monastery was abandoned on every public map.
It wasn't abandoned.
The outer courtyard contained fresh tire tracks.
Thorne's team entered silently.
I followed.
We found no guards.
No bodies.
No resistance.
Only rooms.
Hundreds of them.
Each one filled with files.
Medical reports.
Psychological evaluations.
Family histories.
Photographs of children.
My name appeared on almost every document.
Aurelian had been studying my bloodline for decades.
In the deepest chamber, I found the children.
Not physically.
Digitally.
A wall-sized screen displayed six profiles.
SUBJECT L-01.
L-02.
L-03.
L-04.
L-05.
L-06.
Lily was L-06.
I read the first profile.
L-01: terminated.
Second.
L-02: active.
Third.
L-03: deceased.
Fourth.
L-04: missing.
Fifth.
L-05: unstable.
Sixth.
L-06: highly adaptive.
I stared at the screen.
“They've been breeding assets.”
Thorne's jaw tightened.
“Looks like it.”
“Why?”
A voice answered from behind us.
“Because your family has something they need.”
I turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
My mother.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably her.
For a second, I was twelve years old again.
Then the rage returned.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
She walked toward me.
“Because it's true.”
“Where is Elias?”
She hesitated.
“Dead.”
My chest tightened.
“You just showed me a photograph.”
“Taken yesterday.”
I stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
She looked toward the screens.
“Because Elias died eleven years ago.”
I understood.
The man in the photograph wasn't Elias.
It was his son.
My nephew.
A child.
Another bloodline subject.
My mother touched my arm.
“Julian, listen carefully. The D’Aubigne family is only the outer shell.”
“Who is behind them?”
She looked terrified.
My mother.
The woman who had watched governments fall.
Terrified.
“The Cardinal.”
I had heard the name.
A myth among intelligence circles.
A man who allegedly controlled the Aurelian bloodlines from beneath Europe.
Nobody had seen his face.
Nobody knew his real name.
“He wants Lily.”
“Why?”
“She carries a genetic marker.”
I stiffened.
“What marker?”
“The Architect gene.”
I almost smiled.
“There is no such thing.”
My mother shook her head.
“Not a gene.”
“A trait.”
“What trait?”
“The ability to recognize and manipulate complex systems.”
I stared.
She continued.
“Financial systems. Networks. Human structures. Political systems.”
“That's nonsense.”
“No.”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“You think you built your empire because you were brilliant.”
I said nothing.
“You were born for it.”
Behind her, the monitor changed.
L-06.
Lily.
A final line appeared.
POTENTIAL SUCCESSOR.
My blood ran cold.
Lily wasn't simply the target.
She was the heir.
Then the monastery speakers crackled.
A man's voice whispered:
“Welcome home, Julian.”
My mother froze.
The Cardinal continued.
“You spent four years pretending to be weak.”
A pause.
“So did I.”
The screens went black.
Then one final image appeared.
Caroline.
Alive.
Kneeling in a dark room.
And standing behind her was a masked man.
My mother whispered the words I had feared most.
“That's the Cardinal.”
The figure leaned toward the camera.
And removed his mask.
I knew him.
I had trusted him.
May you like
For years.
The man staring back at me was my oldest friend.
