CHAPTER 7 — THE HEIR WHO HATED HIS FATHER
CHAPTER 7 — THE HEIR WHO HATED HIS FATHER
The tunnel door slammed shut behind us.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Gunfire echoed faintly through the stone walls.
Daniel was still holding my hand.
My mother was breathing hard.
Jonathan had blood on his sleeve.
Marcus stood beside the door, listening.
But I could hear only one thing.
My sister's voice.
Not words.
Just the memory of her whisper.
Be quiet.
She had looked exactly like me.
Same eyes.
Same face.
Same birthmark.
And she had stood beside the man who had spent years destroying my family.
Harold Crane.
I couldn't understand it.
“Her name.”
My voice was barely audible.
My mother looked at me.
“What?”
“My sister.”
She hesitated.
“She has a name.”
“What is it?”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Lena.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“She was supposed to have your name.”
“You gave her mine?”
“Yes.”
“Then what did you call her?”
My mother's voice broke.
“Eva.”
I repeated it silently.
Eva.
My sister.
The fifth subject.
The child who had been erased so I could live.
And now she was standing beside Crane.
Working with him.
Or at least that's what I believed.
I turned toward Jonathan.
“Who is Harold Crane?”
Jonathan didn't answer.
“Don't lie to me.”
“I won't.”
“Then tell me.”
Jonathan looked at my mother.
She nodded.
“Crane was Victor's greatest enemy.”
I frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Jonathan leaned against the wall.
“Victor and Crane grew up together.”
“Friends?”
“No.”
“Brothers?”
Jonathan shook his head.
“Rivals.”
“Over what?”
“The Blackwood empire.”
I remembered Damian's words.
Victor changed his will.
The Blackwood empire now belongs to you.
I looked at Jonathan.
“Why would Victor leave everything to me?”
“Because he hated what his father built.”
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
“The same Victor who tortured children?”
Jonathan nodded.
“He became a monster trying to destroy a worse one.”
My mother whispered:
“His father.”
I stared at them.
“Tell me about him.”
Jonathan hesitated.
“Edward Blackwood.”
“The architect.”
“Yes.”
“What did he create?”
Jonathan's expression hardened.
“M-17.”
I looked at the folder in my hands.
“The experiments?”
“More than experiments.”
“What?”
“A system.”
“A system designed to identify children with specific genetic traits, separate them from their families, manipulate their identities, and eventually control their inheritance.”
My stomach turned.
“Why?”
“Power.”
“That's it?”
“Power is never just power.”
Jonathan looked at me.
“Edward believed the world belonged to people who could control information, money, bloodlines and fear.”
“And Victor?”
“Victor inherited the system.”
“But he hated it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why continue it?”
“Because he was afraid.”
“Of his father?”
“No.”
Jonathan looked at the darkness behind us.
“Of Crane.”
We reached the end of the tunnel.
Jonathan pushed open a steel hatch.
We emerged into an underground garage.
Three black vehicles were waiting.
I looked at Marcus.
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
I frowned.
“I don't own these.”
“You do now.”
He pointed toward the nearest vehicle.
A Blackwood insignia was engraved beneath the windshield.
I remembered Damian.
Victor changed his will.
I still didn't understand.
“Why would he give me an empire?”
Jonathan answered:
“Because he knew he was dying.”
“And?”
“He wanted the empire destroyed.”
I looked at him.
“Then why not destroy it himself?”
“Because he couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor had spent his entire life pretending to be a monster.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn't excuse anything.”
“No.”
Jonathan looked directly at me.
“It doesn't.”
“Then don't make him into a hero.”
“I won't.”
“Good.”
Because I wasn't ready to forgive a dead man.
Not yet.
We climbed into the vehicles.
My mother sat beside me.
Daniel and Marcus took the second car.
Jonathan drove.
For nearly ten minutes, nobody spoke.
Then my mother touched my hand.
“Lena.”
I pulled away.
She flinched.
“I'm sorry.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I know.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe Dad abandoned us.”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
“You knew about Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Eva.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew what Victor was doing.”
“Yes.”
I turned toward her.
“Then why?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because every truth I told you made you easier to kill.”
I looked away.
She continued.
“Your father believed the only way to save you was to make you forget us.”
“So he left me.”
“Yes.”
“He let me hate him.”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the rain streaking the window.
“What kind of parents do that?”
My mother whispered:
“The kind who were afraid.”
I closed my eyes.
For years I had wanted answers.
Now I had them.
And they hurt more than the questions.
We arrived at an old hotel just before dawn.
Jonathan parked underground.
“This place is secure.”
“For how long?”
“Not long.”
We entered through a private elevator.
The suite was enormous.
Too luxurious for a safe house.
I looked around.
“Who owns this?”
“Blackwood Holdings.”
I sighed.
“Of course.”
My mother sat on the sofa.
Daniel stood near the window.
Marcus checked the doors.
Jonathan removed his coat.
The blood on his sleeve was getting darker.
I noticed.
“You're hurt.”
“It's nothing.”
“Sit.”
He did.
My mother found a medical kit.
I cleaned the wound.
Jonathan watched me silently.
“You're very much like your father.”
I stopped.
“How?”
“You don't trust easily.”
“Neither did he.”
“No.”
Jonathan smiled faintly.
“He trusted too much.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
I looked at him.
“You said Victor hated his father.”
“He did.”
“Then why did he trust him?”
“Because Edward was his father.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
Jonathan sighed.
“Victor spent twenty years trying to earn his father's approval.”
“And?”
“He never got it.”
“Why?”
“Because Edward believed Victor was weak.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Victor refused to participate in the final phase of M-17.”
“What was the final phase?”
Jonathan's expression changed.
“Breeding.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Edward wanted the subjects to have children with one another.”
My stomach turned.
“To strengthen the traits.”
“Yes.”
“That's disgusting.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Victor thought so too.”
“And Crane?”
“Crane supported it.”
I suddenly understood.
“That's why Eva exists.”
Jonathan looked at me.
“Eva was one of the final subjects.”
“What does that mean?”
“She wasn't simply tested.”
“She was selected.”
“For what?”
Jonathan hesitated.
“To produce the next generation.”
I felt sick.
“She was a child.”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“When she was taken?”
“Three.”
I stared at him.
“Three years old?”
“Yes.”
“And she survived?”
“Barely.”
I looked at my mother.
She was crying.
“Mom?”
She whispered:
“I found her when she was six.”
“Where?”
“In the Blackwood nursery.”
“What nursery?”
My mother's hands began shaking.
“They had ten children there.”
“For what?”
“To raise them together.”
“Like a family?”
“No.”
“Like animals.”
Silence.
I couldn't speak.
My mother continued.
“They were taught to obey.”
“Who taught them?”
“Eva learned faster than all of them.”
“Why?”
“Because she wasn't afraid.”
I remembered her eyes.
Cold.
Calm.
Not afraid.
My mother continued.
“She watched everything.”
“She remembered everything.”
“And when she was eight, she started asking questions.”
“What questions?”
“Why are we here?”
“Who are our parents?”
“Why do we have numbers?”
“And the most dangerous question of all...”
“What?”
My mother looked at me.
“Why does my sister have a different name?”
My blood froze.
“She knew about me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your father.”
I swallowed.
“He told her?”
“He found her.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“And?”
“He promised he would come back.”
“Did he?”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“He died before he could.”
I looked away.
Eva had been waiting.
My entire life, I had thought I was the abandoned child.
But there had been another child waiting for the same father.
My sister.
The hotel television suddenly turned on.
Everyone froze.
The screen showed Harold Crane.
He was standing behind a podium.
A press conference.
My heart tightened.
Crane smiled.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to announce that Senator Victor Blackwood's former heir, Elena Vale, has been involved in a dangerous criminal conspiracy.”
I stared.
“What?”
Jonathan grabbed the remote.
The television wouldn't turn off.
Crane continued.
“She has kidnapped several individuals, attacked members of my security team, and stolen confidential government property.”
My jaw dropped.
“That's a lie.”
“Yes,” Jonathan said.
Crane continued.
“For everyone's safety, authorities are searching for her.”
A photograph appeared.
Mine.
Then Daniel's.
Then Jonathan's.
My mother.
Marcus.
All of us.
“Where did he get those?”
Jonathan stared at the screen.
“He's declaring war.”
Crane looked directly into the camera.
“And Elena, if you're watching this...”
He smiled.
“You should know your sister has chosen correctly.”
A photograph appeared.
Eva.
Standing beside him.
The room went silent.
Crane continued.
“She understands who her family really is.”
I felt something inside me break.
Then Crane said:
“She also knows where your father hid the evidence.”
I looked at my mother.
She went pale.
Crane smiled.
“And if you want your sister alive...”
The screen went black.
Silence.
I stood.
“We're going to Blackwood Tower.”
Jonathan grabbed my arm.
“No.”
I pulled away.
“Let go.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“Crane wants you there.”
“Then I'll go.”
“It's a trap.”
“Of course it is.”
Jonathan stared at me.
“You could die.”
I looked at him.
“So could Eva.”
My mother stood.
“Lena—”
“I spent my entire life believing I was alone.”
I looked at the screen.
“I'm not making that mistake again.”
Blackwood Tower rose above the city like a blade.
Its glass walls reflected the sunrise.
Hundreds of floors.
Thousands of employees.
Billions in assets.
The center of the empire.
The place where my father had supposedly died.
The place where the final evidence was hidden.
We entered through a private entrance.
The security guards stepped aside.
Nobody questioned me.
I realized why.
Victor's security system already recognized me.
The elevator opened.
Jonathan entered first.
Marcus followed.
Daniel stayed close to me.
My mother stood behind us.
The doors closed.
We began descending.
Not up.
Down.
Past the underground parking levels.
Past storage.
Past maintenance.
Past levels that didn't appear on any public blueprint.
Finally, the elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
A corridor stretched ahead.
At the end was a steel door.
A single word had been engraved into it.
ALEXANDER.
My father's name.
I approached.
My mother grabbed my hand.
“Lena.”
“What?”
“If you open that door, there's no going back.”
I looked at her.
“I stopped having a way back twelve years ago.”
I inserted the key.
The lock turned.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room.
No laboratory.
No torture equipment.
Just a desk.
A chair.
A photograph.
And a bloodstained shirt.
I froze.
My father's shirt.
My mother began crying.
“He died here.”
I stepped forward.
On the desk was a handwritten note.
I picked it up.
Elena,
If you're reading this, then Victor is dead.
Good.
But don't celebrate.
Victor was never the man you needed to fear.
My hands trembled.
I continued reading.
The person controlling M-17 survived me.
He controls Crane.
He controls the Blackwoods.
And he knows about Eva.
My heart stopped.
Then came the final paragraph.
I didn't create Subject 001.
I didn't create Subject 005.
I only tried to save them.
But there was another child.
A child nobody knows about.
I looked up.
“Another?”
Jonathan stepped closer.
“What does it say?”
I read the final line.
Subject 000 is alive.
The lights went out.
A door slammed behind us.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
Not Crane.
Not Victor.
Not Damian.
An older man's voice.
Cold.
Calm.
Powerful.
“Welcome home, Elena.”
My mother whispered:
“No.”
Jonathan turned white.
Daniel backed away.
I looked at the speaker.
“Who are you?”
The voice answered:
“Your grandfather.”
I couldn't breathe.
Edward Blackwood was supposed to have died thirty years ago.
But the voice continued.
“And I've been waiting for you.”
A light appeared at the end of the room.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Old.
Elegant.
Perfectly calm.
His eyes were identical to mine.
He looked at me.
Then smiled.
“Hello, Subject 001.”
My mother screamed:
“RUN!”
But the doors had already locked.
Edward Blackwood raised one hand.
And behind him...
Eva appeared.
She wasn't smiling anymore.
She was crying.
And for the first time, I realized the truth.
My sister hadn't betrayed me.
She had been forced to bring me here.
Edward looked at her.
“Tell your sister.”
Eva wiped her tears.
Then whispered:
“He has Daniel.”
I turned.
Daniel was gone.
The room erupted in alarms.
I screamed his name.
“DANIEL!”
Edward smiled.
“Now we can finally begin.”
And somewhere beneath Blackwood Tower...
a door opened.
May you like
A child's voice whispered from the darkness.
“Subject 003 has awakened.”
