CHAPTER 9 — THE SECRET OF HER BIRTH
CHAPTER 9 — THE SECRET OF HER BIRTH
The scream came through the phone.
"Meline!"
Sydney.
Then static.
I stood frozen in the middle of the operations room.
The countdown continued.
04:03.
Victoria was still standing in the doorway.
Her face had lost all color.
"You heard her."
"Yes."
"Then you know."
"Know what?"
Victoria looked at the two-billion-dollar account on my screen.
"Everything."
I shook my head.
"No. I know nothing."
"That's not true."
"You've lied to me for years."
"I was protecting you."
"Everyone says that."
She flinched.
I pointed at the screen.
"Why did two billion dollars leave my account three days before my wedding?"
Victoria didn't answer.
"Why did it go to the Victoria Project?"
Silence.
"Why were you receiving money from an account I didn't know existed?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Because I was preparing for your death."
I froze.
"What?"
"Not yours."
She swallowed.
"Mine."
The countdown reached 03:37.
I didn't care.
Not anymore.
"Explain."
Victoria walked into the room and closed the door.
"The Victoria Project was created twenty years ago."
"By whom?"
"Your father."
"Why?"
"To protect me."
"From Richard?"
"From everyone."
She sat down.
"I was supposed to be dead."
"I know."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You know I survived. You don't know what happened afterward."
I waited.
"Richard ordered my execution because I found the hidden account."
"The account?"
"The original one."
I frowned.
"Not the one we found?"
"No."
"Then what was it?"
Victoria looked at me.
"The account that contained the names of everyone who financed the Vale empire."
I felt a chill.
"Who?"
"Governments. Corporations. Private intelligence groups. Criminal organizations."
I stared.
"That's why they wanted you dead."
"Yes."
"And my father protected you."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he was the only person Thomas trusted."
I frowned.
"Your father."
She nodded.
"Your father was Thomas's lawyer."
I froze.
"Not my father's?"
"No."
"Thomas's."
She leaned forward.
"Your father helped Thomas build the trust."
I stared at her.
"And my mother?"
Victoria looked away.
"Your mother was the person Thomas feared most."
The countdown reached 02:58.
I looked at the screen.
"Can you stop the deletion?"
Victoria nodded.
"Yes."
"How?"
"Give me access."
I hesitated.
"You've already had access."
"I need yours."
"Why?"
"Because the system recognizes your DNA."
I stared.
"My DNA?"
She nodded.
"Your father didn't create this system for anyone."
She pointed toward the scanner.
"He created it for you."
I placed my hand against the reader.
A soft chime sounded.
The countdown disappeared.
The screen went black.
Then one sentence appeared:
PRIMARY HEIR CONFIRMED.
A second line followed.
BIOLOGICAL STATUS VERIFIED.
I stared.
"What does that mean?"
Victoria whispered:
"It means the system knows who your father really was."
My heart stopped.
"I already know."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You don't."
A hidden file opened.
There were three photographs.
The first was my mother.
Young.
Beautiful.
Pregnant.
The second was Thomas Vale.
The third was a man I had never seen before.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A scar across his jaw.
I stared.
"Who is he?"
Victoria answered quietly.
"Alexander Carter."
My father's name.
I frowned.
"I know what my father looked like."
"No."
She pointed to the photograph.
"That's not the man who raised you."
I couldn't breathe.
"What?"
"Your father changed his identity."
"Why?"
"Because Alexander Carter wasn't his real name."
I stared at the photograph.
"What was it?"
Victoria whispered:
"Michael Vale."
The room disappeared.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
"Michael Vale?"
"Thomas's younger brother."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Yes."
"Then Richard..."
"Wasn't the only brother."
I looked at the photograph again.
Michael.
The man who had raised me.
The man who had taught me to ride a bicycle.
The man who had attended every school event.
The man who had died believing I knew him.
He had been a Vale.
I sat down.
"Why did he hide it?"
Victoria looked at me.
"Because he was protecting you from his family."
"Why?"
"Because you weren't simply Thomas's granddaughter."
I looked at her.
"What was I?"
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
"You were Michael's daughter."
I frowned.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does."
"No."
She reached for the photograph.
"Your biological mother was Elizabeth Vale."
I froze.
Elizabeth.
The woman we'd found.
The woman who claimed to be my grandmother.
The woman who had told me Thomas wanted me dead.
I whispered:
"Then who was my father?"
"Michael."
"And Thomas?"
"Your grandfather."
"And Richard?"
"Your great-uncle."
"And Daniel?"
"Your cousin."
I felt sick.
The entire family tree twisted into something monstrous.
Then I remembered Sydney.
"Where does Sydney fit?"
Victoria looked at me.
"That's the secret."
We found Sydney's adoption file in the hidden system.
I opened it.
The record was incomplete.
Mother:
UNKNOWN
Father:
UNKNOWN
Genetic relation:
VALE
I stared.
"That isn't enough."
Victoria entered another command.
A genetic profile appeared.
I compared it with mine.
The result was immediate.
SIBLING COMPATIBILITY: 0%.
I stared.
"What?"
Victoria whispered:
"You're not sisters."
I knew that already.
But the next line made my hands shake.
MATERNAL RELATION: NONE.
PATERNAL RELATION: NONE.
I looked at Victoria.
"Then why does Sydney have Vale blood?"
She didn't answer.
I opened the original file.
A hidden name appeared.
DONOR: ELIZABETH VALE.
I stopped breathing.
"Elizabeth."
Victoria nodded.
"Sydney was created from Elizabeth's genetic material."
"Created?"
"Through an old fertility program."
I stared at the screen.
"Who arranged it?"
"Richard."
"Why?"
"Because he needed a replacement heir."
I understood.
Sydney wasn't adopted.
She was engineered.
Not literally designed from nothing.
But deliberately brought into the family because of her genetic connection to the Vales.
"Why would Richard need another heir?"
"Because you were considered uncontrollable."
I looked at my own name.
Primary heir.
Sydney.
Secondary heir.
I suddenly understood why my parents had always compared us.
Why Sydney had always been favored.
Why they had pushed me toward ordinary work.
Why they had encouraged Sydney to marry into money.
Why they had treated my success like an inconvenience.
They weren't raising two daughters.
They were raising a successor.
And a backup.
The phone rang.
I answered.
"Who is this?"
Daniel.
"You're learning quickly."
"Where is Sydney?"
"Safe."
"If you hurt her—"
"I won't."
"Then let her go."
"I will."
"When?"
"When you give me the trust."
"No."
He laughed.
"Then she'll die."
"You're bluffing."
"Am I?"
I heard Sydney crying.
Then her voice.
"Meline, don't give him anything."
Daniel's voice returned.
"She has courage."
I tightened my grip.
"Why do you want the trust?"
"Because it's mine."
"No."
"Technically, it belongs to the family."
"You're not the heir."
"I am."
"You're Richard's son."
"Exactly."
"Richard isn't the heir."
Daniel laughed.
"Neither are you."
I froze.
"What?"
"You've been lied to."
"About what?"
"Your birth."
My heart stopped.
"I know who my parents are."
"No."
Daniel's voice softened.
"You know who raised you."
"Then tell me."
"Your father wasn't Michael."
I looked at Victoria.
She had gone pale.
"Who was he?"
Daniel whispered:
"Thomas Vale."
The line went dead.
I turned toward Victoria.
"Tell me he's lying."
She didn't answer.
"Victoria."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry."
"Tell me."
She whispered:
"Daniel is telling the truth."
The room tilted.
"No."
"Your father was Thomas."
I backed away.
"Then why did you say Michael was my father?"
"Because that's what you were told."
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew all along."
"Yes."
I looked at the photograph.
Thomas.
My grandfather.
My father.
The same man.
My entire family tree collapsed in my mind.
"Then who is Michael?"
"Your uncle."
"And Elizabeth?"
"Your mother."
I couldn't breathe.
"The woman I thought was my grandmother..."
"Is your mother."
I stared at her.
"Then why did she tell me she was my grandmother?"
"Because she was protecting you."
Again.
That word.
Protecting.
I was beginning to hate it.
Victoria finally told me the truth.
Elizabeth had given birth to me in secret.
Thomas was my biological father.
Michael had helped Elizabeth escape.
But Thomas couldn't acknowledge me publicly.
Why?
Because if anyone discovered that his daughter was also his granddaughter—
the family would collapse.
I stared at her.
"That's impossible."
Victoria looked at me.
"No."
She shook her head.
"Thomas and Elizabeth were not father and daughter."
I froze.
"What?"
"Elizabeth was Thomas's wife."
The room went silent.
"Then why did you call her Vale?"
"Because she married into the family."
I closed my eyes.
"So Elizabeth is my biological mother."
"Yes."
"Thomas is my biological father."
"Yes."
"Michael is my uncle."
"Yes."
"Richard is my uncle."
"Yes."
"Daniel is my cousin."
"Yes."
I looked at the screen.
"And Sydney?"
Victoria hesitated.
"That's where it gets worse."
I stared.
"How?"
"Sydney's genetic material came from Elizabeth."
"What?"
"But not from Thomas."
"Then who?"
Victoria looked at me.
"Richard."
I felt sick.
Sydney was the biological daughter of Elizabeth and Richard.
My mother.
My uncle.
My sister.
No.
Not sister.
Something far more complicated.
I whispered:
"Then Sydney is Richard's daughter."
"Yes."
"And that's why she has Vale blood."
"Yes."
"And my parents raised her as my sister."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Richard wanted a way to control you."
I understood.
Sydney had never been the replacement heir.
She was Richard's daughter planted inside my family.
A living claim to the bloodline.
The door suddenly opened.
Jason entered.
His face was tense.
"We have a problem."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Your father is gone."
I froze.
"My father?"
"Michael."
"What happened?"
"He disappeared from the hospital."
"When?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
"Who took him?"
Jason shook his head.
"We don't know."
I looked at Victoria.
She was staring at the screen.
A new message had appeared.
YOU FINALLY KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
Another line appeared.
NOW FIND YOUR FATHER.
Then:
NOT MICHAEL.
My blood went cold.
THOMAS.
I stared.
Thomas Vale.
The man everyone believed was dead.
My biological father.
Still alive.
Still watching.
And now—
coming for me.
A final message appeared.
HE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR YOU SINCE THE DAY YOU WERE BORN.
I looked at Victoria.
She whispered:
"Then the worst part is beginning."
"Why?"
"Because if Thomas is alive..."
She looked toward the door.
"...then Richard was never the man behind the family."
I swallowed.
"Who was?"
Victoria's answer came barely above a whisper.
"The man who created all of this."
She pointed at my name on the screen.
May you like
PRIMARY HEIR: MELINE CARTER.
"Your father."
