CHAPTER 10 — THE BETRAYAL INSIDE THE FAMILY
CHAPTER 10 — THE BETRAYAL INSIDE THE FAMILY
The countdown was still running.
58:12.
I could hear my own heartbeat.
My mother stood beside me, staring at the surveillance screen.
Daniel had his hands clenched at his sides.
My grandfather looked older than he had ten minutes earlier.
And Elena was staring at the closed door as though she could see through it.
Arthur had taken my children.
He had my blood.
He had control of the facility.
He had spent decades preparing for this moment.
But he had made one mistake.
He had brought all of us into the same room.
And for the first time, the people who had spent twenty-seven years hiding the truth from me were finally standing together.
I turned toward my grandfather.
“Tell me everything.”
He looked at me.
“Emma—”
“No more half-truths.”
My voice shook.
“No more protecting me.”
“No more deciding what I can and cannot handle.”
I pointed toward the timer.
“Fifty-seven minutes.”
Then I looked at each of them.
“If we're going to save Noah and Elise, I need every secret.”
Nobody spoke.
So I asked the first question.
“Who betrayed my mother?”
Silence.
My mother lowered her eyes.
Finally, Daniel answered.
“Your grandfather.”
I looked at him.
“You said he saved her.”
“He tried.”
“That's not the same thing.”
“No.”
Daniel took a breath.
“He betrayed her first.”
My grandfather closed his eyes.
“I did.”
I felt something inside me crack.
“Why?”
“Because Arthur had found out about your birth.”
“And?”
“He wanted you.”
My mother spoke quietly.
“He wanted to raise Emma himself.”
My grandfather nodded.
“He believed the child carrying both genetic sequences belonged to the family.”
I stared at him.
“So you made a deal with him?”
“No.”
“You handed my mother over.”
“I tried to move her somewhere safe.”
“And failed.”
“Yes.”
My mother looked at him.
“You didn't fail.”
Her voice was strangely calm.
“You chose.”
My grandfather's eyes filled with tears.
“I thought I was choosing the lesser evil.”
“You always say that.”
She shook her head.
“That's how men like Arthur survive.”
The timer continued.
55:49.
I looked at my mother.
“What happened after you disappeared?”
She swallowed.
“I was taken to the lower laboratory.”
I felt cold.
“By Arthur?”
“Yes.”
“Did he experiment on you?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“He needed my cooperation.”
“So he threatened you.”
“He threatened you.”
I stared.
“What did he say?”
“He said that if I refused, he would take you.”
My hands tightened.
“How old was I?”
“Three.”
I closed my eyes.
My mother continued.
“I agreed to the treatment.”
“What treatment?”
“A procedure that would suppress the genetic marker.”
I looked at the twins' file.
“So you hid the sequence.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you suppress mine?”
“Because I couldn't.”
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because by then, you had already inherited both sequences.”
I stared.
“So I was born this way.”
“Yes.”
“And Arthur knew?”
“He suspected.”
“Then why did he let me live?”
My mother looked toward the camera.
“Because he believed he could use you later.”
A loud metallic sound echoed from the corridor.
Everyone froze.
Someone was coming.
Daniel reached for the gun at his waist.
The door opened.
A security officer walked in.
He looked at us.
“Director Vance wants Emma alone.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“He said she has ten minutes to comply.”
“Tell him no.”
The officer looked nervous.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because he has activated the secondary security protocol.”
“What does that mean?”
The lights above us turned red.
A voice announced:
“NEONATAL LIFE SUPPORT IS NOW UNDER REMOTE CONTROL.”
My blood turned to ice.
The officer lowered his eyes.
“He can shut down the incubators.”
My mother grabbed my hand.
“No.”
I looked at the screen.
54:21.
Arthur had just reminded us that he controlled the one thing I could never gamble with.
My children's lives.
I turned to Daniel.
“You said you knew Arthur.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me how to beat him.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Arthur doesn't have a weakness.”
Everyone laughed bitterly.
“No one has no weakness.”
Daniel looked at my grandfather.
“There is one.”
My grandfather's face changed.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Don't.”
“What weakness?”
I stepped toward them.
“Tell me.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You're not going to like it.”
“I stopped caring about what I like.”
He finally spoke.
“Arthur is terrified of losing control.”
“That isn't a weakness.”
“It is when you understand what control means to him.”
I waited.
“Arthur never trusted anyone.”
Daniel continued.
“Not even Margaret.”
My grandmother.
I remembered her.
The woman who had built the hospital empire.
The woman who had manipulated everyone.
The woman who had helped Arthur.
“Where is Margaret?”
Nobody answered.
“Where is she?”
My grandfather looked away.
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“After the explosion.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Did she betray Arthur?”
He nodded.
“She tried.”
“Why?”
“Because Arthur promised her the empire.”
“And then?”
“He changed the agreement.”
“What did he give her?”
“Nothing.”
I smiled.
“So Arthur betrayed her too.”
Daniel nodded.
“That's what eventually broke her loyalty.”
I looked toward the camera.
“Then maybe Margaret knows something.”
My mother stared at me.
“She's dangerous.”
“So is Arthur.”
We found Margaret twenty minutes later.
Not in the hospital.
Not in the research facility.
She was hiding inside an old storage room behind the eastern medical wing.
She looked nothing like the woman who had once controlled the hospital.
Her expensive clothes were gone.
Her hair was disheveled.
There was blood on her forehead.
When she saw me, she laughed.
“You came.”
“You know where my children are.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
I grabbed her collar.
“You have ten seconds.”
She smiled.
“Then you'll kill me?”
“No.”
I leaned closer.
“I'll let Arthur find you.”
Her smile disappeared.
“You wouldn't.”
“You betrayed him.”
She froze.
“You knew.”
“I know enough.”
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
“Arthur will kill me.”
“Then help me.”
“What do you want?”
“The location of the twins.”
She hesitated.
“They're in the pediatric isolation chamber.”
“Where?”
“Below the old surgical wing.”
“Why?”
“Because Arthur needs them close to the genetic laboratory.”
“For the procedure?”
She nodded.
“What procedure?”
She looked at me.
“The one he has spent thirty years developing.”
I waited.
“He doesn't want your blood.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He wants to force your body to produce the treatment.”
“How?”
“By putting you under extreme physiological stress.”
My blood ran cold.
“He wants to induce the activation.”
“Yes.”
“And the babies?”
“They are the stabilizers.”
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret's voice dropped.
“If the activation succeeds, your body produces a unique cellular compound.”
“And?”
“Arthur can synthesize it.”
“For what?”
She looked at me.
“To reverse cellular aging.”
Silence.
Suddenly everything made sense.
The hospital.
The research.
The twins.
My blood.
Arthur wasn't trying to create a medicine for everyone.
He wanted immortality.
Margaret continued.
“He has been testing the process for years.”
“On whom?”
She didn't answer.
“On whom?”
“Patients.”
My stomach turned.
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
My mother covered her mouth.
“Arthur told us they were clinical trials.”
Margaret shook her head.
“They were experiments.”
My grandfather stared at her.
“And you helped him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“Because I thought I would live forever.”
I looked at her.
“And now?”
She touched her face.
“I've seen what happens to people who fail.”
I stepped closer.
“What happens?”
“They die.”
“How?”
“Their bodies age all at once.”
I felt sick.
“Then Arthur isn't immortal.”
“No.”
“Yet.”
Margaret nodded.
“Not yet.”
The truth changed everything.
I returned to the laboratory.
The countdown was at:
31:47.
My mother looked at me.
“What did she say?”
I told them.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Elena said:
“There's another problem.”
“What?”
She opened the twins' file.
“There were three activation attempts before Noah and Elise.”
I looked at her.
“Who?”
She pointed to three names.
The first was crossed out.
The second was crossed out.
The third was mine.
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Elena's voice trembled.
“The first two were unsuccessful.”
“And me?”
“You were the only successful adult.”
I looked at my mother.
“Then why did Arthur need the babies?”
“Because your body can activate the process.”
My mother paused.
“But the babies can stabilize it.”
I understood.
“They're not the source.”
“No.”
“They're the bridge.”
“Yes.”
“And Arthur needs both of us.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the timer.
29:58.
Then something clicked.
The babies weren't his leverage.
They were his weakness.
Because if he needed them alive, he couldn't simply kill them.
He needed them healthy.
He needed me alive.
He needed my cooperation.
And that meant he couldn't destroy the very people he was threatening.
I smiled.
My mother looked at me.
“What?”
“He thinks he has all the power.”
I picked up the twins' file.
“But he needs us more than we need him.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
“What are you thinking?”
“I'm going to negotiate.”
“With Arthur?”
“Yes.”
“He'll kill you.”
“Not if he needs me.”
My grandfather looked at me.
“You have a plan.”
I nodded.
“I want a live feed.”
“Why?”
“I want every doctor, every employee, every board member, and every investigator watching.”
My mother understood.
“You want to expose him.”
“No.”
I looked toward the surveillance camera.
“I want him to expose himself.”
The screen turned on.
Arthur appeared.
“You're ready.”
“Yes.”
“Come alone.”
“No.”
His smile faded.
“You're in no position to negotiate.”
“You need me alive.”
Silence.
“You need the twins alive.”
Another pause.
“And you need the procedure to succeed.”
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“You've been talking to Margaret.”
“Yes.”
“That woman is a traitor.”
“So are you.”
He smiled.
“Careful.”
“You want immortality.”
His expression changed.
For the first time, I saw fear.
Not much.
But enough.
“You've been experimenting on patients.”
Arthur said nothing.
“You've killed hundreds.”
“Those people volunteered.”
“No.”
I held up the file.
“They were lied to.”
His jaw tightened.
“Give me the file.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“If you touch my children, the entire world receives every document in this facility.”
Arthur stared at me.
“You wouldn't.”
“I would.”
“You don't know how to release them.”
I smiled.
“I don't have to.”
I held up my phone.
“Someone else does.”
Arthur looked confused.
Then I heard footsteps.
Grant entered the room.
He held a laptop.
“I've already uploaded the first batch.”
Arthur's face went white.
“You.”
Grant looked at me.
“It's done.”
Arthur shouted:
“Kill him!”
No one moved.
The guards looked at each other.
Then one slowly lowered his weapon.
Another did the same.
Arthur stared.
“What are you doing?”
A guard stepped forward.
“You said no one would ever know.”
Arthur's face changed.
The guard removed his helmet.
It was one of the doctors.
“I lost my wife in your trial.”
Another guard lowered his weapon.
“My brother.”
Another.
“My daughter.”
Arthur stepped backward.
“No.”
Margaret appeared behind him.
“You should have remembered one thing.”
Arthur turned.
“What?”
She smiled.
“People eventually stop being afraid.”
The doors locked.
Arthur was trapped.
For the first time in thirty years, the man behind the entire empire had nowhere to run.
Then a distant alarm sounded.
My heart stopped.
A doctor rushed into the room.
“Mrs. Whitmore!”
“What?”
“The pediatric chamber has lost power.”
I felt the world disappear beneath my feet.
“What?”
“Someone cut the life-support system.”
I ran.
Behind me, Arthur laughed.
Not with triumph.
With desperation.
And I realized the betrayal inside the family had only been the beginning.
May you like
Because someone among us had just chosen Arthur's side again.
And this time, they had my children's lives in their hands.
