CHAPTER 9 – The Last Secret of The Circle
The chamber fell silent.
Hundreds of children slept peacefully inside transparent glass pods, their slow breathing echoing through the vast underground vault.
Elena refused to believe what she was seeing.
"They're children..."
"They've done nothing."
Vincent slowly approached one of the capsules.
Inside lay a little boy no older than six.
Attached to his wrist was a silver bracelet engraved with a family crest—and beneath it, a single word:
HEIR.
Sophia's face turned white.
"No..."
"They actually did it."
Elena turned toward her.
"What did they do?"
Sophia took a long, painful breath.
"Forty years ago, The Circle created Project Genesis."
"The world believed the twelve ruling families passed their empires from parent to child."
"That was the biggest lie of all."
Vincent frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Sophia looked at the sleeping children.
"None of them were born into those families."
"They were all stolen."
The words struck like thunder.
Every child in the room had been kidnapped as an infant from hospitals, orphanages, refugee camps, and disaster zones.
They had been given new names.
New identities.
New bloodlines.
Raised to become future rulers of crime.
The Moretti family...
The Bellini family...
Every legendary dynasty had been built on children who never belonged to them.
Vincent staggered backward.
"So... I..."
Sophia nodded slowly.
"You were one of them."
The old man closed his eyes.
"I found you in an orphanage after a civil war."
"You cried every night for a mother whose name you couldn't remember."
"I wanted to save one child..."
"But instead I raised another king."
Tears rolled down Vincent's face.
For the first time in his life, he knew who he truly was.
No empire.
No bloodline.
No destiny.
Just another stolen child.
At that moment, every monitor in the bunker suddenly came alive.
The masked face of Orion filled every screen.
Only this time...
He removed the mask.
The room froze.
Vincent's eyes widened.
"So..."
"It was you."
The man smiled sadly.
"My name isn't Orion."
"It's Daniel."
Elena whispered,
"Daniel...?"
The old man lowered his head.
"My first son."
Everyone stared in disbelief.
Sophia's voice trembled.
"But you died."
Daniel smiled bitterly.
"No."
"You abandoned me."
Thirty-five years earlier, Daniel had uncovered Project Genesis.
When he threatened to expose it, The Circle declared him dead and erased every official record of his existence.
For decades, he had lived in the shadows, becoming the legendary ghost known only as Orion.
Not to conquer the empire.
But to destroy it.
He looked directly at Elena.
"I leaked every document."
"I exposed every account."
"I wanted the world to see the truth."
"But only you..."
"...can finish what I started."
Then the countdown reached its final seconds.
10...
9...
8...
Daniel smiled one last time.
May you like
"Goodbye."
His screen went black.
