CHAPTER 4: THE DNA TEST THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The helicopter's blades roared above the cabin.
Dust and broken leaves swirled through the air as Victor Carter stepped out of a black armored SUV.
His expensive suit was spotless.
His smile was calm.
Almost fatherly.
But his eyes...
His eyes held no mercy.
Standing beside him was Emma.
Her wrists were bound.
A bruise darkened one side of her face.
She looked thinner than Ethan remembered, but there was no doubt.
She was alive.
"Emma!" Ethan shouted.
She looked up.
Their eyes met for the first time in eight years.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Don't come out!" she screamed.
"It's a trap!"
Before Ethan could move, one of Victor's guards slammed the butt of a rifle into Emma's back, forcing her to her knees.
Lily cried out.
"Mom!"
Victor slowly clapped his hands.
"What a beautiful family reunion."
"You've waited a long time for this, haven't you, Ethan?"
Ethan stepped onto the porch, shielding Lily behind him.
"If you want someone..."
"Take me."
Victor laughed.
"Oh, brother..."
"I've never wanted you."
"I've always wanted her."
His finger pointed directly at Lily.
The little girl instinctively hid behind Ethan's leg.
Victor's smile disappeared.
"You have one minute."
"Hand over the child..."
"...or your wife dies."
Emma desperately shook her head.
"No!"
"Lily..."
"Run!"
Suddenly—
A gunshot shattered the silence.
Emma collapsed.
Ethan's heart stopped.
"EMMA!"
Victor sighed dramatically.
"Relax."
"It wasn't fatal."
"The next one will be."
Lily buried her face against Ethan's coat, trembling.
"I don't want Mommy to die..."
Ethan looked around the cabin.
They were completely surrounded.
No escape.
Then his eyes landed on the steel safe.
Inside...
There was one unopened envelope.
Emma's handwriting covered the front.
ONLY OPEN IF VICTOR FINDS YOU.
Ethan ripped it open.
A small flash drive fell into his hand along with a folded document.
The title made his blood run cold.
CONFIDENTIAL DNA REPORT
He unfolded the papers.
The laboratory seal was authentic.
The results were undeniable.
Lily Carter
Biological Father: Victor Carter
Ethan couldn't breathe.
His vision blurred.
"No..."
"This can't be real."
He looked at Lily.
Then at Emma outside.
Victor burst into laughter.
"Surprised?"
"You spent eight years mourning a wife..."
"...while raising another man's daughter in your heart."
Ethan's hands shook uncontrollably.
Everything he believed was collapsing.
Emma suddenly screamed with every ounce of strength she had left.
"Don't believe him!"
"The report is FAKE!"
"They forged everything!"
Victor's expression darkened.
He walked toward Emma and grabbed her hair.
"You should've stayed dead."
Then he turned back toward Ethan.
"You know what's funny?"
"I forged one report."
"But I never forged the second one."
He reached into his jacket.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
And tossed another DNA report onto the ground.
It landed at Ethan's feet.
This one carried a different date.
A different laboratory.
A different result.
Ethan picked it up.
His hands froze.
The report didn't say Victor was Lily's father.
It said...
Ethan Carter is not biologically related to Victor Carter.
Silence.
Complete silence.
Victor smiled.
"You've spent forty-two years calling me your brother."
He leaned closer.
"But we were never brothers."
Then he whispered the sentence that shattered Ethan's entire identity.
"Our father stole you from another family."
At that exact moment...
A deafening explosion ripped through the back of the cabin.
The wall collapsed.
Masked soldiers stormed inside through the smoke.
One of them grabbed Lily.
Another aimed directly at Ethan.
And their leader shouted a name that no one expected.
"Protect Subject Zero!"
Everyone—including Victor—turned in shock.
Because for the very first time...
May you like
Victor looked terrified.
TO BE CONTINUED...
