CHAPTER 8 — THE MAN WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST
Dozens of black SUVs surrounded the cabin.
Masked gunmen moved silently through the trees.
Marcus grabbed the laptop and escaped through a trapdoor beneath the floor just seconds before bullets ripped through the walls.
The cabin exploded into flames behind him.
He barely escaped into the dense forest.
Meanwhile...
Daniel remained tied to the chair inside Warehouse Nine.
Adrian entered carrying a thick file.
"You've been asking why I chose you."
Daniel glared at him.
"You murdered innocent people because of revenge."
Adrian smiled.
"No."
He tossed the file onto Daniel's lap.
Inside were old hospital records.
DNA reports.
Birth certificates.
One document caught Daniel's attention.
CONFIDENTIAL — ADOPTION RECORD SEALED BY COURT ORDER
Daniel frowned.
"What is this?"
Adrian's smile slowly disappeared.
"You've spent forty-two years believing Judge Carter was your biological father."
Daniel's breathing grew heavy.
"He is."
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
He placed a faded photograph on the table.
Two newborn baby boys.
Identical.
One wore a blue bracelet.
The other wore a red one.
"They were twins."
Daniel stared at the picture.
His hands began to shake.
"No..."
Adrian nodded.
"You and I."
Silence filled the warehouse.
Daniel looked into Adrian's face again.
For the first time...
He noticed details he had ignored before.
The same eyes.
The same jawline.
The same tiny birthmark behind the right ear.
Adrian whispered,
"We weren't strangers."
"We were brothers."
Daniel felt the room spin.
"That's impossible."
"Our parents died the night we were born," Adrian continued. "Judge Carter secretly adopted you... but left me in the foster system because there was only room for one child. I grew up hungry. Beaten. Forgotten."
Tears formed in Adrian's eyes—but they quickly turned into rage.
"While you grew up loved... I learned to survive."
Daniel could barely speak.
"My father... never told me."
"He buried the truth."
Adrian leaned close enough for Daniel to hear every word.
"I didn't frame an innocent stranger."
"I destroyed the life of the brother who stole mine."
Before Daniel could answer...
A deafening explosion rocked the warehouse.
The steel doors burst open.
Smoke flooded the room.
A familiar voice thundered through the chaos.
"FEDERAL AGENTS! NOBODY MOVE!"
Adrian's smile vanished for the first time.
Someone had found Warehouse Nine.
May you like
And the war was only beginning.
To Be Continued…
