Chapter 7: The Twin Nobody Was Supposed to Know About
Richard felt the world spin beneath his feet.
"Twins...?"
His voice barely escaped his lips.
The stranger nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"The night of the accident, Sophia gave birth to two boys—not one."
The barefoot boy looked from Richard to the man on the screen, completely confused.
"I have... a brother?"
Richard's knees weakened.
"No..."
"The doctors told me there was only one baby."
"They lied," the stranger replied.
"No... they were paid to lie."
The detective quickly searched the recovered hospital records.
"There were two birth certificates..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
"...but one was deleted exactly seventeen minutes after they were created."
Richard clenched his fists.
"Evelyn."
The stranger smiled.
"Evelyn was only a pawn."
"There was someone far more powerful pulling the strings."
Every monitor suddenly displayed an old newspaper headline:
STERLING GLOBAL HEIR DIES IN HOSPITAL FIRE
Richard stared at the date.
It had been printed nine years ago.
The day after the accident.
"The world believed one baby died," the stranger continued.
"But the truth is much darker."
He pressed a button.
A hidden wall slid open behind Sophia's glass room.
A teenage boy—about sixteen years old—walked into view.
The room fell silent.
The boy had Richard's eyes.
Sophia's smile.
And the exact same crescent-shaped birthmark on his ankle.
Richard's heart nearly stopped.
"That's impossible..."
The stranger shook his head.
"No."
"This is your firstborn son."
"The child everyone believed had died."
The teenage boy stared at Richard through the glass.
His eyes were cold.
Not because he hated him...
But because he had never known him.
"I was raised to believe," the teenager said quietly,
"...that my father abandoned us."
Richard felt tears streaming down his face.
"I searched for you every single day."
"I buried an empty coffin."
"I never stopped looking."
The teenager's expression finally cracked.
For the first time in sixteen years...
He wanted to believe the man standing before him.
But before anyone could move...
The underground bunker shook violently.
BOOM!
The lights went out.
Emergency alarms screamed through the facility.
"Self-destruct sequence activated," a computerized voice announced.
"Ten minutes until total destruction."
The stranger smiled calmly.
"I told you I wasn't your enemy."
"I'm the only person who can get your family out alive."
He looked directly into Richard's eyes.
"But first..."
"You must choose."
"You only have time to save one."
He pointed toward Sophia's glass prison.
Then toward the teenage boy locked behind a steel security door.
"Your wife..."
"...or your son."
Richard froze.
Then his barefoot son stepped forward and shouted the words no one expected:
May you like
"Save my brother... I'll save Mom."
To Be Continued...
