CHAPTER 5: "MY FATHER SAVED MY LIFE... BUT DESTROYED ANOTHER FAMILY TO DO IT."
The tunnel fell silent.
Ethan stood frozen between the two men.
On one side was Victor...
The uncle who admitted ordering murders.
On the other was the father Ethan had mourned for fifteen years.
His father lowered the rifle.
"Come here, son."
Those three words were all Ethan had wanted to hear his entire life.
He took one step forward.
Then Victor laughed.
A slow...
Cruel...
Confident laugh.
"You still don't get it, do you?"
He looked straight at Ethan.
"Ask your father why your real parents disappeared."
Ethan's father closed his eyes.
"Victor..."
"Don't."
"No," Victor replied. "He deserves the truth."
Ethan's heart pounded.
"What truth?"
His father slowly removed the wedding ring from his finger.
"I've lied to you your entire life."
"I wasn't chosen to protect you..."
"I stole you."
The words hit Ethan harder than any bullet.
"What?"
Twenty-seven years earlier, Ethan's biological family had fallen into chaos after a violent struggle for control of their billion-dollar empire.
Gunfire erupted inside the family estate.
Servants fled.
Bodyguards turned on each other.
No one knew who could be trusted.
Ethan's father had been head of security.
His only mission was to get the baby out alive.
"I had two choices," he whispered.
"Leave you there..."
"...or disappear with you forever."
"So I made the choice no court would ever forgive."
"I kidnapped you."
Eleanor burst into tears.
"I searched for my son every single day."
"I thought Victor had killed him."
"I never knew the man I trusted most had taken him."
Ethan couldn't speak.
His entire childhood...
Every birthday.
Every Christmas.
Every family photo.
Had been built on one enormous lie.
"But..." Ethan whispered.
"You loved me."
His father smiled sadly.
"From the moment I carried you out of that burning mansion..."
"...you became my son."
"I never regretted loving you."
"I only regretted hiding the truth."
Tears streamed down Ethan's face.
For the first time in his life...
He didn't know who he was.
Suddenly, Max began barking again.
Not at Victor.
Not at the guards.
At the old television still sitting in the tunnel.
The screen, which everyone thought had gone dark, suddenly flickered back to life.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's face appeared.
She looked terrified.
"If anyone is watching this..."
"...it's already too late."
"My name is Sophia Hale."
"I created Project Genesis."
Everyone froze.
Victor's face turned white.
His father looked horrified.
Even Eleanor whispered,
"No..."
Sophia continued,
"The inheritance was never money."
"The company was never the prize."
"The child..."
"...was."
Ethan stared at the screen.
"What does that mean?"
Sophia's eyes filled with regret.
"Ethan..."
"If you're alive..."
"...it means the experiment worked."
Silence.
Then the video ended.
Victor slowly stepped backward.
His hands were shaking.
"Destroy the screen!" he screamed.
Before anyone could move, every light in the tunnel shut off again.
A metallic voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"FACIAL RECOGNITION COMPLETE."
"WELCOME HOME..."
"...SUBJECT E-17."
The voice paused for one terrifying second.
Then finished the sentence that shattered Ethan's entire identity.
"YOU WERE NEVER BORN..."
May you like
"...YOU WERE CREATED."
To Be Continued.
