CHAPTER 10 — THE BOY WHO SHOULDN'T EXIST
Silence swallowed the tunnel.
Even the countdown seemed to disappear.
Marcus Mercer stared at the little boy standing behind Cassandra.
Six years old.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A faded teddy bear tucked tightly under one arm.
The child looked frightened.
Confused.
He wasn't acting.
He genuinely believed what he had just said.
"Mom said... you're my father."
Marcus's heartbeat stopped.
"I've never seen you before."
The little boy lowered his head.
"She said you wouldn't remember."
Cassandra slowly laughed through her tears.
"I told you there were secrets you never bothered to ask about."
Marcus never looked away from the child.
"What's your name?"
"Ethan."
"How old are you?"
"I turned six last month."
Marcus quietly counted the years.
Six years...
Exactly six years since Elena disappeared.
Exactly six years since Adrian Black had supposedly died.
Nothing made sense.
Samuel suddenly gasped.
"Oh, my God..."
Everyone turned toward him.
The old groundskeeper looked as though he had seen a ghost.
"I remember him..."
Marcus frowned.
"What?"
Samuel pointed at Ethan.
"The birthmark."
On the little boy's wrist was a tiny crescent-shaped mark.
Samuel had seen it once before.
On Elena.
The same family birthmark.
Marcus slowly looked back at Cassandra.
"You kidnapped him."
She smiled bitterly.
"No."
"I raised him."
"You abandoned him long before I found him."
Marcus's voice became ice.
"You're lying."
Before Cassandra could answer...
Emily Carter's radio exploded with static.
"Bomb timer has accelerated!"
The digital clock jumped.
03:17...
03:16...
03:15...
The entire tunnel shook violently.
Concrete cracked overhead.
Emily grabbed Lily.
"We're running out of time!"
Marcus faced Cassandra.
"You've already lost."
She smiled one last time.
"No."
"Now you'll have to choose."
She raised the pistol.
One barrel.
Two children.
One father.
"Save the girl..."
"...or save the boy."
May you like
Then she pulled the trigger.
The gunshot echoed through the tunnel.
