Chapter 5 - The Swiss Alps Protocol
The revelation hung in the sterile air like a toxic gas.
"What do you mean she's not dead?" Ethan asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous, quiet register. "I saw the dental records. I saw the crash report from the Swiss authorities."
"It was a staging," Clara whispered, her hand trembling as she stroked Tyler’s hair. "The helicopter crash was a shell game. Victoria needed to disappear because the Federal Trade Commission was investigating her for illegal gene-editing trials on human subjects. If she 'died,' the investigation died with her. Her brother Julian is just her puppet. He’s the face of the Vance empire, but she is the mind."
"Where is she?"
"She's at the Vance estate in upstate New York," Clara said, her breathing becoming more labored. "The old sanitarium. She has a private medical wing there. She’s... she’s using the same gene-therapy she developed to try to prolong her own life. She’s sick, Ethan. Truly sick. Not just in her mind. Her organs are failing from her own experiments. That’s why she wanted the boys. She didn't just want to ruin you. She wanted their stem cells. Not for me. For her."
Ethan’s mind spun. The leukemia Clara had wasn't a natural occurrence.
"She injected you," Ethan realized, his stomach churning. "To draw the boys out."
"She told me if I didn't bring them to you, she would let me die in the tenement," Clara sobbed. "She wanted you to find them. She wanted you to run the DNA test. Because the moment you claim them, the Vance Trust takes your company, and Victoria gets full legal custody of the boys as their biological 'aunt' through her family trust. She will use them to harvest whatever she needs to survive."
Ethan stood tall, the cold executive facade he had spent twenty years building finally cracking, revealing a raw, primal fury.
He looked down at his sons. They were looking up at him, not with the fear of children, but with the hope of survivors who had finally found their protector.
"Dr. Chen," Ethan said, his voice steady and cold. "Prepare Clara for transport."
"Ethan, she can't be moved without a mobile ICU," Chen warned.
"Then buy one," Ethan said. "Buy the entire ambulance company. We are leaving Bellevue in ten minutes."
He pulled his phone out and dialed his head of security.
"Marcus. Get the helicopter ready. We aren't waiting for the market to open. We’re going to upstate New York. And bring everything we have on the Vance sanitarium. It's time to pay my ex-wife a visit."
Just as he hung up, the TV monitor in the corner of the hospital room flickered. The regular news broadcast was interrupted by a breaking financial report.
The anchor’s voice filled the room:
May you like
"Breaking news from Wall Street. A massive leak of private genetic data has just hit the SEC. Documents show that billionaire Ethan Blackwood, CEO of Blackwood Enterprises, has fathered twin heirs through an experimental, unauthorized surrogate program. Shares of Blackwood Enterprises are down 15% in after-hours trading as rumors circulate of a hostile takeover clause by the Vance Trust..."
"She pushed the button," Ethan muttered. "The war has started."
