Chapter 10 - THE TWIST THAT CHANGES EVERYTHINGThe door swung open with a soft, mournful creak.
A figure stepped into the dim moonlight filtering through the frost-covered cabin window. Tall, wearing a heavy winter parka, the face hidden beneath a dark hood.
"Put down the poker, Eli," a voice said.
Eli froze. The poker slipped from his numb fingers, clattering loudly against the wooden floorboards.
The figure pulled back the hood.
It was a woman with sharp, familiar eyes, a face that haunted old photographs, and a calm, terrifying smile that matched Victor Kane's down to the millimeter.
"Mom?" Eli whispered, the word tearing out of his throat in a ragged, disbelieving gasp.
The woman stepped closer, her eyes scanning the heavy leather journal in Eli's hands, then the gold signet ring resting on his palm.
"Victor always was a sentimental fool," she said smoothly, her voice lacking any warmth, cold as the mountain wind outside. "He thought he could protect you by hiding you in plain sight. But he forgot one very important rule of the agency, Eli."
She reached inside her coat, pulling out a polished silver pistol, leveling it straight at her son’s chest.
"Dead men don't write history," she smiled, cocking the hammer. "And neither do their accomplices."
Eli stared down the barrel of the gun, the final, horrifying truth washing over him like freezing water:
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The dog hadn't been barking at his father. The dog had been screaming at the bloodline.
THE END
