CHAPTER 7 — The Betrayal No One Saw Coming
The room fell into stunned silence.
Someone had stolen Vivien's blood sample.
Not money.
Not files.
Not weapons.
Her blood.
Adrian stared at the frozen security image on the tablet.
"Who had access to that laboratory?"
Vincent answered immediately.
"Only the fertility department... and one outside courier."
"Find both."
"Already on it."
The bunker doors suddenly slammed shut as the estate entered full lockdown.
Every phone signal was jammed.
Every vehicle was disabled remotely.
No one was leaving.
Vivien wrapped her arms around herself.
"I don't understand."
"They already know I'm pregnant."
"Why steal my blood?"
The elderly doctor looked uneasy.
"Because blood tells people things an ultrasound cannot."
He hesitated.
"It confirms paternity."
"It identifies inherited diseases."
"And..."
He looked toward Adrian before finishing.
"It proves legal bloodlines."
The realization hit Adrian instantly.
"They're preparing a claim."
Vincent nodded.
"If someone can fake DNA records..."
"...they can declare your children dead before they're born and replace them with heirs of their own."
Vivien felt sick.
"They can do that?"
"In your world," Adrian said quietly, "people kill for a million dollars."
"My world kills for empires."
Less than an hour later...
A convoy of armored vehicles raced toward a private airfield outside New York.
Adrian had made his decision.
Vivien could no longer stay at Blackwood Estate.
Too many people knew where she was.
Too many had already died protecting her.
"We're leaving the country," Adrian said.
"For how long?" Vivien asked.
"As long as it takes."
She looked out the window at the flashing police lights disappearing behind them.
"My whole life was a tiny apartment... and a diner."
She laughed bitterly.
"Now people are launching rockets at mansions because I'm pregnant."
Adrian looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
"For everything."
She didn't answer.
Not because she hated him.
Because she could see he truly meant it.
The convoy reached the private runway just before sunrise.
A sleek black jet waited with its engines already running.
Bodyguards surrounded the aircraft.
Everything appeared secure.
Vincent suddenly raised one hand.
"Stop."
Every vehicle froze.
Adrian stepped out first.
"What is it?"
Vincent slowly crouched beside the landing gear.
A small blinking red light.
His expression changed instantly.
"Everyone back!"
The explosion threw three SUVs into the air.
The shockwave shattered every window nearby.
Flames swallowed the private jet before anyone could board.
Vivien screamed as Adrian tackled her behind an armored vehicle.
Pieces of burning metal rained across the runway.
One bodyguard never got back up.
Another crawled across the pavement, badly wounded.
The escape plan had been compromised before they even arrived.
Someone had leaked their route.
Back at the estate...
Vincent gathered every surviving member of Adrian's inner circle.
Twenty-three men.
The most trusted people in the organization.
He placed a phone on the conference table.
"The route to the airfield was known only by the people in this room."
Nobody spoke.
Vincent pressed a button.
A recording began playing.
It was a phone call made only forty minutes earlier.
A familiar voice whispered,
"They're heading to Runway Seven."
"You have twenty minutes."
The room went silent.
Vivien frowned.
"I know that voice..."
The speaker removed his hood.
It wasn't one of Adrian's captains.
It wasn't a rival mafia boss.
It wasn't Charlotte.
It was the elderly doctor who had performed Vivien's ultrasound only an hour earlier.
The same man who had smiled while showing her the babies' heartbeats.
"No..." Vivien whispered.
"He wouldn't..."
The doctor slowly removed his glasses.
His gentle smile disappeared.
"I've worked for Adrian's family for thirty-two years."
Then he looked directly at Adrian.
"But I've worked for someone else even longer."
Every guard aimed their weapons.
Adrian's face hardened.
"Who?"
The old doctor smiled.
"The man who ordered your father's murder."
Silence.
Even Vincent looked stunned.
"The man everyone believes died fifteen years ago."
The doctor reached into his pocket and placed an old photograph on the table.
Vivien picked it up.
It showed a much younger Adrian standing beside his father...
...and another little boy about the same age.
Both smiling.
Both wearing identical Blackwood family rings.
Vivien looked up.
"Who's this?"
The doctor's smile widened.
"You've spent weeks searching for Adrian's enemies."
He leaned closer.
"You never thought to ask..."
"...whether Adrian had a brother."
Adrian's face turned completely white.
"Impossible."
"My brother died when we were children."
The doctor laughed.
"No..."
"He was stolen."
"And now..."
"He's coming home to claim everything."
Outside...
Every security alarm in the estate erupted once again.
On the largest monitor, dozens of black SUVs rolled through the front gates.
Leading the convoy was a tall man in a charcoal suit.
Storm-gray eyes.
Dark hair.
The same sharp jawline.
He looked so much like Adrian that Vivien gasped.
It was like looking at his reflection.
The mysterious man stepped out of the SUV and calmly adjusted his cufflinks before looking directly into the security camera.
Then he smiled.
"My name is Damian Blackwood."
He paused.
May you like
"And I'm here to take back what my brother stole."
To Be Continued...
