Chapter 3 - The Woman at Ethan’s Bed
Adrian hit the emergency release.
Nothing.
The woman in the nurse’s uniform moved her hand closer to Ethan’s IV.
I screamed.
“Stop!”
Ethan slept through it.
The real medical team pounded on the opposite door.
Adrian’s security men rushed to the control panel.
“Override it.”
“We’re trying.”
The woman pulled a small syringe from her sleeve.
Adrian stepped back once.
Then drove his shoulder into the glass.
It did not break.
Again.
A crack appeared.
Again.
The glass shattered inward.
Security alarms exploded through the floor.
Adrian climbed through before anyone could stop him.
The woman turned.
She barely had time to move.
Adrian knocked the syringe from her hand and pinned her wrist against the wall.
“Who sent you?”
She smiled.
“You still ask the wrong questions.”
His grip tightened.
“Who?”
Her gaze moved toward Ethan.
“You should ask why Victor preserved the boy’s bloodline.”
I rushed through the broken opening.
A doctor grabbed Ethan’s IV and disconnected it.
“What was in the syringe?”
Mercer picked it up using a cloth.
“I’ll test it.”
Adrian pushed the woman into a chair.
His men restrained her.
She showed no fear.
That was worse than panic.
“What’s your name?” Adrian asked.
“Today?”
He leaned closer.
She smiled again.
“Anna.”
“That isn’t your name.”
“No.”
“Who paid you?”
“No one.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To see the child.”
“You tried to inject him.”
“To protect him.”
I stared at her.
“Protect him from what?”
Her eyes moved to me.
“His father.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
She laughed quietly.
“You think he’s dangerous because he runs an empire.”
“Stop talking,” I said.
“You should fear what his blood can do.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“My blood doesn’t do anything.”
“That’s what Victor wanted you to believe.”
Mercer returned.
His expression was troubled.
“The syringe contained a clotting stabilizer.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“It might actually have helped Ethan.”
Adrian glanced at the woman.
She smiled.
“I told you.”
“Why sneak into his room?”
“Because Blackwood security would never let me walk through the front door.”
“You’re here now.”
“Yes.”
“And unless you start answering, you’re not leaving.”
She studied Adrian.
“You look like him.”
“My father?”
“No.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Your grandfather.”
Adrian went still.
I knew almost nothing about his grandfather.
The Blackwood empire had existed long before Adrian.
“What do you know about Victor’s archive?” Adrian asked.
“Enough to know you shouldn’t open it.”
“Too late.”
Something like fear finally crossed her face.
“You opened Isabel?”
“Yes.”
“Then they know.”
“Who?”
The woman looked toward the ceiling camera.
“They’re listening.”
Adrian’s men immediately disconnected it.
“Who?”
She leaned toward him.
“The people your father spent twenty years hiding you from.”
Adrian stared.
“There is no one I’m hiding from.”
“That’s because he did his job.”
Mercer crossed his arms.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at him.
“You really don’t remember me, Samuel?”
Mercer’s face changed.
She removed the surgical cap.
Dark hair fell around her shoulders.
Mercer stepped backward.
“No.”
Adrian noticed.
“You know her.”
Mercer whispered, “Elena.”
The woman’s expression softened.
“Hello, Samuel.”
I looked between them.
“Who is she?”
Mercer’s voice shook.
“She worked for Victor.”
“What kind of work?”
“Genetic research.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You were involved with Isabel.”
Elena did not deny it.
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Did my father think you did?”
“No.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Elena looked toward Ethan.
“Your sister didn’t die in a hospital.”
Adrian’s expression froze.
“What?”
“She survived the bleeding episode.”
Mercer stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“No. That’s what Victor told you.”
Adrian grabbed the back of a chair.
“Where is she?”
Elena’s eyes returned to him.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe my sister may be alive and you don’t know where?”
“I know where Victor sent her.”
“Where?”
“Europe.”
“My family told me she went to Europe.”
“That part was true.”
“Why?”
“To hide her.”
“From whom?”
Elena hesitated.
Adrian slammed his palm onto the table.
“Enough.”
The sound made me jump.
Ethan stirred.
Adrian immediately lowered his voice.
He noticed what he had done.
So did I.
He moved farther from the bed.
“Who was hunting Isabel?”
Elena answered quietly.
“A private organization called Helix.”
Mercer closed his eyes.
Adrian looked at him.
“You know that name too.”
Mercer said nothing.
“Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“What is Helix?”
“A medical consortium.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“That’s what they called themselves.”
“What were they really?”
“People who discovered that certain hereditary markers could be used as biological authorization.”
I thought about Victor’s archive.
“Like passwords?”
“Yes.”
“Why would anyone build a password into human DNA?”
Elena looked at Adrian.
“Because files can be stolen. Codes can be tortured out of people. Blood is harder.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“What did my father hide?”
“Financial records. Names. Evidence. Accounts.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
“That sounds like him.”
Elena leaned forward.
“Victor did not trust governments. He did not trust his partners. He did not even trust you.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“He trusted his bloodline.”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“And Isabel?”
“Her blood unlocked the first archive.”
“Did Helix cause her bleeding?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s face turned cold.
“They poisoned an eight-year-old.”
“They didn’t intend to kill her. They needed enough blood to force Victor to reveal the system.”
“And Ethan?”
Elena looked at my son.
“They’re repeating the experiment.”
My hand found Ethan’s.
“Why now?”
“Because Victor created two archives.”
“And Ethan unlocked the second.”
“Yes.”
“Why not Adrian?”
Elena looked at him.
“Because Victor deliberately excluded you.”
The words struck Adrian.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know everything else.”
“No.”
“What does the second archive contain?”
Elena’s expression tightened.
“The reason Helix never stopped looking for the Blackwood bloodline.”
Adrian paced once.
“Open it.”
Mercer shook his head.
“We shouldn’t.”
Adrian stared.
“My son was poisoned because of it.”
“That’s exactly why—”
“Open it.”
Mercer accessed the system.
The archive showed three directories.
ISABEL.
VICTOR.
HEIR.
Adrian selected HEIR.
ACCESS DENIED.
BIOLOGICAL KEY REQUIRED.
Elena looked toward Ethan.
“No.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“Do not use his blood.”
“Why?”
“Because the moment you fully unlock that archive, every Helix system connected to Victor’s network will know.”
“They already know he exists.”
“They don’t know what Victor left him.”
“What did he leave him?”
Elena looked at me.
“A choice.”
My pulse quickened.
“What choice?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian scoffed.
“You came here with answers and somehow know nothing when it matters.”
“I came because Ethan’s alert appeared on an old channel Victor asked me to monitor.”
“Why did he trust you?”
“Because I helped Isabel escape.”
Adrian stared.
“You know where she went.”
“I knew.”
“Then tell me.”
Elena lowered her eyes.
“She disappeared seventeen years ago.”
“Before Victor died.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Someone found her.”
“Helix?”
“I assumed so.”
Adrian’s phone vibrated.
His security chief handed it to him.
“Sir, we found footage from Claire’s apartment.”
My heart jumped.
“From when?”
“Last night.”
He turned the screen.
A hallway security camera showed a man approaching my apartment at 2:13 a.m.
He wore a baseball cap.
He stopped beneath the camera.
Looked directly into it.
Then entered my apartment using a key.
I stared.
“I’ve never seen him.”
Adrian zoomed in.
Elena made a sound behind us.
“Oh God.”
Adrian turned.
“You know him.”
Elena looked terrified.
“That’s Daniel Cross.”
“Who is Daniel Cross?”
“A Helix retrieval specialist.”
Adrian’s security chief frowned.
“Was.”
“What?”
“Daniel Cross died four years ago.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
The guard opened another file.
“Interpol record. Confirmed death in Prague.”
Elena stared at the screen.
“That isn’t possible.”
Adrian looked at the photo again.
“Then either the dead man visited Claire’s apartment, or someone wants us to think he did.”
A nurse approached.
“Ethan is waking.”
Everything else vanished.
I returned to his bedside.
His eyes opened.
“Mom?”
“Right here.”
He looked around.
“Why are there so many people?”
“Because you scared everyone.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“You stayed.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Yes.”
Ethan studied him.
“So you really are my dad?”
Adrian swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Do you know dinosaurs?”
Adrian blinked.
I almost laughed.
“A little.”
Ethan frowned weakly.
“Mom says that when she doesn’t know anything.”
“I know more than your mother.”
I looked at him.
“Do you?”
A faint smile touched Ethan’s face.
For three seconds the hospital disappeared.
Then Ethan’s expression changed.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“The man.”
My body stiffened.
“What man?”
“At school.”
Adrian moved closer.
“What did he look like?”
Ethan closed his eyes, concentrating.
“He gave me the drink.”
My heart stopped.
“What man?”
“The one from the picture.”
Adrian and I exchanged a look.
He showed Ethan the still image from my apartment.
“Was it him?”
Ethan stared.
Then shook his head.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Who was it?”
Ethan whispered, “A lady.”
Elena stepped forward.
“What lady?”
Ethan looked at her.
His face changed.
I felt Adrian tense.
“Do you know her?”
Ethan’s eyes widened.
“She looks like you.”
Everyone turned toward Elena.
Elena went pale.
“Like me?”
Ethan nodded.
“But younger.”
Elena gripped the bed rail.
“What did she say?”
“That the drink would make me stronger.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“Did she tell you her name?”
Ethan thought.
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
His lips moved.
“Isabel.”
No one breathed.
Adrian stared at his son.
Elena backed away from the bed.
Mercer’s face emptied.
If Ethan was telling the truth, the little girl Adrian had been taught to forget had not died.
She had grown up.
She had found Ethan.
And she had poisoned him.
Adrian’s phone rang.
His security chief answered, then looked up sharply.
“Sir, someone is downstairs asking for you.”
“Who?”
May you like
The guard stared at Adrian.
“She says her name is Isabel Blackwood.”
