Chapter 19 - THE DEAD MAN’S LAST HOUSE
Vivienne had lied.
Victor Laurent was not dead.
At least not according to Nathaniel.
Marcus questioned the boy gently.
Nathaniel was six.
Quiet.
Observant.
He said Grandpa visited at night.
Never during the day.
Never when guests were around.
He described a man with white hair.
A cane.
An oxygen tube.
Charles immediately reacted.
“That is Victor.”
Daniel stared.
“You’re sure?”
“Victor had chronic lung damage after a chemical exposure.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“He should be dead.”
Charles looked at him.
“He should have died years ago.”
Agent Brooks found property records linked to a shell company.
A mansion on the coast.
Owned by a trust.
The trustee was dead.
The beneficiaries were hidden.
But the utility bills remained active.
Daniel looked at the aerial image.
“We go.”
Brooks shook her head.
“Federal team goes.”
“I go too.”
“No.”
Elena stepped forward.
“So do I.”
Daniel turned.
“No.”
Her face hardened.
“Do not start.”
He stopped.
She continued.
“My children exist because of that man.”
“He took years from me.”
“He took my sister.”
“He took choices from all of us.”
“I am not sitting in another safe room while men decide what I’m allowed to know.”
Daniel nodded.
“You’re right.”
They went together.
The coastal mansion stood above dark cliffs.
Federal agents surrounded it before dawn.
No resistance.
The front door opened.
An elderly nurse stepped outside with her hands raised.
“Mr. Laurent is waiting.”
Daniel felt a chill.
Victor sat in a glass room overlooking the ocean.
Oxygen tube beneath his nose.
A blanket over his legs.
He looked ninety.
He was only seventy-six.
Disease had consumed him.
But his eyes remained sharp.
Vivienne sat beside him.
Daniel froze.
She smiled faintly.
“Hello.”
Elena’s hands tightened.
Agent Brooks raised her weapon.
“Hands visible.”
Vivienne obeyed.
Victor laughed weakly.
“Still dramatic.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You’re alive.”
Victor looked toward Charles.
“So is he.”
Charles stepped forward.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Victor smiled.
“You first.”
Adrian entered.
Victor’s expression brightened.
“There he is.”
Adrian’s entire body stiffened.
Victor looked at him like a scientist seeing an old experiment.
“My best result.”
Adrian crossed the room.
Daniel caught him.
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“Still emotional.”
Adrian whispered.
“I was eight.”
Victor shrugged.
“You survived.”
Daniel’s disgust rose.
Elena stepped forward.
Victor looked at her.
Recognition flashed.
“Subject E.”
Daniel moved between them.
“Her name is Elena.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
“I know.”
Elena stared.
“You took my children.”
Victor tilted his head.
“Technically, others did.”
“You created them without my consent.”
Victor shrugged weakly.
“You signed forms.”
Elena’s voice hardened.
“I signed forms for treatment.”
Victor smiled.
“That distinction mattered later.”
Daniel almost lunged.
Agent Brooks stopped him.
Victor looked at Noah’s photograph on the table.
“He turned out well.”
Elena shook with anger.
“He is not a result.”
“He is a child.”
Victor looked bored.
“Emotion is why research stagnates.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“And you wonder why everyone wants you dead.”
Victor looked at him.
“I don’t wonder.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Why did you keep Nathaniel?”
Victor smiled.
“Insurance.”
“Against Voss?”
“Against everyone.”
“What did he know?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why him?”
Victor looked at Charles.
“Because Charles loved pretending he had standards.”
Charles stared.
Victor continued.
“So I kept proof that the program never needed him.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
Victor nodded toward Adrian.
“Adrian’s genetic line.”
“He was healthier than Charles believed.”
“The defect could be corrected.”
“His children proved it.”
Adrian went pale.
“You experimented on the children too.”
Victor smiled.
“Observation.”
Elena stepped forward.
“What did you do to Noah?”
Daniel grabbed her hand.
Victor looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“Sophie?”
“Nothing.”
“Eli?”
Victor hesitated.
Marcus noticed.
“What did you do to Eli?”
Victor looked at him.
“The boy needed surgery.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“What surgery?”
“A cardiac repair.”
“When?”
“Three days after birth.”
Marcus stared.
“You saved him.”
Victor smiled.
“In a manner of speaking.”
Marcus looked sick.
Victor continued.
“Then Anna begged to take him.”
“I allowed it.”
“Why?”
“She was useful.”
Marcus’s hands shook.
“You used him to control her.”
“Yes.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Victor looked almost proud.
Daniel stared at Vivienne.
“And you came here why?”
Vivienne looked at her father.
“To end it.”
Victor laughed.
“She means kill me.”
Agent Brooks moved closer.
Vivienne shrugged.
“I considered it.”
Elena stared at her.
“You expect sympathy?”
“No.”
Vivienne looked toward the ocean.
“I expect nothing.”
Daniel studied her.
“You could have told the truth years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You could have returned Noah.”
“Yes.”
“You could have stopped.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Vivienne’s face finally cracked.
“Because once I had him…”
Her voice trembled.
“I loved him.”
Elena’s eyes filled with anger.
Vivienne continued.
“And every year made the truth more impossible.”
“That is not love.”
Elena’s voice cut through the room.
“Love does not require stealing someone else’s identity.”
Vivienne looked at her.
“I know that now.”
Elena shook her head.
“Too late.”
Victor began coughing.
Violently.
The nurse moved toward him.
He waved her away.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“You still don’t understand the funniest part.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
Victor smiled weakly.
“Charles thinks Adrian was my revenge.”
Charles went still.
Victor laughed.
“He wasn’t.”
Adrian frowned.
Victor continued.
“The children were not created to humiliate Charles.”
“Then why?”
Victor looked at Elena.
“Because of her.”
Elena froze.
Daniel felt dread.
“What about her?”
Victor smiled.
“Her family carries something far more valuable than the Whitmore line.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“What?”
Victor’s eyes gleamed.
“A regenerative immune trait.”
Charles stared.
“You said it was cardiac compatibility.”
Victor laughed.
“That’s what I told you.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What did you actually want?”
“Treatments.”
“For what?”
Victor lifted one shaking hand.
His skin was covered in lesions.
“My disease.”
Silence.
Adrian’s face changed.
“You created children as tissue matches.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
Elena went white.
Daniel felt rage unlike anything he had felt before.
“You were going to use them.”
“I did use some.”
Agent Brooks stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
Victor looked toward a locked hallway.
“The project did not end with fourteen.”
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“How many?”
Victor smiled.
“Open the door.”
An agent unlocked it.
The corridor beyond led to a medical wing.
Beds.
Equipment.
Records.
Then they found a nursery.
Not babies.
Photographs.
Dozens.
Children of different ages.
Different families.
Different cities.
Elena covered her mouth.
Agent Brooks whispered.
“My God.”
Victor laughed from behind them.
“Forty-seven.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“Forty-seven successful births.”
Charles nearly collapsed.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at the photographs.
Forty-seven stolen histories.
Forty-seven families built on fraud.
Forty-seven children who might have no idea who they were.
Then Elena noticed one photograph.
A newborn.
Female.
The label beneath it read:
E-B3.
Elena’s hands began shaking.
“No.”
Rachel stared.
Daniel looked at Victor.
“What does E-B3 mean?”
Victor smiled.
“Elena Bennett.”
“Third birth.”
Elena went completely still.
She whispered.
“I had another child.”
Victor nodded.
“A daughter.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
“Where is she?”
Victor looked at Vivienne.
Vivienne’s face went pale.
For the first time all morning, she looked genuinely shocked.
“I don’t know.”
Victor smiled.
“No.”
“You don’t.”
May you like
Then he looked at Charles.
“But he does.”
