Chapter 5 - The Dead Father Wasn't the Real MonsterWe discovered that Victor's video had been manipulated.
The man claiming to be Sebastian's father was actually a recording.
The source date was nineteen years ago.
That changed everything.
Sebastian's father had been dead before the compound was completed.
Someone had used his identity afterward.
Someone who had access to the family archives.
Someone who knew exactly how to destroy Sebastian psychologically.
Gabriel found the name.
“Anthony Voss.”
Sebastian stared.
“Who?”
“Your father's chief legal adviser.”
“He died.”
“Officially.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“How many people in your world are officially dead?”
“Too many.”
Anthony Voss had disappeared shortly after the bombing.
The same week Marcus Vale supposedly died.
The same week Victor supposedly vanished.
The same week the medical program lost its funding.
It was too much to be coincidence.
We followed a payment trail to a private estate in Wisconsin.
Oliver was there.
We found him in an underground room.
He was frightened.
But alive.
I ran to him.
He wrapped his arms around me.
“Mom.”
I held him so tightly he complained.
“Can't breathe.”
I almost laughed through my tears.
“Sorry.”
Sebastian stood in the doorway.
Oliver looked at him.
“You came.”
Sebastian smiled.
“I promised your mother.”
Oliver smiled.
“You can walk.”
“A little.”
“Cool.”
I laughed.
It was the first normal sound in days.
Then Oliver looked at Sebastian's legs.
“The bad men did that to you?”
Sebastian hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Then I hate them.”
Sebastian crouched slowly.
“You and me both.”
Oliver considered him.
“You should practice.”
Sebastian smiled.
“Every day.”
“You can use my inhaler case as a brace.”
I smiled.
Sebastian laughed softly.
“Deal.”
Then we heard footsteps.
Gabriel entered.
“Claire.”
His face was serious.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Oliver wasn't kidnapped for his genetics.”
I froze.
“Then why?”
“He was kidnapped to lure Sebastian.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody needed Sebastian away from Chicago.”
Sebastian's expression darkened.
“Why?”
Gabriel handed him a phone.
A live feed showed downtown Chicago.
The Lombardi headquarters.
Burning.
Sebastian stared.
“No.”
Gabriel continued.
“Three rival groups moved simultaneously.”
“Who authorized the attack?”
“We don't know.”
Sebastian stood straighter.
His leg shook.
He ignored it.
“They wanted me gone.”
“They wanted your people divided.”
Sebastian looked at me.
“I need to go back.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Your entire organization is under attack.”
“And you're coming with me.”
“I am not a gangster.”
“You are the only person in the room who understands what's happening to my body.”
“I can help Oliver.”
“You can help both of us.”
I looked at Oliver.
He reached for my hand.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Go help him.”
I stared at my son.
“You're sure?”
He nodded.
“Mr. Sebastian helped me.”
Sebastian looked away.
Something emotional crossed his face.
We returned to Chicago.
The city had changed.
Police blocked streets.
Buildings burned.
People were running.
The Lombardi headquarters was surrounded.
Inside, dozens of guards had been killed.
But the worst discovery waited in Sebastian's private vault.
Every file about the medical program was gone.
Except one.
A photograph.
My photograph.
Taken twelve years earlier.
On the back, one sentence:
THE MOTHER WAS ALWAYS PART OF THE PLAN.
I stared.
“I never met Sebastian until weeks ago.”
Gabriel said quietly:
“That doesn't mean the plan started weeks ago.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Claire worked at the medical facility.”
“Yes.”
“Before that, she interned at the research hospital.”
I frowned.
“So?”
Gabriel pulled out another file.
“Her supervisor was Dr. Victor Lombardi.”
My blood froze.
“I never met him.”
Gabriel stared at the file.
“He signed her clinical evaluation.”
The signature was clear.
Victor Lombardi.
Year: 2014.
I looked at Sebastian.
“I don't remember him.”
Sebastian's eyes narrowed.
“Maybe you were never supposed to.”
Then the lights went out.
A voice came over the intercom.
“Hello, Claire.”
May you like
Victor.
“It's time you remembered.”
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