Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO WANTED TO PLAY GOD
Victor Blackwell and Dr. Vale had built their empire around one belief.
People could be improved.
Children could be altered.
Disease could be controlled.
Death could be negotiated.
They believed morality was simply an obstacle for people without ambition.
Adrian had spent his entire adult life believing he was different.
He wasn't.
Not entirely.
He had built his own empire through fear.
The difference was that he had never asked children to pay for it.
Now he intended to destroy everything connected to the old research.
He gathered Lily, Thomas, Emma, Marcus, and Nathan.
“We end it.”
Emma shook her head.
“How?”
“Expose them.”
“Publicly?”
“Yes.”
“Then they'll come after us.”
“They already are.”
Thomas looked at Adrian.
“What about the treatment?”
“We make it public.”
Nathan stared.
“The pharmaceutical companies will fight over it.”
“Let them.”
“They'll bury it.”
“Then we release everything.”
Emma looked surprised.
“Everything?”
“Every document.”
“Your family secrets?”
“Yes.”
“Your criminal business?”
“Yes.”
Marcus stared.
“Boss.”
Adrian looked at him.
“If this destroys the empire, so be it.”
Marcus nodded.
“For what it's worth, I think your father would approve.”
They prepared.
Then Victor attacked.
Not the house.
The foundation.
The place where the research had been stored.
Explosions.
Sirens.
Fire.
Adrian watched his childhood disappear beneath smoke.
He felt strangely calm.
The empire had been built by men who believed buildings mattered more than people.
He no longer did.
A message came through.
Your daughter is next.
Adrian froze.
He looked at Lily.
“She's not my biological daughter.”
“They don't care.”
He understood.
Victor had begun attacking everyone Adrian loved.
He moved them to a remote safe house.
But someone had already infiltrated it.
The lights went out.
A gunshot.
Thomas dropped.
“Thomas!”
Adrian ran.
The boy was bleeding.
Not fatally.
A bullet through his shoulder.
Lily screamed.
Emma pulled her behind cover.
Marcus returned fire.
The attackers escaped.
Thomas looked at Adrian.
“I'm okay.”
Adrian nodded.
Then he noticed a small device attached to Thomas's shirt.
Tracker.
They had been followed.
Adrian removed it.
Too late.
A car approached.
Victor's men.
Adrian realized the safe house was compromised.
“Move.”
They escaped through the woods.
For hours, they walked.
At dawn, they reached an old cabin.
Everyone was exhausted.
Lily sat beside Thomas.
“You're brave.”
He smiled.
“So are you.”
Adrian watched them.
Then Emma sat beside him.
“Do you regret taking us in?”
“No.”
“Even now?”
“Especially now.”
She smiled.
“You're different.”
“How?”
“You don't think you're alone anymore.”
Adrian looked at her.
She was right.
He had spent years believing loneliness made him powerful.
It had only made him easier to control.
That afternoon, Emma found a hidden compartment under the cabin floor.
Inside was a box.
A cassette.
A photograph.
And a letter.
Adrian opened it.
His father's handwriting.
Adrian,
If you ever find this, then the people who wanted me dead failed to erase the truth.
Your mother did not die naturally.
She was killed because she knew what the research could become.
I failed to stop it.
I am sorry.
But one day, a child named Lily Bell may find you.
Protect her.
She will lead you to the truth.
Adrian's hands shook.
His father had known.
All these years.
Every step.
Every choice.
Every nightmare.
Then he read the final line.
And if a young woman named Emma Carter is with her, trust her too.
She carries the last secret.
Adrian looked up.
Emma was staring at him.
“What?”
“Your mother left you something.”
“What?”
“A secret.”
She looked frightened.
“What secret?”
He handed her the letter.
She read it.
Then cried.
“My mother knew.”
“Yes.”
“What did she leave me?”
“We'll find out.”
May you like
But before they could continue, a helicopter appeared overhead.
Victor had found them.
