Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Was Supposed to Be Dead Knew Why They Were Hunting Lila
We spent the next two days underground.
Victor refused to explain everything.
Gabriel refused to leave Lila.
Damian refused to trust either of them.
And I refused to sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my daughter's face in the little photograph.
The bracelet.
The hidden medical record.
The words biological father.
None of it felt real.
I finally confronted Gabriel.
“Is Lila yours?”
He looked at me.
“Yes.”
“You're certain?”
“My mother told me about you.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
“When did you meet my mother?”
“She worked in Grayhaven.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
“I met you once.”
I remembered.
Vaguely.
A winter afternoon.
A young man carrying groceries up our apartment stairs.
I had been seventeen.
He had smiled.
I had forgotten him.
He hadn't forgotten me.
“I didn't know you were pregnant,” Gabriel said.
“My mother never told me.”
“She was protecting you.”
“From Victor?”
“From everyone.”
I sat down.
“What happened to you?”
Gabriel looked away.
“Victor ordered me killed.”
“Why?”
“Because I refused to become him.”
Damian said nothing.
Gabriel continued.
“He wanted one heir. Damian.”
I looked toward Damian.
He was standing by the window.
“You hated him?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I hated what they made him become.”
Damian finally spoke.
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
“You should have told me.”
“I was supposed to be dead.”
“And Eliana?”
Gabriel looked down.
“She survived.”
I froze.
“The baby?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“With someone you know.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“My mother?”
He nodded.
“My mother raised Eliana?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
He looked at Damian.
“His mother."
Damian's expression changed.
“My mother?”
“Your mother hid Eliana before Victor could find her.”
“But she died.”
“Yes.”
“Then who raised her?”
Gabriel looked at Lila.
“That's what we're trying to find out.”
Lila began crying.
Not loudly.
Silent tears.
I rushed to her.
She touched her heart.
Then mine.
Then pointed at the door.
Someone was outside.
Damian opened it.
A woman stood there.
Her hair was silver.
Her face was scarred.
Her eyes were exactly like Damian's.
She looked at Lila.
Then she whispered,
“Eliana.”
I stared.
“No.”
The woman dropped to her knees.
“I've been looking for her for twenty-two years.”
Damian couldn't speak.
Gabriel walked toward the woman.
“Mother?”
She looked at him.
Then Damian.
“You're both alive.”
Victor appeared behind us.
The woman immediately recoiled.
“You.”
Victor said nothing.
She pointed at him.
“You stole my children.”
“No.”
“You buried our daughter.”
“No.”
“You let her believe she was alone.”
Victor's face hardened.
“I kept you all alive.”
“By destroying us.”
Damian looked at her.
“Mother?”
She stepped forward.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did I.”
She touched his face.
Then looked at Gabriel.
“Both my sons.”
The reunion was brief.
Because she immediately looked at Lila.
“She is not Eliana.”
Gabriel swallowed.
“No.”
“Then who is she?”
I spoke.
“My daughter.”
The woman stared.
“What's her name?”
“Lila.”
Her face changed.
“Then we have even less time than I thought.”
“Why?”
“Because there is someone in this family who wants every trace of our bloodline erased.”
Damian asked, “Who?”
She looked toward Victor.
“Your uncle.”
I frowned.
“Damian has an uncle?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Everywhere.”
A phone rang.
Victor answered.
His face turned pale.
He handed the phone to Damian.
A voice came through.
“Bring Gabriel.”
“Who are you?”
“You know me.”
Damian froze.
It was a voice I'd heard before.
The voice of Grayhaven House's head physician.
Dr. Hale.
The man who had treated Damian.
The man who supposedly couldn't help.
The man who had prescribed every medication.
Damian's voice became cold.
“You poisoned me.”
Dr. Hale laughed.
“Not alone.”
The line ended.
We searched the safe house.
Then Lila pointed toward Damian's medicine bag.
Inside was a tiny recording device.
She had sensed it.
Damian destroyed it.
But not before a voice played.
Dr. Hale.
And Victor.
Together.
Planning Damian's poisoning months earlier.
Victor stared at the recorder.
“I never authorized this.”
Damian looked at him.
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No.”
Victor looked at Lila.
“But I know why.”
“Why?”
“Because the toxin wasn't designed to kill you.”
He looked at Gabriel.
“It was designed to make your heart unstable.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever controls your medication controls your body.”
Damian's face hardened.
“And the end goal?”
Victor said,
“To force you to sign control of Grayhaven House.”
I finally understood.
This wasn't about revenge.
It wasn't about money.
It was a coup.
Someone wanted Damian alive enough to surrender power.
And someone had been manipulating his illness for months.
But the greatest revelation was still waiting.
Lila walked to the wall.
She touched it.
Then pointed.
Behind the wall was a hollow space.
Viktor broke it open.
Inside was an envelope.
My name was written on it.
I opened it.
The handwriting was my mother's.
Emma,
If you are reading this, I failed again.
Your daughter was never supposed to return to Grayhaven.
Because the last secret is not about the Volkov bloodline.
May you like
It is about you.
You were the first child they tried to hide.
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