PART 5 — My Father Was Never Dead
The darkness swallowed the room.
I couldn't see anything.
But I could hear breathing.
Someone was standing behind me.
“Dad?”
Ethan's frightened voice came through the glass.
“I'm here.”
I tried to sound calm.
“Don't be afraid.”
A light suddenly flickered on.
A man stood at the far end of the laboratory.
Older.
Thin.
His hair was completely gray.
But I knew that face.
Even though I hadn't seen it since I was twenty-nine.
My father.
Richard Vance.
The man I had buried fifteen years ago.
I couldn't move.
“No…”
He looked at me.
“Hello, Marcus.”
My knees almost gave way.
“You're dead.”
He smiled sadly.
“That is what they wanted you to believe.”
I stepped forward.
“Who?”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“Your mother.”
My heart pounded.
“Why?”
“Because she needed everyone to believe I was gone.”
I stared at him.
“You let me mourn you.”
“I had no choice.”
“You had fifteen years.”
“I know.”
“You watched me build my company.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me marry.”
“I did.”
“You watched Evelyn disappear.”
His expression changed.
“I tried to stop it.”
I shook my head.
“You knew?”
“I knew everything.”
My anger exploded.
“Then why didn't you come back?”
He lowered his eyes.
“Because if I returned, they would have killed you.”
“Who are ‘they’?”
He looked toward the glass room.
“The people who control your family.”
I stared at him.
“My family?”
“No.”
His voice became quiet.
“The organization behind it.”
I looked at Ethan and Noah.
“What organization?”
My father walked toward the glass.
“Northbridge.”
My stomach dropped.
“The research group?”
“It isn't a research group.”
“Then what is it?”
“A private genetic consortium.”
He paused.
“They've existed for decades.”
I looked at the children.
“And my sons?”
“Are their most important subjects.”
I felt sick.
“You experimented on them.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I tried to protect them.”
“Then why did you create this?”
My father looked at me.
“I didn't create it.”
“Eleanor said you did.”
“She lied.”
He touched the glass.
“Your mother continued my research after I discovered what Northbridge was really doing.”
“What research?”
“Cellular regeneration.”
I frowned.
“The ability to repair damaged tissue.”
He nodded.
“At first, it was medical research.”
“And then?”
“They discovered something.”
“What?”
“That certain genetic combinations could dramatically increase cellular repair.”
I looked at the twins.
“They have that combination.”
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
“Because of your family.”
I couldn't breathe.
My father continued.
“Your mother believed the children were the answer.”
“To what?”
“Human longevity.”
I stared at him.
“You're telling me she believes my sons can make people live forever?”
“Not exactly.”
He looked at me.
“She believes their DNA can be used to develop a treatment that slows cellular aging.”
My hands curled into fists.
“And she was willing to sacrifice them for it.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the boys.
“Get them out.”
My father shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“What?”
“The facility is surrounded.”
I looked around.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
I turned toward the locked door.
“We need help.”
“You already have it.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
The lights suddenly came on in the corridor.
Evelyn stood behind the glass.
Beside her was Thomas.
And several armed security officers.
My heart jumped.
“How did you get here?”
Evelyn smiled through the glass.
“Your security director traced the facility.”
Thomas held up a key.
“And I still have access to Northbridge.”
He unlocked the laboratory door.
I rushed toward Evelyn.
She threw her arms around me.
“I thought I lost you.”
“I thought I lost you six years ago.”
She pulled away.
“I never wanted to leave.”
“I know.”
My father watched us.
Then his expression changed.
“Marcus.”
I turned.
“What?”
“There's something you need to know about Evelyn.”
She froze.
I looked at her.
“What?”
My father continued.
“She's not just connected to Northbridge.”
Evelyn's face became pale.
“What are you doing?”
“I'm telling him the truth.”
I looked between them.
“What truth?”
My father stepped closer.
“Evelyn's mother was one of the original scientists.”
I stared at her.
She looked down.
“My mother was involved.”
“Not just involved.”
My father sighed.
“She helped create the genetic protocol.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“And you knew?”
“I found out years later.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid you would hate me.”
I shook my head.
“I don't hate you.”
She looked at me.
“I was afraid your family would use me to get to the boys.”
My father interrupted.
“They already did.”
“What do you mean?”
He pointed toward the children.
“Ethan and Noah weren't conceived naturally.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“What?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
I looked at her.
“Tell me he's wrong.”
She couldn't.
My heart cracked.
“What does that mean?”
She whispered,
“Before I became pregnant, your mother arranged for me to undergo fertility treatment.”
My father nodded.
“The treatment wasn't standard.”
I felt numb.
“What did they do?”
“They inserted genetic material.”
My eyes widened.
“Whose?”
My father looked at me.
“Yours.”
I stared at him.
“That makes no sense.”
“They used your stored genetic samples.”
I remembered the medical examinations I had undergone through my family's foundation years earlier.
Routine blood tests.
DNA screening.
I had never questioned them.
My mother had collected everything.
Evelyn wiped her tears.
“I didn't know.”
I believed her.
But then something else occurred to me.
“If they used my DNA…”
My eyes moved toward the boys.
“Why did they need Evelyn?”
My father looked at her.
“Because her genetic profile was the missing component.”
I felt sick.
“They selected you two.”
Ethan looked at me through the glass.
“Dad?”
I turned toward him.
“I’m here.”
He smiled.
“Can we go home?”
I looked at him.
Then at Noah.
“Yes.”
I promised them.
“We're going home.”
But my father suddenly grabbed my shoulder.
“Marcus.”
I turned.
“Your mother won't let that happen.”
“She's here?”
“No.”
He pointed toward the ceiling.
“She doesn't need to be.”
A monitor switched on.
Eleanor appeared.
She was smiling.
“You finally understand.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“You used my children.”
“I protected them.”
“You kidnapped them.”
“I preserved their future.”
“They're children!”
“And they are the only children who can complete the research.”
I felt rage rising.
“You're their grandmother.”
Her expression didn't change.
“I am their grandmother.”
She paused.
“But I am also the person who can save millions of lives.”
Thomas shouted:
“Eleanor, stop!”
She ignored him.
Then she looked directly at me.
“Marcus, there's one thing your father never told you.”
My father stiffened.
Eleanor smiled.
“Your sons aren't the only ones with the genetic mutation.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
She leaned closer to the camera.
“It means you have it too.”
My father closed his eyes.
And suddenly I understood why he had disappeared.
Why my mother had monitored me.
Why Evelyn had been chosen.
Why the boys mattered.
Because the secret wasn't really about my sons.
It was about me.
Then Eleanor delivered the final blow.
“Your father didn't disappear fifteen years ago.”
She smiled.
“He disappeared because he discovered you were already dying.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
