Chapter 14 - The Enemy Within
Nobody spoke.
The words seemed impossible.
My unborn son was the second trust.
Not the beneficiary.
Not merely an heir.
The trust itself.
I looked at James.
“Explain.”
James took the document from Margaret.
His eyes moved rapidly across the pages.
Then he stopped.
“Oh, my God.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Your grandfather created a biometric inheritance.”
“What does that mean?”
“The trust activates when the child is born.”
“And before then?”
“It remains inaccessible.”
Vane couldn't steal it.
No one could transfer it.
No one could sell it.
No one could touch it.
Until Noah was born.
I looked at Emily.
She was trembling.
“That means they can't get the money.”
James shook his head.
“They can get something more valuable.”
“What?”
“Control.”
He pointed to a paragraph.
“If the child is born under hostile circumstances, the trustee can temporarily assume control of the Carter estate.”
I frowned.
“Who is the trustee?”
James looked at me.
“You.”
I froze.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“And if something happens to me?”
“Emily.”
Emily stared at the document.
“And if something happens to both of us?”
James's face darkened.
“Ryan.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“So Vane needs to eliminate all three of us.”
“Yes.”
“And Elena?”
James nodded.
“She is the original bloodline.”
Elena understood.
“If I die, Ryan inherits.”
“Yes.”
“And if Ryan dies…”
“Noah inherits.”
I felt sick.
The succession formed a chain.
Elena.
Ryan.
Noah.
And the four of us stood between Vane and everything he had spent twenty-three years trying to steal.
Then Thomas spoke.
“There is one more person.”
Everyone looked at him.
Thomas continued.
“The enemy within.”
I looked at him.
“Who?”
Thomas pointed toward the doorway.
“Your mother.”
Margaret didn't move.
Emily gasped.
I stared at Thomas.
“What are you talking about?”
“She knows where Vane keeps the evidence.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“You gave him the location of the first trust.”
“I was protecting Elena.”
“You gave him the location of St. Agnes.”
“I was forced.”
“You gave him access to the hospital.”
Margaret's face went pale.
I looked at her.
“Mom?”
She began crying.
“I didn't know he would hurt Emily.”
“You knew he was tracking her.”
“I knew he was watching the family.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
I felt betrayed.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
The room went silent.
“Six months?”
She nodded.
“I discovered Vane was looking for Noah before you knew about the trust.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought I could stop him.”
“You couldn't.”
“I know.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“She wasn't working for Vane.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“She was working against him.”
Margaret looked at Thomas.
“Don't.”
“He deserves the truth.”
She closed her eyes.
Thomas continued.
“Margaret infiltrated Vane's network.”
I stared.
“You were spying on him?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you let Emily get taken?”
“I didn't.”
She wiped her tears.
“The hospital abduction was never supposed to happen.”
“Then who ordered it?”
She looked at Thomas.
“Someone inside the hospital.”
I remembered the fake doctor.
The blackout.
The missing security footage.
The stolen medical records.
“The doctor.”
Margaret nodded.
“He works for Vane.”
James opened the hospital file.
“There's more.”
He pulled out a medical report.
Emily's name was on it.
“What's that?”
“A genetic test.”
Emily stared.
“I never authorized that.”
“I know.”
The report showed a prenatal blood sample.
The test had been conducted secretly.
I read the results.
PATERNAL LINEAGE: CARTER
That wasn't surprising.
Then I read the second result.
MATERNAL LINEAGE: CARTER / ELENA BRANCH — CONFIRMED
I frowned.
“How can Emily's unborn child have Elena's bloodline?”
James looked at me.
“Because Elena is Emily's biological sister.”
I knew that.
“But the report says direct lineage.”
James pointed to another section.
“Look.”
I read it.
GENETIC MARKER CONSISTENT WITH FOUNDING CARTER BLOODLINE.
Ryan stepped forward.
“So Noah has the same marker as me.”
“Yes.”
“Then Vane knows.”
James nodded.
“He knows exactly what Noah is.”
Emily's hand went to her stomach.
“That's why he wants my baby.”
“Yes.”
Then Margaret whispered:
“There's another reason.”
Everyone turned.
She looked terrified.
“What?”
She swallowed.
“Vane already has a sample of Noah's blood.”
Emily's face went white.
“What?”
“During one of your earlier hospital visits.”
I felt rage explode through me.
“Who took it?”
“The doctor.”
“Why?”
“To create a legal identity.”
I didn't understand.
“What identity?”
Margaret handed me a document.
I read it.
Then read it again.
The unborn child had already been registered under another name.
NOAH CARTER VALE.
My blood ran cold.
“Who authorized this?”
Margaret whispered:
“Alexander Vane.”
I crushed the document in my hand.
“He's trying to create a second legal identity for my son.”
James nodded.
“If he succeeds, Vane could argue that the child is under his legal guardianship.”
“Before he's even born?”
“Yes.”
“That can't happen.”
“It already has.”
I looked at Emily.
She was crying silently.
I pulled her against me.
“No one is taking our son.”
Ryan stepped beside us.
“No one.”
Elena joined him.
“He's my family too.”
For the first time, all of us stood together.
Then Thomas walked toward me.
“There is one thing you need to know.”
“What?”
He handed me a small envelope.
“Your grandfather left this for you.”
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A newborn baby.
Elena holding him.
Thomas standing beside them.
And a third person.
My grandfather.
But there was something strange.
Behind them was a hospital window.
And written on the glass was a date.
SEPTEMBER 4, 2003.
I stared at the photograph.
“That's the day Ryan was born.”
“Yes.”
I turned it over.
There was a message.
The first heir was protected.
Then another sentence.
The second heir must never be born into the enemy's hands.
My heart stopped.
Emily looked at me.
“Daniel…”
I looked at the date.
September 4.
Exactly twenty-three years later.
Today.
I suddenly understood why Vane had chosen this day.
He wasn't trying to stop Noah from inheriting.
He was trying to repeat history.
Twenty-three years ago, Elena gave birth.
Her baby was taken.
Today, Emily was eight months pregnant.
And Vane intended to do the same thing again.
But this time, he had made one mistake.
He had revealed his plan.
I folded the photograph.
“We're going after him.”
Ryan nodded.
“Where?”
I looked at Margaret.
She knew.
Her face told me before she spoke.
“Blackstone Meridian headquarters.”
James frowned.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Blackstone Meridian hasn't had a public headquarters in eleven years.”
Margaret shook her head.
“There is one.”
“Where?”
She whispered:
“Under the old Carter building.”
My blood ran cold.
The same building where Vault 714 was hidden.
The same place where my grandfather had buried his secrets.
The same place where Vane had apparently built his empire beneath ours.
I looked at Ryan.
“Then that's where we go.”
But before we could move, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then I heard a newborn crying.
My entire body froze.
Emily grabbed my arm.
“That isn't Noah.”
I listened.
The crying stopped.
A man's voice came through.
“Not yet.”
I recognized it.
Alexander Vane.
“You have six hours.”
“For what?”
“To choose which Carter child survives.”
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Then a message appeared.
A photograph.
Thomas.
Ryan.
Elena.
Margaret.
All standing inside an underground room.
And behind them—
a wall covered in photographs.
Every member of the Carter family.
Every birth.
Every death.
Every disappearance.
At the center was one photograph circled in red.
Mine.
Under it were four words:
THE LAST BETRAYAL BEGINS.
I looked at my family.
Someone had been watching us for twenty-three years.
May you like
And now—
they were watching us from inside our own bloodline.
