CHAPTER 21: THE FIRST LOCK
Ethan ran back to home plate.
“Give me the key.”
Dane hesitated.
“You heard my father.”
“So did I.”
Ethan held out his hand.
Dane finally gave him the brass key.
Ava removed her necklace.
“No,” Ethan said.
“Mommy wanted us to use it.”
“You do not know what is below us.”
“She did.”
Ava placed the silver star in his palm.
Ethan inserted the memory chip into a narrow slot beside the key.
The mechanism clicked.
A second lock rose from beneath the dirt.
It was shaped like a hand.
FAMILY IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.
Ethan pressed his palm against it.
A needle pierced his finger.
Blood entered a glass channel.
The machine flashed red.
IDENTITY REJECTED.
Ethan stared at the message.
Margaret covered her mouth.
“Mom?”
She looked away.
“You knew.”
“I knew there was a chance.”
“A chance of what?”
“That Samuel was not your biological father.”
The stadium seemed to tilt beneath Ethan.
Ava clung to him.
“Then who is?”
Margaret looked toward Conrad.
Bianca had untied him.
The billionaire slowly stood.
“No,” Conrad whispered.
Margaret’s silence confirmed it.
Conrad Vale stared at Ethan as though seeing him for the first time.
“Evelyn’s baby,” he said.
Ethan looked at the tiny photograph.
Dr. Evelyn Hart holding a baby between Samuel and Conrad.
“You are my father?”
Conrad stepped backward.
“I was told the baby died.”
Eleanor’s voice came through the scoreboard.
“He was supposed to.”
Conrad looked up.
“You told me Evelyn lost him.”
“She refused to give him to the program.”
Ethan’s anger replaced his shock.
“You tried to kill me?”
“I tried to protect everything we built.”
The timer reached 11:58.
Conrad walked toward the scanner.
“If Ethan is my son, my blood will complete the match.”
He placed his hand inside the device.
The needle pierced him.
A green light appeared.
FIRST LOCK OPEN.
The ground beneath home plate split apart.
A staircase descended into darkness.
May you like
From somewhere below, a woman began singing Ava’s favorite lullaby.
It was Claire’s voice.
