CHAPTER 24 : THE TWO HEARTS
Adrian placed Claire’s newborn on the medical platform.
“His oxygen level is falling.”
Claire stood beside him.
“Fix it.”
“I don’t know what they did to him.”
“Then learn.”
Adrian connected a breathing tube while Daniel examined the preserved child.
The infant’s skin had grown pale again.
Both heart rhythms weakened together.
Helen opened a hidden compartment beneath the console and removed two silver bands.
She placed one around each baby’s wrist.
The heart rates stabilized slightly.
“What are those?” Vanessa asked.
“Continuity relays,” Helen replied. “They allow the children’s nervous systems to exchange signals.”
Claire stared at her.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I knew it was possible.”
“That’s why you demanded both children.”
Helen did not deny it.
Ethan grabbed her arm.
“Were you saving us in the elevator, or were you saving your experiment?”
Helen looked into his eyes.
“I stopped seeing a difference a long time ago.”
Ethan released her in disgust.
Daniel pointed toward a sealed door at the rear of the chamber.
“The main vault contains a dual cardiac cradle.”
Adrian continued working.
“That could stabilize them.”
“It can also activate the Blackwood succession system,” Helen warned.
Ethan looked at the children.
“Open it.”
“The trust will recognize the preserved infant as the primary heir.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will when it strips every legal identity from you.”
Ethan moved toward the sealed door.
“My name can disappear. Those children cannot.”
He placed his palm on the scanner.
ACCESS DENIED.
WITNESS AND PRIMARY HEIR REQUIRED.
Daniel lifted the preserved infant.
The baby’s palm was pressed against a lower sensor.
The terminal recognized him immediately.
PRIMARY HEIR ACCEPTED.
WITNESS REQUIRED.
Ethan placed his hand against the scanner again.
This time, the door opened.
Beyond it was not a room filled with gold, documents or weapons.
It was a nursery.
Three glass cradles stood beneath soft white lights.
The first was labeled PRESERVATION LINE.
The second was labeled SUCCESSION LINE.
The third cradle was empty.
Its label read RELEASED SUBJECT.
Adrian placed the two infants into the first cradles.
Mechanical arms descended.
Their heart rhythms slowly strengthened.
Vanessa approached the empty cradle.
“Who was kept here?”
Helen did not answer.
A screen activated above it.
SUBJECT THREE.
GENETIC CLASSIFICATION: COMPOSITE HEIR.
RELEASED NINETEEN YEARS AGO.
CURRENT IDENTITY: UNKNOWN.
Daniel looked toward Helen.
“You told me the third child died.”
“I was told he did.”
The terminal began searching external records.
Photographs moved across the screen.
School records.
Medical files.
Facial comparisons.
The system stopped on one image.
Noah.
His current photograph appeared beside an infant identification band.
Claire stared at the screen.
“Noah is the third child.”
A speaker crackled above them.
Thomas’s voice filled the nursery.
“At last.”
The vault door slammed shut.
Through the reinforced glass, Thomas appeared with one arm around Noah’s neck.
Grant stood beside him, holding Margaret at gunpoint.
Thomas smiled at Ethan.
“You found my son’s inheritance.”
Noah looked at the empty cradle.
His face had gone white.
May you like
Thomas pressed the weapon against his side.
“Now put him back where he belongs.”
