Chapter 13 - The Price of a Cure
Marcus stared at the white glass separating him from Lily.
“My daughter?”
Thomas Vale smiled.
“Biologically.”
Marcus moved so fast Julian barely saw him.
He seized Thomas by the throat and slammed him against the wall.
“Marcus!”
The guards raised their weapons.
Julian stepped between them.
“Nobody shoots.”
Thomas made no attempt to fight back.
Marcus tightened his grip.
“You used me.”
Thomas struggled to breathe.
“You used Camille.”
Marcus pressed harder.
“You created a child with my DNA and never told me she existed.”
Thomas managed a whisper.
“I saved your life.”
Marcus released him as though the words had burned his hands.
Thomas collapsed against the wall, coughing.
“You call this saving me?”
Thomas rubbed his throat.
“You were born with the same susceptibility I have.”
“You said Edmund caused the disease.”
“He caused the first generation.”
Thomas slowly stood.
“The damage did not end with us.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You still don’t know that.”
“I know my own body.”
“You know what Edmund taught you to believe.”
Thomas’s expression darkened.
For the first time, Julian saw something beneath his father’s cruelty.
Fear.
Thomas was terrified of dying.
Perhaps he had been terrified since he was six years old.
It explained him.
It did not excuse him.
Marcus pointed toward the laboratory.
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“Open it.”
“Not until I have authorization.”
“You aren’t getting it.”
Thomas looked at him almost sadly.
“Then Lily may die before you do.”
Marcus went still.
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing.”
“Thomas.”
“She inherited the susceptibility.”
Marcus’s face drained.
“She’s four.”
“Which is why treatment now would be ideal.”
Julian felt disgust rise inside him.
“You engineered her as a donor and a patient.”
Thomas looked toward him.
“I engineered nothing.”
“You switched the biological sample.”
“Yes.”
“You impregnated Camille without telling her whose embryo she carried.”
“Yes.”
“You watched Lily for four years.”
“Yes.”
“And you call that nothing?”
Thomas’s expression remained calm.
“I call it preparation.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You don’t love anyone.”
Thomas looked at her.
“That is an easy judgment for someone who has never watched an entire family die from the same disease.”
“I watched you threaten my child before he was born.”
“To prevent you from making decisions based on emotion.”
“He is my son.”
“And Marcus is mine.”
Marcus recoiled.
Thomas continued.
“Everything I did was designed to ensure he survived.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You could have started by telling me I was sick.”
“And what would you have done?”
“Gotten treatment.”
“There was no treatment.”
“You could have told me the truth.”
“Truth does not cure cardiomyopathy.”
“No.”
Marcus looked through the glass toward Lily.
“But apparently kidnapping children does.”
Thomas said nothing.
That silence answered enough.
***
Victoria approached the control panel.
Thomas blocked her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“You have already lost.”
Thomas smiled.
“Have I?”
Victoria pointed toward Julian.
“He controls Vale Global.”
Then Elena.
“She controls the Marquez authorization.”
Then Marcus.
“And he controls the Vale bloodline authorization.”
Thomas’s smile remained.
“Exactly.”
Victoria stopped.
Julian understood.
Thomas had gathered all three of them in one building.
Not because he needed Daniel.
Not because he needed Lily.
Because he needed signatures.
“Elena,” Julian said quietly.
She understood immediately.
Thomas looked at them.
“You can make this difficult or simple.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Let Lily and Camille go.”
“Authorize the trust.”
“First.”
“No.”
“Then we have nothing to discuss.”
Thomas sighed.
“You still think this is a negotiation.”
He pressed a button.
The glass became transparent again.
Lily was lying on a medical bed.
Camille stood beside her, restrained by two guards.
A technician attached electrodes to Lily’s chest.
Marcus rushed toward the glass.
“What are they doing?”
Thomas looked at his watch.
“Testing.”
“For what?”
“Compatibility.”
Marcus turned.
“With whom?”
Thomas smiled.
“With me.”
Silence.
Marcus looked confused.
“You said you needed a donor compatible with me.”
“I said your treatment would require one.”
“And yours?”
Thomas looked toward Lily.
“The closer the genetic match, the better.”
Marcus’s face twisted.
“She’s your granddaughter.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to use her.”
“If necessary.”
Marcus stepped toward Thomas.
Julian caught him.
“Don’t.”
“He’s going to hurt her.”
“I know.”
“Then let me go.”
“That’s what he wants.”
Marcus stared at him.
Julian lowered his voice.
“Think.”
For years Marcus had been the calm one.
The strategist.
Thomas was deliberately stripping that away.
Just as he had tried to make Julian doubt Elena.
Just as he had made Elena fear Julian.
Control through emotion.
Julian looked toward Thomas.
“No more.”
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
“No more what?”
“No more reacting to whatever story you tell us.”
He looked at Victoria.
“You said the original evidence is here.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
Victoria noticed.
“Edmund’s archive.”
Thomas spoke sharply.
“Victoria.”
She ignored him.
“Sublevel four.”
Marcus frowned.
“You said there were only three underground levels.”
“There are officially.”
Julian almost smiled.
“Of course.”
Thomas stepped toward Victoria.
“You will not open it.”
“Why?”
“Because you know what’s inside.”
“Yes.”
“What?” Elena asked.
Victoria looked at her.
“The original trial records.”
“Proof Edmund poisoned his family?”
“More than that.”
Thomas’s face hardened.
Victoria continued.
“Proof that Thomas knew the treatment failed.”
Marcus stared.
“What?”
Thomas shouted, “She’s lying.”
Victoria looked directly at Marcus.
“The therapy Thomas wants to use has already been tested.”
“On whom?”
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.
“Children.”
Silence.
Elena covered her mouth.
Thomas’s expression became murderous.
Victoria continued.
“Saint Orison treated six genetically compatible children.”
Marcus whispered, “What happened?”
“Four died.”
“And the other two?”
“One suffered permanent neurological injury.”
Marcus swallowed.
“The sixth?”
Victoria looked at Thomas.
“Disappeared.”
Julian saw Thomas’s reaction.
There.
A tiny movement.
Fear.
“Who was the sixth child?” Julian asked.
Victoria did not know.
Thomas did.
Julian could see it.
“Who?”
Thomas turned away.
Julian grabbed him.
“Who survived?”
Thomas looked at him.
“No one you know.”
A voice came from behind them.
“That’s another lie.”
Everyone turned.
Camila Laurent stood at the end of the corridor.
A pistol in her hand.
Thomas froze.
“Camila.”
She aimed directly at him.
“You should have left my family alone.”
Julian stared at her.
“How did you get inside?”
“I helped design the security system.”
Marcus looked through the glass at Camille.
Then at Camila.
“You know her?”
Camila’s eyes filled.
“She’s my cousin.”
Another family connection.
Julian almost laughed.
“Can anyone in this story be unrelated?”
Camila ignored him.
She looked at Thomas.
“Open the laboratory.”
“No.”
Camila cocked the pistol.
“Open it.”
Thomas smiled.
“You won’t shoot me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the only person who knows where your father is.”
Camila’s hand trembled.
“My father is dead.”
Thomas smiled wider.
“No.”
Camila’s face changed.
Julian recognized the tactic immediately.
Another dead person.
Another resurrection.
Another hook.
“Don’t listen to him,” Julian said.
Thomas looked at him.
“You’re learning.”
Camila kept the weapon raised.
“Open the door.”
Thomas pressed the control.
The laboratory door unlocked.
Marcus rushed inside.
“Lily!”
The little girl saw him.
She looked frightened.
Not because she knew he was her father.
Because she barely knew him.
Marcus slowed.
He crouched.
“Hi, Lily.”
She stared at him.
“Where’s Julian?”
The question hurt.
Julian entered behind Marcus.
“I’m here.”
Lily reached toward him.
Marcus’s face changed.
Julian saw it.
The pain of discovering you were a father and realizing the child did not know you.
Julian understood that pain better than anyone.
He lifted Lily from the bed.
“You’re okay.”
“Mommy?”
Camille struggled against the guards.
Marcus turned.
“Let her go.”
The guards looked toward Thomas.
Camila raised her pistol.
“They weren’t asking.”
The guards released Camille.
She ran toward Lily.
Then saw Marcus.
Everything stopped.
For four years, Camille had hidden the truth from him.
Marcus looked at her.
“Is she mine?”
Camille began crying.
“Yes.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Did you know?”
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“When she was six months old.”
“And you never told me?”
“I tried.”
“No.”
“I did.”
Camille looked toward Richard.
Marcus followed her gaze.
Richard went pale.
“What?”
Camille’s voice hardened.
“I sent Richard the DNA test.”
Marcus turned.
Richard backed away.
“No.”
“You knew.”
Richard shook his head.
“Camille—”
“You knew Lily was Marcus’s daughter.”
Marcus crossed the room.
Richard did not resist.
“Why?”
“I was protecting you.”
Marcus laughed.
Then punched him.
Richard fell.
This time Julian did not stop him.
***
Camila kept Thomas at gunpoint while Victoria led Julian, Elena and Marcus toward the hidden elevator.
Camille remained with Lily under guard from Marcus’s contacts, who had finally breached the outer facility.
Richard followed at a distance.
No one trusted him.
The elevator descended beyond the listed floors.
B1.
B2.
B3.
Then—
B4.
The doors opened.
Cold air.
Rows of filing cabinets.
Old computers.
Refrigerated storage units.
No sleek laboratory.
No futuristic technology.
Just history.
Victoria walked toward a locked cabinet.
“Edmund kept everything.”
She entered a code.
The cabinet opened.
Inside were film reels.
Paper files.
Medical photographs.
Patient records.
Julian picked up one folder.
SUBJECT 01.
Thomas Vale.
Age six.
His stomach tightened.
Subject 02.
Richard Vale.
Age four.
Subject 03.
A girl.
Julian frowned.
“Who is she?”
Victoria looked.
Then went pale.
“No.”
“What?”
She took the file.
The child’s name:
VICTORIA HART.
Julian stared at his mother.
“You were part of it.”
Victoria sat down slowly.
“I didn’t know.”
Thomas laughed behind them.
They turned.
He stood at the elevator entrance.
Camila beside him.
But the pistol was no longer in her hand.
Thomas held it.
Camila’s face was bleeding.
Two guards restrained her.
“You always were curious, Victoria.”
Julian moved in front of Elena.
Thomas raised the gun.
“Stay.”
Victoria stared at her childhood file.
“My parents told me I had rheumatic fever.”
“No.”
Thomas smiled.
“Edmund treated you too.”
Victoria looked horrified.
“Why?”
“Because he needed unrelated controls.”
Julian understood.
His mother had not randomly married into the Vale family.
Edmund had known her since childhood.
Another engineered relationship.
Another life arranged.
Thomas looked at Julian.
“You see now?”
“See what?”
“There are no accidents in families like ours.”
Elena spoke from behind Julian.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
Thomas looked at her.
She took Julian’s hand.
“You arranged meetings.”
Her fingers tightened around his.
“You moved people.”
She looked toward Marcus.
“You manipulated births.”
Then Victoria.
“You buried truths.”
Finally Thomas.
“But you never controlled what people felt.”
Thomas’s expression hardened.
“Feelings are chemical noise.”
“No.”
Elena looked toward the elevator.
“Feelings are why Camille protected Lily.”
Marcus’s eyes shifted.
“Why Victoria risked everything for Julian.”
Julian looked at his mother.
“And why your entire plan is collapsing.”
Thomas raised the gun toward Elena.
Julian stepped in front of her.
“Don’t.”
Thomas stared at him.
“You would die for her?”
“Yes.”
“No hesitation?”
“None.”
Thomas looked genuinely puzzled.
Perhaps love truly was the one variable he had never understood.
Then a computer behind Victoria activated.
No one had touched it.
A file opened automatically.
1969-M.
Thomas turned.
“No.”
Victoria stared at the screen.
“The original file.”
A video began.
Black-and-white footage.
Edmund Vale appeared in a laboratory.
Beside him stood Isabel Marquez.
They were arguing.
There was no audio initially.
Then sound crackled.
Isabel’s voice:
“You tested it on your own children?”
Edmund answered.
“They were available.”
Elena closed her eyes.
The casual cruelty was almost worse than Thomas’s.
The recording continued.
Isabel held up a vial.
“This compound causes myocardial fibrosis.”
“It also creates the perfect model for treatment.”
“They’re children.”
“They’re Vales.”
Thomas shouted.
“Turn it off!”
No one moved.
Edmund continued on the recording.
“The next generation will thank me.”
Isabel stared at him.
“There won’t be a next generation if you keep doing this.”
Then she said something that made Thomas stop struggling.
“I changed the formula.”
Edmund froze.
“What?”
“The doses you gave Thomas and Richard.”
Thomas stared at the screen.
Isabel continued.
“I added a protective agent.”
Victoria whispered, “Oh my God.”
Edmund grabbed Isabel.
“You did what?”
“Your sons may survive despite you.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
Thomas looked shaken.
More shaken than Julian had ever seen him.
“All these years…”
Victoria understood.
“Isabel protected you.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“She saved your life.”
“No.”
“The Marquez research wasn’t the cure you needed now.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“It was already given to you when you were a child.”
Thomas’s gun lowered slightly.
“My disease…”
“May not be what you think.”
Thomas stared at her.
Marcus opened Thomas’s recent medical file.
He scanned it.
Then another document.
“Thomas.”
Thomas looked at him.
“This diagnosis isn’t cardiomyopathy.”
Thomas’s face changed.
“What?”
Marcus turned the screen.
“Your heart function is reduced, but not from the Vale mutation.”
“What is it?”
Marcus read the report.
Then stopped.
“Drug toxicity.”
Silence.
Thomas stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus checked the medication list.
Then his expression darkened.
“Someone has been poisoning you.”
Julian felt the room change.
Thomas had built everything around the belief he was dying from Edmund’s disease.
But someone had manufactured that belief.
Just as someone had manufactured Julian’s infertility report.
The same strategy.
Medical evidence.
Fear.
Manipulation.
Thomas slowly turned toward Richard.
Richard stood near the elevator.
His face had gone completely still.
Julian saw it.
So did Marcus.
“Richard?”
Richard stepped backward.
Thomas whispered:
“You.”
Richard reached inside his jacket.
Marcus moved.
Too late.
Richard pulled a pistol.
He aimed it at Thomas.
“Yes.”
Everyone froze.
Julian stared at his biological father.
Richard smiled sadly.
“You were never supposed to reach Saint Orison.”
Thomas’s face twisted with disbelief.
“You poisoned me?”
“For seven years.”
“Why?”
Richard looked at Julian.
Then Marcus.
Then Elena.
Then the archive surrounding them.
“Because Thomas was never the only man trying to take control of the trust.”
Julian felt the final structure of the conspiracy shift.
Richard raised the gun.
“I was.”