Chapter 9: The Last Test
Marcus hit the concrete hard.
For one terrifying second, he thought he'd been shot.
Then he realized the bullet had struck the metal door behind him.
Ethan came charging from the corridor.
He slammed into Voss.
The fake officer fired again.
Elena dragged Liam behind a concrete pillar.
Vanessa screamed:
“Marcus!””
“I'm okay!””
He rolled toward the wall and grabbed the fallen handgun.
Voss and Ethan struggled across the floor.
Daniel was gone.
Marcus looked around.
“Where's Daniel?””
Vanessa shook her head.
“He ran.””
“Of course he did.””
Voss kicked Ethan away and ran toward the rear exit.
Marcus raised the gun.
“Stop!””
Voss stopped.
Slowly turned.
Then smiled.
“You still don't understand.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“Drop the weapon.””
“You think Daniel is the mastermind.””
“Drop it.””
“He isn't.””
Voss laughed.
“He never was.””
Marcus froze.
Voss lowered his weapon.
“Your father knew.””
“Knew what?””
“That Daniel was stealing.””
Marcus stared.
“He let him.””
“No.””
Voss smiled.
“He encouraged him.””
Marcus shook his head.
“Why?””
“Because your father needed someone to look guilty.””
Marcus's mind raced.
“Daniel was a decoy.””
“Yes.””
“For whom?””
Voss smiled.
“Your father.””
Marcus stopped.
Voss continued.
“Your father built the trust. He moved assets. He created false companies. He manipulated the family.””
“Why?””
“To protect Liam.””
Marcus frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.””
“It does if you know who Liam is.””
Marcus looked toward the pillar.
Liam was staring at him.
Voss continued.
“Your father discovered Elena was pregnant.””
“She was.””
“With a child carrying something worth more than money.””
Marcus's voice hardened.
“What?””
“Genetic ownership.””
Marcus frowned.
Voss laughed.
“Not literally. Legally.””
He pulled a folded document from his coat.
“Your father had developed a proprietary technology through the company.””
Marcus's face changed.
“The patent.””
Voss nodded.
“Your father created a medical technology worth hundreds of millions.””
Marcus stared.
He remembered the company.
The patents.
The strange research division his father had always refused to discuss.
Voss continued.
“Liam inherited the rights.””
Marcus shook his head.
“He was twelve.””
“Exactly.””
“And the trust?””
“Protected the intellectual property until he became an adult.””
Marcus looked at the black box.
“Seventeen million?””
“The property was the visible part.””
Marcus swallowed.
“What was hidden?””
Voss smiled.
“Everything else.””
A voice came from behind him.
“Enough.””
Daniel stood in the doorway.
Blood ran down the side of his face.
He held Elena at gunpoint.
Marcus turned.
“Let her go.””
Daniel shook his head.
“You ruined everything.””
Elena stared at him.
“No. Your greed did.””
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“You were supposed to stay ignorant.””
Marcus tightened his grip on the gun.
“And you were supposed to let my son live.””
Daniel laughed.
“He isn't your son.””
Marcus stared at him.
Daniel's expression became cruel.
“You've spent twelve years pretending to be his father.””
Marcus's voice was steady.
“I don't care whose blood he has.””
Daniel's smile faded.
“He belongs to the trust.””
“No.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“He belongs to himself.””
Liam looked at him.
Daniel shook his head.
“You don't understand how much money is involved.””
“I understand enough.””
“You could own half the company.””
“I don't want it.””
“You could own everything.””
Marcus looked at Liam.
“No.””
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Then why are you fighting?””
Marcus answered without hesitation.
“Because he's my son.””
Silence.
Even Vanessa began crying.
Daniel lowered the gun slightly.
That was enough.
Ethan lunged.
Elena ducked.
Marcus fired.
The shot struck Daniel's weapon, knocking it across the floor.
Daniel stumbled.
Ethan tackled him.
Voss tried to run.
Vanessa grabbed a fire extinguisher and swung it into his legs.
He crashed to the ground.
Within seconds, the warehouse filled with sirens.
Real police officers stormed inside.
Marcus dropped the weapon.
“Hands where I can see them!””
He raised both hands.
“This man is Dr. Samuel Voss. He's not an officer.””
Two officers pulled Voss away.
Another handcuffed Daniel.
Daniel screamed:
“You have no idea what your father did!””
Marcus looked at him.
“Maybe not.””
Daniel smiled.
“But I do.””
Marcus turned.
Elena stood beside Liam.
Vanessa was crying.
Ethan was sitting against the wall, blood on his lip.
Marcus walked toward Liam.
The boy ran into his arms.
Marcus held him.
“I'm sorry.””
Liam buried his face against his chest.
“For what?””
“For not seeing it.””
“You came.””
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Yes.””
Liam pulled back.
“Dad?””
“Yeah?””
“Are you still my dad?””
Marcus looked at him.
“No matter what.””
Liam nodded.
Then Elena approached.
She stopped several feet away.
“I need to tell you something.””
Marcus looked at her.
“What?””
She glanced at Liam.
“He needs to know eventually.””
“Know what?””
Elena hesitated.
“Who his biological father is.””
Marcus looked toward Ethan.
Ethan shook his head.
“It isn't me.””
Elena nodded.
“I know.””
Marcus frowned.
“Then who?””
Elena reached into her coat.
She pulled out a sealed envelope.
The handwriting on it was unmistakable.
Marcus's father.
“Your father gave me this the night Liam was born.””
Marcus took it.
The envelope had one instruction.
*OPEN ONLY AFTER THE DNA TEST.*
Marcus looked at the police.
Then at Liam.
Then at Elena.
“We need a DNA test.””
Elena nodded.
“There is something else.””
“What?””
“The original blood sample.””
Marcus froze.
“From Liam's birth?””
“Yes.””
“Where?””
“In your father's private laboratory.””
Marcus stared.
“I thought that lab was destroyed.””
“It wasn't.””
“Where is it?””
Elena looked toward Vanessa.
Vanessa whispered:
“Under the old house.””
Marcus stared at her.
“What?””
“Your father built it beneath the basement.””
Marcus remembered the old house.
The locked basement door.
The room Vanessa had always told him never to enter.
The room his father had called unsafe.
Elena continued:
“The truth is still there.””
Marcus looked at Liam.
Then at the envelope.
For the first time, he understood why everyone had been fighting so desperately.
The money was only the surface.
The trust was only the lock.
Liam was the key.
But the answer they were looking for was hidden in his blood.
Three days later, Marcus stood inside the sealed laboratory beneath his childhood home.
Dust covered the equipment.
Old monitors flickered.
A medical refrigerator hummed in the corner.
Elena stood beside him.
Vanessa waited near the door.
Ethan stood behind them.
Marcus opened the envelope.
Inside was a single page.
His father's handwriting.
Marcus, you will want to know the truth about Liam.
But before you read it, test the blood.
Marcus looked at Elena.
“Why did he insist on that?””
She shook her head.
“I don't know.””
Marcus opened the refrigerator.
A small vial sat inside.
A faded label:
*SUBJECT L — BIRTH SAMPLE.*
His hands trembled.
The laboratory door suddenly opened.
A technician stepped inside.
“Mr. Cole?””
Marcus turned.
“Yes?””
“We finished the DNA comparison.””
Marcus's heart pounded.
“What did you find?””
The technician looked at the report.
Then at Liam's sample.
Then at Marcus.
“I think you should sit down.””
Marcus's face went pale.
“Why?””
The technician swallowed.
“Because the sample doesn't match Vanessa.””
Marcus looked at Elena.
The technician continued.
“It doesn't match Ethan either.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“Then whose DNA does it match?””
The technician hesitated.
“Yours.””
Silence.
Marcus stared at the report.
“No.””
The technician handed it to him.
“The probability is 99.99%.””
Marcus's hands began to shake.
Behind him, Vanessa whispered:
“That can't be.””
Marcus looked at Liam.
The boy stood frozen in the doorway.
His glasses were new.
His jacket was new.
But his expression was the same frightened expression Marcus had seen in the kitchen.
Marcus slowly walked toward him.
Liam whispered:
“Dad?””
Marcus dropped to his knees.
He pulled Liam into his arms.
And then he understood the final secret his father had died protecting.
Liam had never been someone else's son.
He had been Marcus's son all along.
But if that was true, then one question remained.
May you like
Why had Marcus's own DNA been hidden from him?
And why had his father spent twelve years making his own grandson believe his father was a stranger?
