Chapter 10 - The Ledger of Sins
The decommissioned outpost was hidden behind a dense screen of pine trees off Route 9—a squat, single-story cinderblock building overgrown with ivy. Inside, the air smelled of rubbing alcohol and wood smoke from an old cast-iron stove.
Dr. Mercer, an elderly woman with silver hair pulled back into a severe bun, immediately took charge of Clara and Maya. She led Clara into an adjoining room equipped with clean, albeit dated, medical equipment, leaving Julian and Arthur alone in the main laboratory.
Julian paced the perimeter of the room, his eyes scanning rows of dusty glass beakers, locked filing cabinets, and yellowed anatomical charts. On the central stainless steel examination table lay a thick, leather-bound binder held together by electrical tape.
"What is this?" Julian asked, stopping before the book.
"The real history of the Vance family," Arthur said, pouring two glasses of amber liquid from a dusty bottle. He slid one toward Julian, who ignored it. "In 1993, my father—your grandfather—rewrote his will. He discovered that my brother, Victoria's husband, was squandering the family foundation on offshore gambling debts. So he left the entire estate to my heirs, on the condition of direct biological descent."
Julian swallowed hard, the puzzle pieces falling into place with terrifying precision. "My father didn't die in a car accident, did he?"
"He died of an overdose in a hotel room in Geneva," Arthur said quietly. "Victoria hid the body for two weeks until she could arrange the car crash narrative. But she had a bigger problem: she was barren, my brother was dead, and without a child, every penny of the Vance trust defaulted to me."
"So she took me," Julian said, his voice cracking.
"She paid off my clinic's lab director to falsify my arrest records, burnt the municipal archives to bury the transfer documents, and took you from the nursery while I was being held without bail," Arthur continued, his eyes darkening. "By the time I cleared my name, the trust had legally transferred to you, with Victoria as the sole executive guardian. I had to disappear to stay alive."
May you like
A soft cry came from the back room. Julian turned toward the door, his throat tight. "And Maya? Why use your frozen line for my daughter?"
Arthur looked at Julian with profound sorrow. "Because you are sterile, Julian. The radiation treatments you had as a child for 'leukemia' weren't to save your life. Victoria had you sterilized to ensure you would never produce an heir she couldn't personally control."
