Chapter 12 - Saint Orison
Thomas Vale had six hours to live.
Julian finally understood why a dying man had spent years engineering children.
Not legacy.
Not inheritance.
Survival.
“He wants Daniel for treatment.”
Elena’s arms tightened around the sleeping newborn.
“No.”
One word.
Absolute.
Julian looked at Richard.
“Explain exactly what Thomas thinks he can do.”
Richard glanced at the old research files.
“I can’t. I never saw the complete medical protocol.”
“Then who has?”
“Victoria.”
“My mother is his prisoner.”
“And Camille.”
Marcus looked up.
“Why Camille?”
“She spent years inside Saint Orison. If Thomas reached the treatment stage, she may know how it works.”
Julian turned toward the trust archive.
“Then we go there.”
Elena nodded.
Julian looked at her.
“But Daniel doesn’t.”
Her expression changed.
“You expect me to leave him?”
“I expect us not to carry the one thing Thomas wants directly into his facility.”
“He’s premature.”
“Dr. Ward stays with him.”
Elena looked at Helen.
The physician nodded.
“I can care for him.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“No.”
Julian crouched in front of her.
“Thomas wants Daniel.”
“And Thomas wants me.”
“Yes.”
“So wherever I go, Daniel is safer somewhere else.”
Julian stopped.
She had reached the same conclusion.
That did not make it easier.
Elena looked down at their son.
Daniel slept peacefully, unaware that men had built decades of schemes around bloodlines that meant nothing to him.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I just had him.”
Julian touched Daniel’s tiny hand.
“I know.”
“I’m supposed to hold him.”
“I know.”
“Feed him.”
“I know.”
“Not leave him because your insane father wants to experiment on him.”
Julian swallowed.
“Thomas isn’t my father.”
Elena looked at him.
For one strange second, they almost laughed.
Nothing about their family could remain simple for longer than five minutes.
Julian kissed Daniel’s forehead.
“Then let’s make sure he never has to know any of this.”
***
They left for Switzerland before sunset.
Daniel remained in a private medical residence under Dr. Ward’s care.
Only four people knew the location.
Julian.
Elena.
Dr. Ward.
Marcus.
Not Richard.
Julian had made that decision deliberately.
Richard noticed.
He said nothing.
Trust was no longer given.
It was rationed.
The flight lasted through the night.
Elena slept intermittently.
Julian did not sleep at all.
Marcus sat across the cabin studying Saint Orison.
Officially, the facility did not exist.
The property belonged to a charitable medical foundation near Lake Geneva.
Satellite images showed three buildings.
Property records showed two.
“That’s our first problem,” Marcus said.
“What?”
He turned the laptop.
“The third structure is mostly underground.”
Richard leaned closer.
“Research wing.”
“How do you know?”
“Camille described it.”
Julian looked at him.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“You keep remembering useful information very late.”
Richard accepted the criticism.
“She told me Saint Orison had three levels below ground.”
“For children?”
“Initially.”
Elena looked up.
“What happened to them?”
Richard said nothing.
“Richard.”
“Some were adopted.”
“Some?”
“Some remained.”
“For experiments?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do know.”
Richard’s silence answered.
Elena turned toward the window.
Julian saw her face.
The story had begun with one unborn child.
Now it contained generations of children treated as assets.
Subjects.
Heirs.
Solutions.
Julian felt something settle inside him.
Not rage this time.
Purpose.
“I’m shutting it down.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Saint Orison?”
“All of it.”
“Vale Global?”
“If necessary.”
Richard stared.
“You would destroy the company?”
“If the company exists because my family stole research and experimented on people, yes.”
“Thousands of employees depend on it.”
“Then we preserve the employees and destroy the people responsible.”
Richard studied him.
“You sound like Victoria.”
Julian looked away.
He hoped so.
***
They landed outside Geneva shortly after dawn.
No corporate vehicles.
No Vale security.
Marcus had arranged everything through people Thomas did not know.
At least, that was the theory.
A van took them into the countryside.
Mountains rose in the distance.
Beautiful.
Calm.
Almost offensively peaceful.
Saint Orison appeared beyond a stone wall.
It looked like a private rehabilitation center.
White buildings.
Gardens.
Tall windows.
No guards visible.
Marcus checked the time.
Two hours and fourteen minutes remained on Thomas’s deadline.
“How do we enter?” Elena asked.
“We don’t.”
Julian looked at Marcus.
“What?”
“We let them invite us.”
Marcus removed his phone.
“I contacted Thomas twenty minutes ago.”
Julian stared at him.
“You what?”
“I told him we landed.”
“You did that without asking me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if he knows we’re here, he keeps Victoria and Lily alive.”
Julian hated the logic.
Again.
“You’re getting increasingly comfortable ignoring me.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Maybe it’s genetic.”
Richard made the mistake of smiling.
Both men looked at him.
He stopped.
***
The gate opened automatically.
A man in a dark suit waited.
“No weapons.”
Marcus handed over his pistol.
Richard did the same.
Julian had none.
The man looked at Elena.
“Mrs. Vale.”
“Marquez.”
The guard frowned.
“Elena Marquez.”
She held his gaze.
Julian almost smiled.
Even here.
Especially here.
They were escorted inside.
The facility smelled like a hospital.
Clean.
Cold.
Silent.
But Elena noticed something.
Drawings.
Children’s drawings.
Pinned along one corridor.
Houses.
Families.
Mountains.
One showed a little girl holding hands with two adults.
Above them, in childish handwriting:
WHEN CAN I GO HOME?
Elena stopped.
“How many children are here?”
The guard ignored her.
She grabbed his arm.
“How many?”
Julian gently pulled her away.
“We’ll find out.”
They entered an elevator.
Down.
One level.
Two.
Three.
When the doors opened, Thomas Vale was waiting.
No gun.
No guards beside him.
He looked weaker than he had at the boathouse.
His skin was gray.
His breathing slightly labored.
For the first time, Julian saw not the monster of his childhood—
but a dying old man.
Thomas smiled.
“You came.”
“Where are Lily and my mother?”
“Still obsessed with emotional reunions.”
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“And Camille?”
“Recovering.”
Elena stepped forward.
“What do you want from me?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Authorization.”
“For the trust?”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
Thomas smiled.
“So you named him.”
Elena’s expression became ice.
“Do not say my son’s name.”
“He belongs to history whether you like it or not.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“He belongs to himself.”
Thomas studied her.
Then laughed softly.
“That is exactly what Isabel would have said.”
“You didn’t know my grandmother.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“I knew her daughter.”
Elena stopped.
“My mother?”
Thomas said nothing.
Elena’s face changed.
“You knew my mother.”
“I knew many people.”
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing.”
“Where is she?”
Julian looked at Elena.
Her mother had died when Elena was young.
At least, that was what Elena believed.
Thomas saw their reaction.
“Not another resurrection.”
He almost sounded amused.
“Rosa Marquez really is dead.”
Elena’s eyes filled with anger.
“You enjoy this.”
“No.”
Thomas coughed.
A long, painful cough.
When he removed his handkerchief, there was blood on it.
“I am simply out of time.”
Julian looked at him.
“Then release them.”
Thomas straightened.
“Authorize the trust.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies with me.”
“You need Marcus too.”
Thomas looked toward him.
“My son.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“Don’t call me that.”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“Sarah taught you stubbornness.”
“You knew her?”
“Of course.”
Marcus went still.
Thomas stepped closer.
“I chose her.”
“For what?”
“To raise you.”
Marcus’s face drained of color.
Thomas continued.
“She was kind. Intelligent. Stable.”
“You studied her.”
“Yes.”
“Like Elena.”
“Yes.”
Marcus clenched his fists.
“You turned my entire life into an experiment.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I gave you a better one.”
Marcus punched him.
Thomas fell.
The guards surged forward.
Julian stepped between them.
“Touch him and the trust never opens.”
The guards stopped.
Thomas wiped blood from his mouth.
Then smiled.
“There he is.”
Marcus looked disgusted.
“Who?”
“My son.”
***
Victoria was brought in ten minutes later.
Julian forgot every prepared question.
“Mom.”
She looked smaller than in the video.
But alive.
Truly alive.
She touched his face.
“I’m sorry.”
Julian embraced her.
This time he knew.
No substitute.
No performance.
His mother.
She whispered into his ear.
“Don’t give him anything.”
Julian held her tighter.
“What about Lily?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Thomas watched them.
“How touching.”
Victoria turned.
“You’re dying.”
“So are you eventually.”
“But I won.”
Thomas’s smile disappeared.
“You hid the research.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“You’ll never know.”
Thomas looked at Elena.
“I don’t need her to tell me.”
Victoria’s face changed.
“Thomas.”
He pressed a button.
A glass wall became transparent.
Behind it was a laboratory.
Elena stopped breathing.
Inside stood Camille.
Bandaged.
Weak.
Alive.
Beside her was Lily.
“Mommy!”
Lily ran toward the glass.
Julian moved instinctively.
Thomas raised a hand.
“Authorize the trust.”
“No,” Julian said.
Thomas pressed another control.
A door opened inside the laboratory.
Two technicians entered.
One carried a medical tray.
Camille backed away.
“What are you doing?”
Thomas ignored her.
He looked at Marcus.
“Vale authorization.”
Then Elena.
“Marquez authorization.”
“No,” Elena said.
Thomas sighed.
“I hoped you would be reasonable.”
He nodded toward a technician.
The man grabbed Lily.
Camille screamed.
Julian lunged toward Thomas.
Guards restrained him.
“Leave her alone!”
Thomas remained calm.
“Authorization.”
Marcus looked at Elena.
Elena shook her head.
Victoria whispered, “Don’t.”
Lily cried behind the glass.
Julian struggled against the guards.
Then Camille shouted.
“THOMAS!”
Everyone turned.
She held something.
A syringe.
She had taken it from the tray.
She pressed it against her own neck.
Thomas froze.
“What are you doing?”
Camille smiled through tears.
“You need my bloodline too.”
“No.”
“You spent four years keeping me alive.”
“Put it down.”
“For Lily.”
“Camille.”
“For my mother.”
Thomas stepped toward the glass.
“Put the syringe down.”
Camille looked at Julian.
“Open the 1969 file.”
“We did.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“The other one.”
Thomas went pale.
“Camille.”
She continued.
“1969-M isn’t Marquez.”
Victoria suddenly understood.
“Oh God.”
Julian looked at his mother.
“What?”
Victoria stared at Thomas.
“M stands for Mutation.”
Thomas slammed his hand against the control.
The glass began turning opaque.
Camille shouted before disappearing.
“THE DISEASE WAS NEVER HEREDITARY!”
The glass went white.
Silence.
Julian turned toward Thomas.
“What did she mean?”
Thomas said nothing.
Victoria did.
“The Vale cardiomyopathy.”
“What about it?”
She looked horrified.
“It wasn’t inherited.”
Marcus frowned.
“Then why did generations of Vales have it?”
Victoria looked at Thomas.
“Because someone was causing it.”
Julian stared.
“Who?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Victoria whispered:
“Edmund.”
Julian’s grandfather.
“The original pharmaceutical research wasn’t a cure,” Victoria continued.
“It was the cause.”
Thomas shouted, “Enough!”
But Victoria would not stop.
“Edmund exposed his own family to the compound for decades so he could study the disease.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Marcus stared at Thomas.
Victoria’s voice broke.
“Thomas wasn’t trying to preserve the Vale bloodline.”
She looked at her dying husband.
“He was trying to cure the damage his father deliberately gave him.”
For the first time, Thomas Vale looked vulnerable.
Not evil.
Not powerful.
A sick child trapped inside an old man.
Julian saw it.
And Thomas knew he saw it.
“My father poisoned me when I was six years old,” Thomas whispered.
No one spoke.
“He poisoned my brothers.”
Richard went pale.
Thomas looked at him.
“Yes, Richard.”
Richard stepped backward.
“You too.”
“What?”
“You think your heart medication is preventive?”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“It’s treatment.”
Richard touched his chest.
Thomas turned toward Julian.
“That is why you never developed the disease.”
Julian understood.
Because Thomas was not his biological father.
He had escaped Edmund’s experiment by accident.
Thomas continued.
“Marcus has it.”
Marcus went still.
“No.”
“You’re already symptomatic.”
“I’m healthy.”
“Are you?”
Thomas looked at him.
“The dizziness. The palpitations. The nights you wake unable to breathe.”
Julian turned toward Marcus.
His silence confirmed it.
“You never told me.”
Marcus looked away.
Thomas smiled sadly.
“My son is dying from the same gift my father gave me.”
Elena stared at Thomas.
“And you think Daniel can cure him?”
Thomas looked at the opaque glass separating them from Lily.
“No.”
“Then why Daniel?”
Thomas’s eyes returned to her.
“I never needed Daniel.”
Julian felt the trap opening beneath them.
“Then who?”
Thomas looked at Marcus.
“My treatment requires a genetically compatible Vale donor.”
Marcus’s face drained.
Thomas continued.
“But Marcus’s treatment will require someone genetically compatible with him.”
Julian understood.
Lily.
Marcus whispered, “No.”
Thomas smiled.
“Your niece is not Julian’s daughter.”
Julian froze.
“What?”
Thomas looked toward the hidden laboratory.
“Camille lied.”
Richard’s face went white.
Thomas continued.
“Lily is Marcus’s daughter.”
Marcus stopped breathing.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Thomas looked almost pleased.
“The embryo used to create her was never Julian’s.”
Marcus stared at him.
“It was yours.”
Behind the opaque glass, Lily screamed.
“Mommy!”
Marcus turned toward the sound.
Thomas leaned closer to his son.
“And now you understand why I brought her here.”