“You weren’t the only Adrian Vale Jr.”
Marcus stared at Isabella.
“Explain.”
She struggled to sit up.
“Project 417 didn’t just change identities. Vale created duplicates.”
“Duplicates?”
“Children with records designed to overlap. Same blood type. Similar ages. Medical histories altered to make one child replace another.”
Marcus felt sick.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Khloe?”
“I told you. He took her.”
“Who?”
Isabella looked toward the open door.
“Your brother.”
Marcus froze.
“I don’t have a brother.”
“You did.”
---
Khloe woke inside a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were bound.
Across from her sat the man from the hospital corridor.
In better light, she understood why she had mistaken him for Daniel.
The resemblance was deliberate.
Same silvering hair.
Similar build.
Even the same style of clothing.
But this man was younger.
“You’re not my father.”
“No.”
“Who are you?”
He smiled.
“Someone your family erased.”
Khloe pulled against the restraints.
“Where’s Daniel?”
“Probably searching for you.”
“And Marcus?”
At Marcus’s name, the man’s smile disappeared.
“Marcus got the life intended for me.”
Khloe remembered the bracelet.
Adrian Vale Jr.
“You’re the other child.”
“I’m the original.”
He leaned forward.
“Marcus is the replacement.”
---
At Sterling Medical, Marcus confronted David as he was being prepared for surgery.
“You have thirty seconds.”
David looked at the bracelet in Marcus’s hand.
“There were two boys.”
“Why?”
“Vale’s son had a congenital illness. His chances of surviving childhood were poor.”
Marcus went still.
“So they found another child?”
David nodded weakly.
“A healthy infant close enough in age.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Why give me his identity?”
“Insurance.”
Marcus stared at him.
David continued.
“If Vale’s son died, there would still be an Adrian Vale Jr. on paper.”
“That’s insane.”
“It became worse.”
“How?”
“The real child survived.”
Marcus stepped backward.
Two boys.
One identity.
“What was his real name?”
“Adrian.”
“And mine?”
David hesitated.
Marcus grabbed the bedrail.
“My real name.”
“Michael.”
Marcus stopped.
“Michael what?”
Before David could answer, the operating-room doors opened.
“We have to go.”
“David!”
The bed began moving.
David reached toward him.
“Find Daniel. He knows who your mother was.”
Then the doors closed.
---
The vehicle carrying Khloe stopped.
She was taken into an abandoned wing of an old medical facility.
The man cut the restraints from her wrists.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You kidnapped a pregnant woman.”
“I needed Marcus to follow.”
Khloe stared at him.
“So I’m bait.”
“Yes.”
At least he was honest.
He placed an old file on the table.
**PROJECT 417 — SUBJECT M**
Khloe opened it.
A baby photograph.
Marcus.
Below it:
**Original Name: Michael Jonathan Thorne.**
Her breath caught.
Jonathan.
Marcus’s supposedly murdered father.
She turned the page.
Then froze.
**Biological Mother: Elizabeth Sterling.**
Khloe read the name again.
“No.”
The man watched her.
“You recognize it?”
Khloe did.
Elizabeth Sterling was David and Daniel’s younger sister.
Her aunt.
A woman who had supposedly died before Khloe was born.
If the record was genuine, Marcus was not Daniel’s son.
But he was still Sterling blood.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Because Marcus deserves the truth.”
“Then tell him.”
“I intend to.”
He looked toward the entrance.
“He should be arriving soon.”
Khloe’s face changed.
“How would he know where we are?”
The man smiled.
“Because Isabella works for me.”
---
Marcus’s phone vibrated.
A location pin.
Below it was a photograph of Khloe sitting beside a file.
**COME ALONE IF YOU WANT YOUR WIFE BACK.**
Marcus headed for the elevator.
“Marcus.”
He turned.
Daniel Sterling stood at the other end of the corridor.
Alive.
Real.
Marcus walked toward him.
“You have one chance.”
“I know.”
“Who is my mother?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with regret.
“My sister Elizabeth.”
Marcus absorbed the answer without speaking.
“And Jonathan Thorne?”
“Your father.”
“David killed him?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“David admitted it.”
“He believes he did.”
Marcus frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Jonathan survived the night David tried to kill him.”
Marcus stared at him.
“Then where is he?”
Daniel looked at the location on Marcus’s phone.
His expression changed.
“That address.”
“What about it?”
“It was Vale’s original research facility.”
Marcus felt dread rising.
Daniel looked directly at him.
“If Adrian took Khloe there, he isn’t waiting for you.”
“Then who is he waiting for?”
Daniel’s answer was almost a whisper.
“Your father.”
Marcus’s phone vibrated again.
This time it was a live photograph from inside the facility.
Khloe sat in the foreground.
Behind her stood Adrian.
And entering through the far doorway was an older man Marcus had never seen.
Under the image were three words:
**HELLO, MICHAEL. — DAD**