Chapter 21 - The Children Who Inherited Everything
Then a final line appeared beneath the three children’s names.
TRANSFER EFFECTIVE UPON DEATH OR PERMANENT INCAPACITY OF CURRENT CUSTODIAN.
Nobody spoke.
Audrey read it again.
Then again.
The meaning did not improve.
“Current custodian,” she whispered.
Maria’s face had gone white.
Alexander moved toward the terminal.
“Who is the custodian?”
The screen changed.
CURRENT CUSTODIAN:
AUDREY VALE MERCER.
Audrey felt the blood drain from her face.
Rebecca whispered:
“Oh, no.”
Audrey turned.
“What?”
Rebecca stared at the screen.
“Eleanor created a final incentive.”
“For whom?”
“For anyone who wants control.”
Maria understood.
“If Audrey dies…”
“The children inherit immediately,” Alexander said.
“And because they’re minors…”
Audrey finished the thought.
“Someone controls the archive for them.”
Alexander began searching the system.
“Guardianship protocol.”
The screen changed.
A list appeared.
PRIMARY GUARDIAN: BIOLOGICAL FATHER.
Audrey looked upward as if she could see through concrete and hospital floors to where Dominic stood beside Liam and Chloe.
Dominic Mercer.
The husband who had arrived that morning with divorce papers.
The father who had tried to escape responsibility.
The man who had nevertheless walked into Helix for Natalie.
Audrey whispered:
“Dominic.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“Keep reading.”
Alexander scrolled.
A second line appeared.
BIOLOGICAL PATERNITY SUBJECT TO VALE GENETIC AUTHENTICATION.
Audrey frowned.
“He is their father.”
“Probably.”
Audrey stared at Rebecca.
“Probably?”
“After everything you've learned today, you still trust a conventional paternity assumption?”
Audrey’s stomach turned.
“No.”
She looked at Alexander.
“Can this archive test the twins?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Maria stepped forward.
“We do not use Eleanor’s system on those children.”
Audrey looked at her.
Maria’s voice hardened.
“We spent all night condemning people who treated children as genetic evidence. We do not become them because we are frightened.”
Audrey exhaled.
Maria was right.
“Independent test.”
“Yes.”
“Three laboratories.”
Alexander almost smiled.
“You really like three laboratories.”
“I have trust issues.”
“That seems reasonable.”
Audrey touched the fresh dressing at the base of her skull.
Pain radiated into her neck.
Her abdomen hurt.
Her head hurt.
Everything hurt.
But her children were alive.
That remained enough.
A communication panel suddenly activated.
Harrison’s voice filled the archive.
“Audrey?”
She almost cried.
“Grandfather.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“How badly?”
“I’m alive.”
“That was not my question.”
“It is the answer you’re getting.”
Harrison exhaled.
“Liam and Chloe are stable.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Natalie is in surgery.”
“The baby?”
“Delivered.”
Audrey opened her eyes.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
A wave of relief moved through the room.
“How small?”
“Just over two pounds.”
Audrey looked toward Rebecca.
The woman closed her eyes.
Whatever else Rebecca had done, the news affected her.
“Dominic?”
“With the twins.”
“Richard?”
“Being questioned.”
“Evelyn?”
“Trying to get down to you.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“Of course.”
Harrison continued.
“Federal teams have secured the hospital.”
“Not all of it.”
“What do you mean?”
Audrey looked at the succession screen.
“We found Eleanor’s final archive.”
Silence.
“And?”
“It's worse than you thought.”
“I assumed it would be.”
“Ownership transferred.”
“To whom?”
Audrey hesitated.
“Liam. Chloe. Natalie’s baby.”
Harrison said nothing for several seconds.
Then:
“Destroy it.”
Rebecca looked sharply toward the speaker.
Audrey stared.
“You didn't hesitate.”
“I should have destroyed everything connected to Eleanor decades ago.”
“And the stolen children?”
Silence.
“Their identities are here.”
Harrison’s voice softened.
“Then preserve what belongs to the victims.”
“And the genetic database?”
“Destroy it.”
Rebecca stared at Audrey.
For the first time, they agreed.
Maria did not.
“You cannot separate those records cleanly.”
Harrison heard.
“Who said that?”
Audrey almost smiled.
“Maria.”
A pause.
“The nurse?”
Maria looked toward the speaker.
“Hello, Harrison.”
Silence.
Then Harrison whispered:
“Catherine?”
Maria’s expression changed.
Audrey noticed immediately.
“You knew her.”
Harrison’s voice became almost inaudible.
“I thought she died.”
Maria laughed without humor.
“Apparently everyone did.”
Audrey looked between the speaker and Maria.
“How did you know each other?”
Neither answered.
Audrey sighed.
“No. We are not doing this again.”
Maria closed her eyes.
“Harrison helped me escape Helix.”
Audrey stared.
“When?”
“When I was fourteen.”
Harrison spoke.
“I believed Eleanor’s people found her afterward.”
“They did.”
Maria continued.
“But Richard got me out.”
Audrey almost laughed.
Richard again.
“Why become Maria Santos?”
“My foster mother’s surname.”
“And Catherine?”
“My birth name.”
“Why didn't Harrison recognize you?”
“I had reconstructive surgery after an accident at nineteen.”
Audrey looked at Harrison’s speaker.
“You never knew she survived?”
“No.”
Maria stared at the floor.
“I made sure he didn't.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone around the Vale family eventually became part of the program.”
Audrey understood.
Maria had escaped by disappearing.
Then somehow returned as a nurse.
“Why come back?”
Maria looked toward the ceiling.
Toward the NICU.
“Because premature babies were dying.”
Audrey stopped.
“The defective valves.”
Maria nodded.
“I noticed the pattern before Dominion issued any recall.”
“You investigated?”
“Yes.”
“And discovered Helix.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Dominic was involved?”
“I suspected his company.”
“Not him personally?”
“No.”
“Did you know Natalie?”
“Only through compliance documents.”
Audrey looked at Rebecca.
“Did Maria contact you?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
Maria answered.
“I contacted Evelyn.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
The web tightened.
“And Evelyn?”
“She told me not to investigate.”
“Why?”
“She was afraid it would activate the archive.”
Audrey stared.
“So everyone knew pieces.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody spoke to each other.”
“Yes.”
“That is why children almost died.”
Nobody answered.
Because she was right.
Secrets had not protected them.
Secrets had isolated them.
Audrey looked at the archive.
Thousands of records.
Decades of lies.
“No more.”
Alexander frowned.
“What?”
“No more private family decisions.”
Rebecca’s expression hardened.
“You cannot hand this archive to the government.”
“I’m not.”
“Then what?”
“Court supervision.”
Maria nodded slightly.
“Independent ethics board.”
“Yes.”
“Victim representatives.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“You are creating more people who can leak it.”
“I’m creating witnesses.”
“That isn't protection.”
“No.”
Audrey looked at her.
“It’s accountability.”
Rebecca stared.
Audrey continued.
“Eleanor controlled people because information belonged to whoever held it secretly.”
Silence.
“We end that.”
Alexander smiled faintly.
“How?”
“Separate identity evidence from biological samples.”
Maria frowned.
“That will take years.”
“Then it takes years.”
“Destroy embryos?”
Audrey looked at the cryogenic inventory.
She could not make that decision for everyone whose genetic material had been stolen.
“No.”
Rebecca immediately objected.
“They were created without consent.”
“Which means their genetic contributors deserve to know before someone else decides.”
“And if they disagree?”
“Then a court handles it individually.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“You believe institutions will save you?”
“No.”
Audrey looked toward the speaker carrying Harrison’s voice.
“I’ve learned better.”
Harrison said nothing.
“But I trust distributed power more than one frightened person with a match.”
Rebecca absorbed the insult.
Then nodded.
Perhaps because she knew it was true.
The elevator chimed.
Everyone turned.
Evelyn stepped out.
She saw Maria.
Stopped.
“Catherine.”
Maria looked at her.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
Evelyn began crying.
Maria did not move.
“You’re alive.”
“So are you.”
“I looked for you.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you answer?”
Maria’s expression hardened.
“Because I knew what you had done to Alexander.”
Evelyn froze.
Audrey looked between them.
“What did she do?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Maria.”
“No more secrets.”
Audrey almost laughed at hearing her own words repeated.
Maria continued.
“Tell her.”
Evelyn looked at Alexander.
His expression became guarded.
Audrey felt dread.
“What happened?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“I separated Alexander and Dominic Vale after the crash.”
“We know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You know that I separated them.”
“What don't we know?”
“I chose which one went to Helix.”
Alexander stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
His face changed.
“You gave me to them.”
“I thought they wanted Dominic.”
“Why?”
“He was the reserve heir.”
“So you switched us.”
Audrey felt cold.
Evelyn nodded.
“I changed the identity records.”
Alexander stepped backward.
“You let them believe I was Dominic.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect the real Dominic.”
Audrey looked at him.
“Then Alexander spent years being treated as Dominic Vale.”
“Yes.”
“And Dominic?”
“Was hidden as Alexander.”
Audrey’s mind raced.
Identity upon identity.
“Where is the real Dominic Vale?”
Evelyn looked toward the phone Audrey still held.
“Upstairs.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
“No.”
Alexander whispered:
“Who?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Dominic Mercer.”
The archive went silent.
Audrey stared at her.
“That cannot be true.”
“It is.”
“We already established he is Richard’s son.”
“Richard raised him.”
“That is not the same thing.”
Audrey’s stomach turned.
“The federal DNA result linked Dominic to Harrison.”
“Yes.”
“Through Evelyn, we thought.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at Harrison’s speaker.
“Through Catherine.”
Harrison whispered:
“My grandson.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Dominic Mercer is Catherine’s son.”
Audrey’s mind rejected it.
“But I am Catherine’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca whispered:
“Then they are siblings.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
No.
Again.
Not again.
Evelyn immediately continued.
“Not biologically.”
Audrey stared.
“What?”
“Catherine carried Dominic.”
“Then—”
“He was not created from her egg.”
The room went still.
“Whose?”
Evelyn looked at Maria.
Maria’s face changed.
“No.”
Audrey followed her gaze.
“Whose egg?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Maria’s.”
Maria staggered backward.
“No.”
“And the sperm?”
Evelyn looked toward Harrison’s speaker.
“Jonathan’s.”
Maria covered her mouth.
Audrey felt sick.
Dominic Mercer—her husband—was genetically Jonathan’s son and Maria’s son, carried secretly by Catherine, then raised by Richard.
Every label they had used—son, brother, cousin, heir—had been deliberately confused.
“Why?”
Audrey asked.
Evelyn answered.
“Because Eleanor wanted a child who connected the custodian line to the original Vale male line.”
Audrey stared.
“Dominic was engineered as an access key.”
“Yes.”
“And my marriage?”
Evelyn looked ashamed.
“Was supposed to unite the blood heir with the custodian heir.”
Audrey felt rage rise.
“Eleanor planned that before she died?”
“Yes.”
“Then Richard completed it.”
“Yes.”
Harrison’s voice came through the speaker.
“I swear I didn't know.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“I believe you.”
Everyone looked at her.
Harrison sounded stunned.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you had known this much, you would have lied more efficiently.”
Alexander actually laughed.
Even Maria smiled.
The moment lasted two seconds.
Then the archive terminal beeped.
NEW BIOLOGICAL SUCCESSION DATA RECEIVED.
Audrey turned.
“How?”
Alexander approached the screen.
“Hospital network.”
A new file appeared.
NEWBORN MALE — PIERCE.
Natalie’s baby.
Genetic analysis had already been run.
Audrey stared.
“Who authorized that?”
Nobody answered.
Maria looked furious.
“Someone is still controlling the system.”
The result opened automatically.
PATERNITY MATCH FOUND.
Audrey’s pulse accelerated.
Alexander stood beside her.
Dominic Mercer had already been excluded.
Alexander said he was sterile.
The father should be Dominic Vale—
Except Dominic Vale was apparently Dominic Mercer.
The impossible circle returned.
“Who?” Audrey whispered.
The screen displayed:
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: ALEXANDER THOMAS VALE.
Everyone turned toward Alexander.
He stared at the result.
“No.”
Natalie had described Daniel Reeves.
The man who had called himself Alexander had used that identity.
But this man—the real Alexander—claimed he had never slept with Natalie.
“No,” he repeated.
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Could you have fathered a child before you were sterilized?”
“I was thirteen.”
Maria whispered:
“Stored material.”
Alexander went white.
Eleanor.
Of course.
Audrey felt sick.
“Natalie didn't conceive naturally.”
Evelyn stared at the screen.
“She believed she did.”
“Daniel?”
“A cover.”
Alexander looked horrified.
“She was inseminated without knowing.”
Rebecca whispered:
“The conference.”
Audrey turned.
“What?”
“Helix ran medical screening at the biomedical conference.”
Natalie might have been drugged, sampled, manipulated—
Exactly as Evelyn had been decades earlier.
The cycle repeated.
Audrey gripped the terminal.
“We end this now.”
Then another line appeared.
GENETIC SUCCESSION VERIFIED.
THREE MINOR HEIRS ACTIVE.
LIAM MERCER.
CHLOE MERCER.
JONATHAN PIERCE VALE.
Audrey stared at the newborn’s automatically assigned name.
Jonathan.
No one had named him that.
The system had.
Then a final notification appeared.
CURRENT CUSTODIAN STATUS REQUIRED.
Audrey frowned.
“I’m here.”
Alexander’s face changed.
“It isn't asking about you.”
“Then who?”
Maria whispered:
“The custodian heir.”
Dominic.
Audrey’s phone rang.
She answered immediately.
“Dominic?”
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then a man spoke.
Not Dominic.
Richard.
“Audrey.”
Her blood chilled.
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Where is Dominic?”
Silence.
“Richard.”
“He found out.”
“Found out what?”
“Who he really is.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
“Where is he?”
“He took Liam and Chloe.”
Everything inside Audrey stopped.
“What?”
Maria grabbed the phone.
Richard continued.
“He said he was done letting the Vale family use his children.”
Audrey could barely breathe.
“Where did he go?”
“I don't know.”
“HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW?”
“He disabled the tracker.”
Audrey’s knees weakened despite sitting.
Dominic had taken the twins.
Her premature babies.
Out of the NICU.
“Were they medically stable for transport?”
“No.”
Audrey felt terror become rage.
“Find him.”
“We are.”
“Find him now.”
Then Audrey’s phone received a message.
From Dominic.
A photograph.
Liam and Chloe inside specialized transport incubators.
Alive.
Dominic sat beside them.
His face was wet with tears.
Below the image:
I WILL NOT LET THEM BECOME WHAT THEY MADE ME.
Audrey immediately called.
No answer.
Another message appeared.
DON’T FOLLOW ME.
Then:
IF YOU WANT OUR CHILDREN BACK, DESTROY THE ARCHIVE.
Audrey stared at the words.
The man who had begun the day trying to abandon his premature children had ended it by stealing them from the most powerful medical family in the country.
And for the first time, Audrey did not know whether Dominic was running from her—
or trying to save Liam and Chloe from everyone else.