Chapter 6: The Man They Buried
"No..."
The word escaped Adrian before he even realized he had spoken.
The face on the monitor was older.
The hair had turned silver.
Deep lines framed the man's eyes.
But there was no mistake.
Charles Blackwood.
His father.
The man whose funeral Adrian had attended eight years earlier.
The man whose coffin he had lowered into the family crypt with his own hands.
Every person in the underground control room stood frozen.
Vivienne covered her mouth.
Celeste whispered a prayer.
Even Dr. Victor Sloane stared at the screen with genuine disbelief.
"What have you done?" he murmured.
The man on the monitor smiled faintly.
"Good evening, Victor."
"You've aged."
Sloane stepped closer to the camera.
"You were never supposed to contact me again."
"I wasn't planning to."
Charles answered calmly.
"But Adrian forced my hand."
Adrian's eyes never left the screen.
"My father is dead."
Charles smiled.
"That's what your mother wanted everyone to believe."
"You expect me to accept this?"
"I don't expect anything."
"I simply don't have time to keep hiding."
Behind Charles, Rose sat tied to a metal chair.
Oliver rested in her lap, still unconscious but breathing beneath a small oxygen mask.
Rose's eyes widened as she recognized Adrian on the monitor.
"Adrian!"
"I'm here."
His voice broke.
"I'm coming."
Charles raised one hand.
"If you want them alive, you'll listen."
Adrian's fists tightened.
"You've got one minute."
Charles almost laughed.
"You sound exactly like I did thirty years ago."
Sloane suddenly spoke.
"Where are you?"
Charles ignored him.
Instead, he looked directly into the camera.
"Adrian."
"Everything your mother built..."
"...was built on one lie."
Lady Beatrice had spent decades presenting herself as the guardian of the Blackwood legacy.
The elegant widow.
The perfect matriarch.
The woman who always put the family first.
Charles looked tired.
Not weak.
Just exhausted.
"I tried to stop her."
Adrian shook his head.
"You died."
"No."
"I disappeared."
"Because staying alive meant surrendering everything."
The emergency lights continued flashing across the underground facility.
Sloane quietly moved toward one of the keyboards.
Charles noticed immediately.
"Don't."
Sloane stopped.
"You've already lost control."
Charles continued.
"I trusted Victor once."
"I trusted your mother."
"I trusted my lawyers."
"I was wrong about all three."
Sloane's jaw tightened.
"You hired me."
"I hired a neurologist."
Charles answered.
"I didn't hire a man willing to erase children."
Silence filled the room.
Dr. Hayes slowly turned toward Sloane.
"You actually did it."
Sloane closed his eyes.
"I never intended for it to become this."
Charles laughed bitterly.
"Everyone says that."
"I only wanted funding."
"I only wanted recognition."
"I only wanted control."
"That is how monsters begin."
Adrian interrupted.
"Enough."
"Tell me where my son is."
Charles looked at Oliver.
"He is safe."
"For the moment."
Rose suddenly leaned toward the camera.
"Adrian."
"There are children here."
He frowned.
"What?"
"There are more children."
"They're locked in rooms."
"They've been sedated."
Charles nodded.
"She's telling the truth."
"There are nine."
Vivienne stared in horror.
"Nine?"
Sloane lowered his head.
"The facility was supposed to close."
"It never did."
Charles looked directly at him.
"Because someone kept paying."
Adrian already knew the answer.
"My mother."
Charles nodded once.
"For years."
Adrian felt his stomach turn.
The family fortune.
The charitable foundations.
The medical donations.
Everything Lady Beatrice claimed was philanthropy.
Some of it had funded this place.
He looked toward Sloane.
"You took my son here."
"I..."
Sloane hesitated.
"I treated him."
"You drugged him."
"I followed orders."
"You erased his memories."
"I tried."
Rose suddenly spoke.
"You never succeeded."
Everyone looked toward her.
Tears ran down her face.
"I sang to him every night before he was born."
"I read him the same story."
"I rubbed the same silver moon pendant against my stomach."
"He knew my heartbeat."
"No drug could erase that."
Even Sloane remained silent.
Dr. Hayes whispered,
"Prenatal attachment..."
Rose nodded.
"He remembered love."
Charles smiled sadly.
"Exactly."
He looked toward Adrian.
"That is why your mother failed."
"You cannot manufacture a mother."
"You cannot rewrite love."
"You can delay it."
"You can confuse it."
"But eventually..."
"The heart remembers."
Adrian closed his eyes for a brief second.
Oliver had not recognized Rose because of logic.
He had recognized her because somewhere beyond every injection, every manipulation, every lie...
He still remembered feeling safe in her arms.
Suddenly, alarms changed tone.
A harsh mechanical voice echoed through the underground corridors.
Security breach.
Security breach.
Charles looked away from the camera.
"They're here."
Sloane frowned.
"Who?"
Charles looked back.
"The people your mother hired after she realized I was still alive."
Adrian's pulse quickened.
"What people?"
Charles answered quietly.
"The Mercer Group."
Dr. Hayes inhaled sharply.
"They're mercenaries."
Charles nodded.
"They don't protect secrets."
"They erase them."
The monitor shook violently.
Gunfire echoed somewhere behind Charles.
Rose instinctively curled around Oliver.
A steel door slammed open off-camera.
Charles turned.
"They found us."
Adrian stepped toward the monitor.
"Tell me where you are."
Charles looked back one last time.
"There is an old railway tunnel beneath Saint Ormond."
"The eastern maintenance shaft."
"Level Four."
"You have seven minutes."
The image flickered.
Then another burst of gunfire echoed.
Charles shoved the camera aside.
"Take Oliver!"
he shouted.
Rose struggled against the restraints.
The screen filled with static.
For two long seconds nothing could be seen.
Then the picture returned.
A masked man stood over the fallen camera.
He slowly bent down.
Picked it up.
And stared directly into the lens.
His face was hidden behind black tactical gear.
Only his voice could be heard.
Cold.
Calm.
Professional.
"Mr. Blackwood."
He knew Adrian was watching.
"If you want your son..."
"...come alone."
Without another word, he raised a pistol.
A single shot echoed through the warehouse.
The monitor went black.
No one in the room knew who had been hit.
May you like
The only thing that remained visible on the dark screen was Oliver's small silver moon pendant...
...lying on the concrete floor, covered in fresh blood.
