Chapter 13 - The Childhood Julian Had Borrowed
Julian possessed photographs of himself at ten.
School records.
Medical records.
Birthday videos.
Friends who remembered him.
Everything suggested Arthur’s message was psychological warfare.
Then Rachel found the anomaly.
Julian’s original birth certificate had been amended when he was eleven.
Reason listed: clerical correction.
His Social Security record showed a temporary suspension that same year.
Theodore Vance had withdrawn Julian from school for eight months.
Family explanation: severe pneumonia.
Julian remembered being sick.
Or believed he did.
His memories of those months were fragmented.
Hospitals.
His father.
A lake house.
A boy sitting across from him.
Clara studied the photograph again.
Subject J-1 resembled Julian slightly.
Similar eyes.
Similar jaw.
But clearly a different child.
“What if Arthur isn’t saying you were J-1?”
Julian looked at her.
“Then what?”
“What if J-1 is someone else connected to you?”
Theodore’s private files held the answer.
One sealed adoption record.
A boy named Jonathan Vance.
Julian’s older brother.
Officially died shortly after birth.
Actually lived until age ten.
Theodore and his wife concealed Jonathan because he had severe neurological problems.
Arthur obtained access to him through experimental treatment.
Jonathan became J-1.
Julian had never been told.
Clara felt sick.
“Your father gave his son to Arthur?”
Julian shook his head.
“Theodore tried to remove him.”
Records showed Theodore discovered the abuse in 2003 after Jonathan had spent almost a year in Orpheus testing.
That discovery led Theodore to confront Arthur.
Arthur shot him.
Jonathan disappeared during the facility fire.
Everyone assumed he died.
But no body was documented.
Julian stared at the photograph.
Another sibling erased.
Just like Nora.
The parallels were too deliberate.
Arthur had built an empire by making inconvenient children disappear on paper.
Naomi launched a search.
Three days later they found evidence Jonathan survived.
He had lived under multiple names.
His most recent known identity was John Avery.
A behavioral psychologist employed by a private government contractor.
John Avery disappeared six months earlier.
Arthur had contacted him repeatedly before disappearing.
Then Clara remembered Arthur’s warning.
You think I built this alone?
Julian sat beside her.
“My brother could be involved.”
“Or he could be another prisoner.”
“Samuel became part of the program.”
“And Elias didn’t.”
Julian looked at her.
“You always do that.”
“What?”
“Refuse the easiest terrible explanation.”
“Because my father spent my whole life giving people easy explanations.”
Crazy daughter.
Dead child.
Electrical fire.
Unstable wife.
Clara had learned the cost of accepting a simple story too quickly.
A week later John Avery contacted Julian.
Video call.
Encrypted.
The man on-screen was forty-six.
Older than Julian.
But the resemblance was unmistakable.
Julian did not speak.
Jonathan smiled faintly.
“Hello, little brother.”
Julian looked shattered.
“Are you working with Arthur?”
Jonathan’s expression changed.
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“With Samuel.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Clara leaned toward the screen.
“Then why contact us?”
Jonathan looked at her.
“Because Samuel does not want Arthur’s money.”
“What does he want?”
“You.”
Clara went cold.
“Why?”
“Because you were the only subject Cole could never fully erase.”
Jonathan leaned closer.
“Samuel thinks your brain contains the answer to reversing Orpheus conditioning.”
Julian’s voice hardened.
“She is not a research subject.”
“I know.”
“Then help us stop him.”
Jonathan looked away.
“I tried.”
The screen flickered.
May you like
Before the connection vanished, he said one final thing.
“Don’t trust Naomi Hale.”
