Chapter 36 - The Third BoyThe boy on the screen looked older than Ethan by several months.
He wore a red sweater.
Daniel placed a hand on his shoulder.
“This is Samuel.”
Victor stepped closer to the camera.
“Where is he?”
“Where Ethan was supposed to be raised.”
Mara searched the room for the transmission source.
Daniel continued.
“August never trusted a single heir. Noah was the public replacement. Samuel was the biological backup.”
Celeste gripped Victor’s arm.
“Samuel is not her child,” Victor said.
“Not in the traditional sense.”
Daniel displayed a laboratory file.
Samuel had been created from stored reproductive material taken from Victor and Celeste during the hospital confinement.
The embryo had been carried by an Orchard surrogate.
Victor looked away from the screen toward Ethan and Noah.
Both children had heard.
“Is he our brother?” Ethan asked.
Victor answered carefully.
“Yes.”
Noah stared at Samuel.
“Does he know us?”
Daniel smiled.
“He knows everything Project Echo taught him.”
Samuel stepped toward the camera.
“Ethan sleeps with the door open.”
Ethan became pale.
“Ethan counts steps when he is afraid.”
Victor pulled his son close.
Daniel had obtained current information.
Someone near the family was still feeding him details.
Mara disconnected the screen.
A printer activated behind them.
One page emerged.
BRING CELESTE TO ORCHARD HOUSE.
COME WITHOUT POLICE.
Underneath was an address in another country.
Elena traced the property.
It belonged to a charitable clinic operated under Lily’s new trust.
Lily stared at the record.
“I never approved this purchase.”
The authorization carried Adrian’s signature.
Adrian denied signing it.
Marcus examined the security log.
“The approval came from inside his office.”
Only three people had access.
Adrian.
May you like
Marcus.
And Elena Ward.
