Chapter 12 - The Room Beneath Hawthorne House
The underground chamber had been built before the mansion.
Its walls were made of reinforced concrete. Old medical cables ran along the ceiling. Cabinets contained surgical instruments stamped with the Bellamy Medical logo.
Sebastian moved slowly behind Elias.
“I never knew this existed.”
“Someone used your estate for Meridian research.”
“The east wing belonged to Marcus before he was arrested.”
Elias found a row of patient rooms.
Most were empty.
The final room remained locked.
A brass plate displayed one name.
ELENA H.
Elias stopped breathing.
He forced the door open.
A bed stood at the center.
Leather restraints were attached to the rails.
The wall was covered with writing.
Most of it had faded, but one sentence remained visible.
MY SONS ARE NOT HIS EXPERIMENTS.
Beneath it, Elena had carved two names.
GABRIEL.
LUCIAN.
Elias touched the letters.
“She was here.”
Sebastian stood at the doorway, unable to enter.
“I brought her home after the crash.”
Elias turned slowly.
“You said you did not know she survived.”
“I did not know at first.”
“That is not an answer.”
Sebastian’s face collapsed under the weight of years.
“Thomas’s men intercepted the ambulance. Victor contacted me the next morning. He said Elena was alive but infected with an experimental pathogen stolen from Bellamy Medical.”
“You believed him?”
“He showed me fabricated test results. He said if I involved the police, the infection would be released.”
“So you allowed them to keep her here.”
“I believed it would be temporary.”
“For how long?”
“Three days.”
“Lydia said at least three days.”
Sebastian looked at the restraints.
“On the third night, I came to remove her. The room was empty. Victor told me she had died.”
“Did you see her body?”
“No.”
Elias’s voice became cold.
“You left me to believe my mother died in the crash because telling the truth would have exposed your cowardice.”
“Yes.”
The answer echoed through the room.
Sebastian did not defend himself.
“I was a coward,” he said. “I controlled governments and companies, yet when they threatened you, I obeyed. I thought silence would keep you alive.”
“It kept them powerful.”
“Yes.”
Elias looked at the names carved into the wall.
“Did she know both of us survived?”
“I do not know.”
A metal cabinet stood near the bed.
Inside, Elias found cassette tapes labeled by date.
He inserted the first into an old recorder.
Elena’s voice filled the room.
“My name is Elena Hawthorne. I am being held beneath my family’s east residence. Victor Sloane and Thomas Hawthorne are demanding access to the clinical archive.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“My father believes I am sick. I am not. They are threatening my children.”
A man’s voice spoke in the background.
“Tell him where the key is.”
Elena answered, “You will never find it.”
The man struck her.
Elias stopped the tape.
His hands shook.
Sebastian moved toward him.
Elias stepped away.
“Do not touch me.”
The old man stopped.
A second tape contained Elena speaking to someone named Margaret.
“You must take Lucian,” Elena said. “Gabriel is already hidden. Victor believes the third child can replace either of them.”
Margaret’s younger voice responded.
“How will I know which boy is Lucian?”
“You will not. That is why you must take both.”
“I cannot raise two children without questions.”
“Then choose the one wearing the blue thread.”
The tape ended.
Elias opened the suitcase from Old Central.
One baby blanket had a blue thread sewn into the edge.
The photograph showed Gabriel wrapped in that blanket.
But which child had been given to Margaret?
Adrian might not be Lucian after all.
The next cassette was dated five days after the crash.
Elias pressed play.
At first, only static sounded.
Then Elena whispered.
“Sebastian came tonight. He would not look at me. Victor told him I was contagious. My father stood outside the glass and left.”
Sebastian sank into a chair.
Elias continued listening.
“If Gabriel hears this one day, I need him to understand that fear can make good people commit unforgivable acts. But forgiveness is not the same as trust.”
Elias looked at Sebastian.
The old man wept silently.
The recording continued.
“Lucian is still inside the facility. Margaret believes she took him, but Victor changed the bracelets.”
Elias’s heart pounded.
“Adrian may be the third child,” he said.
Sebastian looked up.
The tape crackled.
“I do not know which child Margaret received. I only know my second son has a small birthmark behind his left ear, shaped like a broken circle.”
Elias remembered Adrian kneeling in the ballroom.
His hair covered the area behind his left ear.
They needed to examine the mark.
The final part of the recording was quieter.
“Thomas believes Vanessa will continue Alexander’s bloodline. He plans to unite her with whichever boy inherits Hawthorne Global.”
Sebastian whispered, “The wedding.”
“It was a breeding arrangement,” Elias said.
The recorder clicked.
Elena’s final sentence emerged.
“If my sons are alive, tell them the archive is not evidence of what Meridian did.”
A pause.
“It is evidence of who they replaced.”
The tape ended.
Elias stared at the machine.
Hundreds of powerful families might contain children placed by Meridian.
Politicians.
Executives.
Judges.
Perhaps even heads of state.
His phone rang.
Detective Ortiz.
“Adrian has been shot,” she said.
Elias’s expression changed.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes. Victor attacked him at Hawthorne headquarters.”
“Where is he?”
“St. Matthew’s Hospital.”
“Did he open the vault?”
“Yes. We recovered a sealed case.”
“What was inside?”
“We have not opened it. The lock requires three biological signatures.”
“Whose?”
“The system displayed three names.”
Ortiz paused.
“Gabriel Hawthorne. Lucian Hawthorne. And Vanessa Alexander.”
A sound came from the corridor behind Sebastian.
Someone began applauding.
Thomas stood at the top of the stairs.
May you like
Beside him was Vanessa.
She held a gun against Lydia Crane’s head.
