Chapter 12 - THE DNA LIE
The earth opened behind them.
The blast threw Lucien forward.
He wrapped himself around Ava before they hit the ground.
A wall of heat tore through the tunnel.
Metal screamed.
Concrete cracked.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
For several seconds, Lucien heard nothing.
Not even his own breathing.
Then—
“Daddy?”
He opened his eyes.
Ava was underneath him.
Alive.
He pulled her against his chest.
“I’m here.”
His ears rang.
Smoke rolled through the tunnel.
Behind them, the service door had collapsed under tons of concrete.
Victor was gone.
Lucien stared at the wreckage.
His final words replayed in his head.
Ava really is your daughter.
Charles groaned nearby.
Adrian rolled him onto his back.
Evelyn sat against the wall, pale from blood loss.
Lucien stood.
He walked toward Charles.
“What did Victor mean?”
Charles avoided his eyes.
Lucien grabbed his shirt.
“What did he mean?”
“Lucien.”
“Tell me.”
Ava watched from several feet away.
Lucien noticed.
He released Charles.
Then crouched beside his father instead.
“Enough lies.”
Charles looked toward Ava.
Then back at Lucien.
“The birth certificate was altered.”
“We know that.”
“The genetic report was altered too.”
Lucien stared.
“By who?”
Charles swallowed.
“Me.”
Adrian cursed under his breath.
Lucien said nothing.
That silence was worse.
Charles continued.
“Victor believed Ava was his because I needed him to believe it.”
Lucien’s face tightened.
“Why?”
“To keep him focused on her.”
Evelyn looked horrified.
“You used a child as bait?”
Charles’s eyes filled with shame.
“I used the idea of her.”
Lucien stepped back.
“You gave a psychopath a reason to hunt my daughter.”
“I gave him the wrong reason.”
“That makes it better?”
“No.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Lucien turned away.
He wanted to hit something.
Break something.
But Ava was watching.
So he forced his hands open.
Forced himself to breathe.
“Who is her biological father?”
Charles looked up.
“You are.”
Lucien froze.
Adrian stared at him.
“What?”
Charles coughed.
“The original DNA test showed a direct match.”
Lucien shook his head.
“No.”
“It did.”
“Then why fake another one?”
Charles’s answer came quietly.
“Because Victor wasn’t after Ava for her blood.”
Lucien looked back at him.
“He was after you.”
“What?”
“He needed you destabilized.”
Charles struggled to sit up.
“He knew the easiest way to destroy you wasn’t to hurt you.”
His eyes moved toward Ava.
“It was to make you question whether you had the right to love her.”
Lucien went completely still.
Charles continued.
“The fake paternity trail was designed years ago. If Victor ever came back, he would find exactly what we wanted him to find.”
Adrian looked disgusted.
“You manipulated him.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated Lucien.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated Ava.”
Charles’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
Lucien stared at his father.
“Do you hear yourself?”
Charles nodded slowly.
“I do now.”
There was no defense left in him.
No speech about family.
No excuse about protection.
Just an old man finally looking at the damage he had done.
Ava walked toward Lucien.
She pulled his sleeve.
“Daddy?”
He turned instantly.
She looked worried.
“Are you still my daddy?”
Lucien dropped to his knees.
That question hurt more than every blow he had taken tonight.
He pulled her into his arms.
“Hey.”
His voice cracked.
“Look at me.”
Ava looked up.
“I was your dad yesterday.”
He wiped her tears away.
“I’m your dad today.”
She sniffled.
“And tomorrow?”
Lucien smiled through wet eyes.
“Tomorrow too.”
“What about when I’m old?”
He laughed softly.
“Especially then.”
Ava hugged him.
Lucien closed his eyes.
For a few seconds, there was no laboratory.
No Victor.
No Charles.
Just a father holding his little girl.
Then Adrian’s phone rang.
Everyone froze.
There should have been no signal underground.
Adrian looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A distorted voice spoke.
“Is Lucien Vale alive?”
Adrian looked at Lucien.
“Who is this?”
The caller ignored him.
“Tell Lucien Victor Kane failed.”
Lucien took the phone.
“Who are you?”
Silence.
Then the voice laughed.
Not Victor.
Someone else.
Someone older.
“You really thought Victor was in charge?”
Lucien’s face changed.
The voice continued.
“Victor was cleaning up Charles’s mess.”
Lucien looked at his father.
“What are you talking about?”
The caller said one sentence.
And Charles went white.
“Ask your father what happened on October seventeenth, nineteen ninety-eight.”
Lucien stared at Charles.
Charles shook his head.
“No.”
The voice continued.
“Ask him why twenty-three people died that night.”
Adrian looked at Charles.
“What happened?”
Charles backed against the tunnel wall.
“I can explain.”
The caller laughed again.
“And ask him why one of those twenty-three people had the same name as Lucien’s wife.”
Lucien stopped breathing.
His wife.
Ava’s mother.
The woman whose death had shattered him years earlier.
“What did you say?”
The caller’s voice became almost gentle.
“She didn’t die in an accident, Lucien.”
A pause.
“She died because she found out what Charles Vale did.”
Lucien slowly turned toward his father.
Charles couldn’t meet his eyes.
The phone crackled.
Then the stranger delivered one final sentence.
“If you want the truth about your wife, come home.”
The call ended.
Lucien stood motionless in the smoke.
Ava held his hand.
Charles looked terrified.
And Lucien finally understood.
Victor had never been the end of the story.
May you like
He had only been the man standing in front of the last door.
And now that door was open.
