Varek woke to the sound of dripping water.His head throbbed.For several seconds, he couldn’t remember where he was. Then the events at the cemetery returned.The gunshots.The hidden compartment.Richard striking him.And those final words.Adrian isn’t your brother.Varek opened his eyes.He was lying on a cold concrete floor inside a dimly lit room. His hands were tied behind his back, and a metal chain secured his ankle to a pipe.A single bulb hung from the ceiling.Someone had removed his phone, watch, and gun.He tried pulling against the chain.It didn’t move.“Finally awake.”Varek turned.Richard sat on a wooden chair near the wall.His face was bruised from the cemetery attack, but he seemed perfectly comfortable.“Where are we?” Varek asked.“Somewhere nobody will find us.”“Untie me.”Richard shook his head.“Not yet.”Varek stared at him.“You betrayed me.”“I saved your life.”“You knocked me unconscious.”“Because you wouldn’t listen.”Varek laughed bitterly.“You exp

Varek stared at the security monitor.The man on the screen looked older than the photographs he had seen, but there was no mistaking his face.Jonathan Thorne.The man who had supposedly died twenty-nine years ago.The man whose name had appeared in the original birth register.The man who had just called him his son.“Where are you?” Varek demanded.Jonathan smiled.“That’s not the first question you should be asking.”“Then give me a reason not to destroy every screen in this building.”“Your anger is understandable. But anger won’t tell you who you are.”Varek stepped closer to the monitor.“You’ve spent twenty-nine years hiding while everyone else destroyed my life. You don’t get to speak to me like you know me.”Jonathan’s smile disappeared.“I know more about you than anyone alive.”“Then tell me who my mother was.”“Helena Vale.”“Who was my father?”Jonathan paused.“I was.”Varek laughed bitterly.“Richard said you were my father. Alistair said you were my father. Cassian sa

The photograph remained on the giant screen.Naomi Cross.The woman who had helped Varek uncover every hidden account, every forged document, and every secret buried inside the Thorne family.Now her face was staring back at him from a hospital photograph taken twenty-nine years ago.Varek stepped closer.“That’s impossible.”Jonathan Junior stood beside the staircase.“Is it?”“Naomi is a forensic accountant. She’s not connected to this family.”Jonathan smiled.“That’s what she wanted you to believe.”Adrian shook his head.“Naomi has been helping us from the beginning. She has risked her life for Varek.”“Exactly,” Jonathan replied. “She needed to stay close to the two original heirs.”Varek turned toward him.“Stop talking like you know everything. Explain the photograph.”Jonathan walked toward the screen.“Twenty-nine years ago, three children were born into three powerful families. Their identities were changed, their birth records were manipulated, and their inheritance rights

“Varek, open the door. It’s time you met your real father.”Varek froze.Richard’s voice sounded exactly as he remembered it. Calm, familiar, and filled with the kind of authority that had controlled his childhood.But Richard was supposed to be injured.He had been shot.And Naomi had just told him that the man outside the door was connected to his father’s murder.Varek tightened his grip on his weapon.“How are you alive?”A quiet laugh came from the other side.“That’s an interesting question coming from a man who has spent his entire life believing people were dead when they weren’t.”Varek glanced at Naomi.She was struggling to remain conscious. Her hand was pressed against her wound, and her breathing had become uneven.“Stay here,” he whispered.Naomi shook her head.“Don’t open that door.”“I need answers.”“Then don’t get yourself killed looking for them.”The handle moved again.“Varek,” Richard called. “I know you’re in there.”Varek stood slowly.“How do I know it’s real

Varek stared at Daniel.The old man stood quietly in the courtyard, his face showing no surprise at the message on Varek’s phone.That alone made Varek angry.“Who gave birth to me?”Daniel looked toward the abandoned medical centre.“Not here.”Varek grabbed his arm.“Don’t you dare tell me we need to go somewhere else. I’ve spent my entire life going from one place to another because people like you refuse to speak.”Daniel didn’t resist.“I understand.”“Then answer me.”Daniel took a slow breath.“Your biological mother was not Helena Vale.”Varek felt his chest tighten.“Who was she?”“Her name was Isabel.”“Isabel what?”“Isabel Thorne.”Varek frowned.“Another Thorne?”“She was my wife.”For several seconds, Varek couldn’t speak.Daniel continued.“Before I became Daniel Mercer, before I disappeared, I was married to Isabel. We had a son. That son was you.”Varek stepped back.“You were married to Isabel Thorne, and you allowed Helena to claim she was my mother?”“Helena was in