TRASH TO TITAN

Chapter 5: The Shadow Heir

The silence between them stretched like a wire ready to snap. Aiden stood on one side of the reinforced glass wall. Jacen his twin, his mirror twisted by secrets sat cuffed to the table on the other. Eyes locked. Not a word spoken. But everything screamed between them. Same jawline. Same sharp cheekbones. But Jacen’s eyes were colder. Harsher. Like they'd never known softness. Like they were carved in steel.

Maera stood beside Aiden. “We’ve confirmed it. He’s your genetic match same bloodline, near-identical DNA.” Aiden’s voice was low. “Where the hell has he been all this time?” Maera didn’t answer. Because she didn’t know. And Jacen… he was finally ready to speak.

They moved him to a high-security chamber within the estate glass walls, biometric locks, armed guards at every entrance. Aiden entered alone. Jacen didn’t rise. Just watched him with quiet interest, like studying a chess piece that had moved too soon. “I thought you’d be taller,” he said.

Aiden crossed his arms. “I thought you’d be dead.” Jacen smirked. “I’ve died a few times. Not the permanent kind.” Silence again. Aiden took a breath. “Why are you here?” Jacen tilted his head. “You opened the Codex. That triggered a beacon. One I’ve been watching for over a decade.”

“You were waiting for me?”

“No. I was waiting to see which of us they chose.”

Aiden’s blood chilled. “You knew?” “About you? Yeah.” Jacen leaned forward slightly. “I’ve known since I was eight.” Jacen’s story spilled out like a razor slicing open the past. After birth, he was taken by The Architect a loyalist to Julian Vallion who believed only the strong should inherit the empire. Jacen was trained from the beginning. Combat. Finance. Espionage. Every move orchestrated to shape him into a weapon. A ruler.

“He called it ‘The Crucible,’” Jacen said. “Every year, I had to beat older students in simulated takeover missions. Or be locked in blackout rooms for days. One year, I failed a task he left me in a Siberian bunker with a broken heater for a week.” Aiden was stunned. “That’s not training. That’s torture.”

Jacen shrugged. “Depends on the outcome, doesn’t it?” He stared Aiden down. “And what did you get, brother? A warm bed? A mother’s love? A normal life?” Aiden didn’t answer. Jacen leaned closer to the glass. “Tell me… did she cry when she died?”

That tore it. Aiden slammed his palm against the glass. “You don’t get to talk about her.” Jacen’s expression shifted just slightly. For a moment, there was something human behind those glacial eyes. “I used to dream about her,” he murmured. “Don’t remember her face. Just the lullaby she used to hum when I was still inside her arms.” Later that night, Maera cornered Aiden in the war room.

“You should eliminate him,” she said plainly. Aiden looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “He’s my brother.” “He’s an infiltrator. A trained tactician with blood on his hands and unknown loyalties. You saw the breach he led. What if he wasn’t captured? What if he wanted to be caught?” Aiden paced. Was it true? Was Jacen here to destroy him from within? Or… was he seeking something only Aiden could give?

At 3:17 a.m., the estate’s security grid flickered. Two cameras went dark. By 3:19, the main generator stalled for precisely seven seconds. Enough for one cell door to unlock. Aiden raced to the chamber. It was empty. Jacen was gone. But scrawled in blood across the wall was a single line: "We were never enemies. Until they made us."

Across the world, in a black tower nestled into the cliffs of Montenegro, a tall, silver-haired man watched the feed of Jacen’s escape. He smiled thinly. “The first heir has taken the crown. The second… has been released.” He turned to the shadows behind him. “Send word to The Obsidian Circle. Operation Divide begins now.”