Chapter 10 - The Price of an Empire
The silence in the underground room grew so heavy that the flickering of the candle flames sounded like roaring bonfires.
Julian stared down at the young girl standing inches away from him, noting the uncanny symmetry of her facial features—the exact shape of his own jawline, the same slope of the nose, the identical scar just above her left eyebrow where they had both fallen off a garden wall when they were toddlers.
"That's a lie," Julian whispered, shaking his head frantically as he backed away until his spine hit the wooden doorframe. "Mom told me I was an only child. She said my birth parents died in a fire!"
Eleanor finally crossed the threshold, her heels clicking steadily against the rug as she walked over to stand beside her husband.
She didn't look at Julian; her gaze was fixed squarely on the girl.
"In nineteen-eighty-four, multiple births among our lineage were considered a genetic liability by the board," Eleanor said, her voice chillingly clinical, as if she were reciting a quarterly financial report. "The company bylaws stipulated that only a single primary heir could inherit the voting shares. Twins meant a fractured board. A fractured board meant hostile takeover."
Thomas walked over to his wife, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder.
"We had to make a choice, Julian," Thomas added, his tone entirely unapologetic. "One child gets the name, the wealth, the entire future of Vance Global. The other child gets erased from the municipal records before the birth certificate ever hits the printer."
Julian felt a hot rage building in his chest, burning away the shock and replacing it with a lethal, blinding fury.
"You traded your own flesh and blood for stock options?" Julian roared, taking a threatening step toward his father before Thomas raised a hand to stop him.
"Don't be dramatic, Julian," Thomas said calmly. "We didn't kill her. We paid a disgraced city archivist to hide her in these secure fallout shelters with access to education, food, and absolute privacy. She has lived like a princess."
"A prisoner!" the girl shouted, her voice suddenly erupting with a raw, terrifying intensity that shattered the polite veneer she had maintained all evening. "I have never seen the sun rise above these stone steps! I have spent forty years watching you live my life from behind a one-way mirror!"
The girl reached up, unclasped the silver crescent moon necklace from her throat, and dropped it onto the mahogany table with a sharp clatter.
May you like
"And now," the girl whispered, her eyes turning dead and cold as she stared directly at Eleanor. "It’s time to settle the balance sheet."
---
