CHAPTER 14: THE TRUTH THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING

 Isla balled her hands into fists.

"Tell me."

Damien held his gaze; he didn't break eye contact. 

"Ethan has something Antonov wants." 

"Something he may not even know he possesses."

Her pulse pounded. "That's impossible." 

"Ethan had nothing to do with this."

Damien arched a brow. "Then why did Antonov put out a hit on him?"

She didn't have an answer.

Inside walked Nathaniel holding a tablet. "You'll want to see this."

Damien accepted the tablet, glancing over the data before he pivoted the screen toward Isla.

She scarcely knew what she was looking at — medical reports, encrypted files, and a symbol that drove ice through her veins.

A crest.

The Antonov family crest.

"What the hell is this?" she whispered.

Damien's jaw tightened. "Ethan was put on an experimental drug."

Her stomach dropped. "What kind of drug?"

Gabriel's voice said from the doorway. 

"The type often employed in classified intelligence operations."

Isla's breath hitched.

Damien's gaze sharpened. "Ethan was more than just a patient in that hospital." 

He then picked up another file, this one labeled Project Revenant, and handed it to her.

"He was a test subject."

She shook her head. "No. No, that doesn't make sense—"

"Your dad signed it off," Damien interrupted. 

"Lancaster Enterprises paid for the program."

Isla lurched back as though he'd hit her.

Her father.

Her father had done this.

Ethan's illness, his treatments — was it all a lie?

She looked away, bile rising in her throat.

Damien's tone was almost gentle now. 

"This is not purely about a power struggle, Isla."

"It's about control. Your father and Antonov have been playing god with human lives."

She squeezed her eyes shut.

All along, she had assumed her father's corruption concerned money, building an empire.

But this?

This was something far worse.

Ethan wasn't a pawn in a negotiation.

He was evidence.

And now, every one of them wanted him dead.

Her hands quaked, but when she looked back at Damien, her voice was steady.

"What do we do now?"

Damien's expression darkened. "We ensure that they never reach him."

Nathaniel smirked. "That's where things get messy."

Isla took a breath, squared her shoulders.

"Then let's get messy."

Because if her father wanted war—

She would give it to him.

***

 Suddenly the room felt smaller, the air thicker, crushing the betrayal down on her chest.

For so years, she had battled to show that she wasn't merely Richard Lancaster's daughter. That she was her own person. But here she stood in the ruin of her father's sins.

And Ethan was the one paying the price.

She sucked in a shaky breath and turned back to Damien.

 "We have to get him out of here."

He was already ahead in the game. 

"Nathaniel, get us a transport route. Gabriel, you call our contact at the airstrip—let them know we're wheels up in an hour."

"Got it," Gabriel muttered as he dialed a number.

Nathaniel nodded, but he didn't go just yet. His gaze flicked to Isla.

 "You sure you want to do this, honey?"

"Don't call me honey," she said sharply.

Nathaniel smirked. "There she is."

Damien shook off their exchange and on Isla. 

"This is not only going to put a target on Ethan. It puts one on you too."

A harsh laugh escaped her lips. "That target's been on my back my entire life. I'm finally just picking a side."

His eyes darkened, something unreadable flickering below the edge.

Then he nodded.

"Let's move."

***

 Ethan's head was still swimming.

Not from pain. Not from exhaustion.

From the truth.

He had always known things were wrong. He always felt the treatments weren't only about his getting better. But to discover that his own father had approved his status as a damn lab rat?

That was different. It was a kind of betrayal he hadn't expected.

His fingers clenched into fists, and he hated Richard Lancaster for the first time in his life.

Hated him.

Isla crouched next to him. "Can you walk?"

He locked on to his sister's gaze — the unwavering, fierce strength in it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and gave a nod.

"Yeah."

She wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him to his feet. He was weak, but rage was a strong spur.

Nathaniel opened the door a crack and peered down the hallway. "Coast is clear. For now."

Damien was already past, running point. Isla and Ethan trailed, with Gabriel in the back.

They had only just made it to the stairwell when Damien froze in place.

His entire body went rigid.

And then—

Gunfire.

***

 The first bullet struck the wall inches from his head.

He tackled Isla and shoved her against the stairwell wall just as more bullets raked through the air.

Nathaniel immediately shot back, seeking cover. Gabriel cursed silently, pulling Ethan out of the line of fire.

Shouts echoed down the hall. More men.

Too many.

Damien clenched his jaw. Antonov had no more time for games.

He grabbed his earpiece. "Status on our extraction?"

Gabriel answered. "Delayed." 

"We will need 10 more minutes from the pilot."

Damien exhaled sharply. "We don't have ten minutes."

He turned to Isla. "Get Ethan downstairs. Now."

She hesitated.

"I'm not leaving you—"

His palm cradled her jaw, angling her face up to his. His voice got low, gruff but steady.

"I'll find you."

She swallowed hard, scanning his eyes.

Then she nodded.

Nathaniel dragged Isla and Ethan towards the stairs as Damien and Gabriel lay down cover fire.

More bullets. More bodies are dropping.

Then—

Silence.

Damien breathed steady, but his hand gripped the gun tighter.

They weren't alone.

A slow clap resounded from the end of the hallway.

Then a voice he hadn't heard in years.

"Well, well."

Damien turned, his jaw tight as Viktor Antonov strolled into sight, flanked by armed guards.

"It's been a while, Cross."

Damien lifted his gun. "Not long enough."

Antonov smirked. "And here I thought you missed me."

Damien's fingers tightened on the trigger. "You were not supposed to come here."

"Oh, I think I should have." Antonov's eyes strayed to the stairwell where Isla and Ethan had gone. 

"You have that which is mine."

Damien's blood ran cold.

Antonov smiled. "Let's talk."