Chapter 7:Bloodlines and Betrayals

Rain lashed against the tinted windows of the black SUV as it sped down the coastal highway, its wheels skimming the slick road like a predator chasing its prey. Inside, Ella sat with Adrian curled against her side, his small body trembling not from the cold but from something deeper—something neither of them could name.

Paul drove in silence, jaw clenched, eyes fixed on the winding road ahead. They were headed to a safehouse outside the city, one of Gideon's lesser-known properties listed under a shell company. It wasn't bulletproof, but it would buy them time.

Ella clutched the flash drive tightly in her pocket, the weight of its contents heavier than any weapon.

"Mom?" Adrian's voice was barely a whisper.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I saw something… in Dad's study once. A photo. Of me. But I was a baby. And he wasn't holding me. Doreen was."

Ella's breath caught.

"He said I shouldn't ask questions. That it was complicated."

Ella wrapped her arms tighter around him. "I'll explain everything soon. But right now, we need to stay safe."

---

Hours later, in the dim glow of the safehouse living room, Paul returned from a call with their tech team.

"They breached your father's personal cloud," he said flatly. "Files are disappearing. Someone's covering tracks."

Ella stood. "What about Project Lyra?"

Paul hesitated. "Gone. But the flash drive you took has a clone of the original formula. We just don't know how many others have seen it."

Ella paced. "We need leverage. Proof that someone in the company is helping Doreen."

Paul exhaled. "There's one place we haven't checked. The offsite archive. Only three people knew about it—your father, myself, and…"

He paused.

Ella's eyes narrowed. "And who?"

"Valeria."

---

Back in the city, Valeria Monroe stood in front of her dressing mirror, sliding a diamond clasp into her silver-streaked hair. Her reflection stared back, regal and composed, but her eyes shimmered with something darker.

A burner phone buzzed on her vanity.

Phase Three is in motion.

She smiled faintly.

---

At the archive building, hidden beneath the facade of a shipping warehouse, Ella and Paul entered the reinforced records vault. The smell of old paper and ozone clung to the air. Motion sensors blinked silently along the ceiling.

They began searching.

Folders. Disks. Receipts.

Until Paul froze.

"Ella," he said, pulling out a dusty file marked: Inheritance Directive.

She took it, hands trembling as she opened it.

Inside were signed documents dated five years prior. An amended will. Witnessed. Notarized.

Everything—Monroe International, its patents, the estate—was to be left to Ella... and Adrian.

Together.

Tears pricked her eyes.

But one detail caught her attention: a clause that transferred interim control to Valeria if anything happened to Gideon before Adrian turned 18.

"She knew," Ella whispered. "She knew this clause existed. That's why she's been pushing for board control. She doesn't want Adrian as co-heir. She wants to erase him."

Paul nodded grimly. "And she might not be alone."

---

Across town, Valeria entered an upscale restaurant's private room. At the table sat Gregory Thorn, the current CFO of Monroe International.

"I trust the files have been erased?" she asked, sipping her wine.

He nodded. "The flash drive is the only remaining copy of Project Lyra. But we have a bigger problem."

"Ella," Valeria said.

"She's turning Adrian into a symbol. The media's starting to ask questions. If they find out he's Gideon's biological son—"

"They won't." Valeria's voice turned cold. "By tomorrow, we release a story. Claim Doreen manipulated Gideon. That she forged the tests. Cast doubt. Muddy the waters."

Gregory tilted his head. "You've done this before."

Valeria smiled, tapping her glass. "I built this company. I protected its name when Gideon strayed. I won't let a child destroy what took decades to construct."

---

The next morning, news exploded.

BREAKING: Illegitimate Child of Gideon Monroe? Sources Say Mistress May Have Forged Paternity Tests.

Ella stared at the headlines on her phone, her blood boiling. Adrian sat across the table, eyes wide and confused.

"Why are they lying?" he asked.

"Because they're afraid of the truth," she said. "But we're going to fight back."

She pulled up a number. "Detective Reese. I need to give you something."

---

Hours later, in Reese's office, Ella handed over the flash drive.

"This proves everything. The doctor's complicity. The poison. Even the altered board documents."

Reese nodded. "With this, I can reopen the investigation into the company's executives. If even half of what's in here is accurate, someone high up was laundering hush payments."

"And Valeria?" Ella asked.

"She'll have to answer some hard questions."

---

But Valeria wasn't waiting to be questioned.

She was preparing for war.

At her penthouse suite, a team of lawyers and PR agents worked around the clock.

"We go public tomorrow," she ordered. "A press conference. We call Ella emotionally unstable. That her grief is warping her judgment. That Adrian was never acknowledged by Gideon legally."

"What about the DNA test?" one aide asked.

Valeria smiled. "We'll leak a doctored version."

"But it's perjury—"

"It's survival."

---

That night, Ella received a call from an unknown number.

A voice whispered: "You don't know the whole truth. Meet me at Pier 17. Midnight. Come alone."

Against Paul's protests, she went.

At the fog-drenched pier, a figure emerged—hooded, cautious.

"I worked for your father," the man said. "In cybersecurity. He had me encrypt files even I wasn't allowed to open. Project Lyra was only one piece. There's something bigger."

He handed her a second flash drive.

"This… is everything. Including a confession from the doctor. Video. Not just about the poisoning. About who paid him. And why."

Ella stepped back, shaken. "Why me?"

"Because he trusted you. And because if Valeria gets this first, you won't live to tell anyone."

---

Back at the safehouse, Ella watched the video in stunned silence.

The doctor, pale and shaking, confessed everything.

> Valeria came to me six months before Gideon's death. She knew about Doreen. About Adrian. She wanted to erase the threat. She said she'd handle Doreen. All I had to do was poison Gideon slowly. Just enough to make it look natural. Then frame Doreen when the time came. Doreen panicked. Added too much. But it was all Valeria's plan. I was her puppet. And now... I know she'll kill me too.

Ella turned to Paul, her voice steel.

"She orchestrated everything. Doreen was a pawn. The real murderer is still walking free."

Paul's face hardened. "Then it's time we expose her. All of her."

Ella looked to Adrian, asleep on the couch.

"For Dad. For Adrian. For everything they tried to bury."