Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT ALEX STOPPED BEING HIS FATHER’S SON
The first attacker died in the east corridor.
Roman shot the second.
Dominic took the third alive.
By dawn, the house smelled of gunpowder and broken plaster.
Nanya had not slept.
Neither had Nora.
Alex entered the safe room with blood on his shirt.
Not his.
Nanya ran.
He caught her.
“You came back.”
“I said I would.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
“That is not comforting.”
Nora laughed through tears.
Alex looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But recognition.
Roman dragged the captured attacker into the study.
Thirty-five.
Former Gene contractor.
He refused to speak.
Dominic looked at him.
“Mason sent you?”
Silence.
Alex sat opposite.
“Where is Mason?”
Nothing.
Alex opened a folder.
“Your daughter attends Hunter College.”
The man’s face changed.
Nora stared at Alex.
He continued.
“She is not a threat.”
“She is not leverage.”
“She is a person.”
The attacker looked confused.
Alex leaned forward.
“I am telling you that because this family spent decades forgetting the difference.”
“Talk.”
The man swallowed.
“Mason has Thomas.”
Alex’s jaw tightened.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Old Gene packing plant in Newark.”
Dominic went still.
“That place burned.”
“Front half.”
Roman looked at Alex.
“Could be a trap.”
“It is.”
Alex stood.
“We’re going anyway.”
Nora folded her arms.
“We?”
“You stay.”
“No.”
Alex stared.
“You have a talent for this word.”
“So does Nanya.”
The girl raised her hand.
“True.”
Alex sighed.
Nora continued.
“My father may be there.”
The attacker looked toward her.
Nora noticed.
“What?”
He said nothing.
She stepped closer.
“You know Daniel Ellis.”
His eyes gave him away.
Alex looked at him.
“Where is he?”
The man whispered:
“With Mason.”
“Prisoner?”
“No.”
Nora stopped breathing.
“What does that mean?”
“He works with him.”
Silence.
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
The attacker continued.
“Daniel Ellis has been with Mason for years.”
Alex watched Nora.
Her face collapsed.
She had spent her life believing her father hid to protect her.
Maybe he did.
Maybe not.
They reached Newark at noon.
Alex brought Roman.
Dominic insisted on coming.
Nora refused to stay behind.
Nanya remained under twenty-four-hour protection with Roman’s sister, a retired FBI agent outside Westchester.
Before they left, Nanya grabbed Alex’s hand.
“Don’t kill everybody.”
Alex raised an eyebrow.
“That is a very specific request.”
“Mama says angry people make dumb choices.”
Nora looked offended.
“I did not phrase it like that.”
Nanya pushed up her glasses.
“That was the main idea.”
Alex crouched.
“I’ll try.”
“Try harder.”
Then she hugged him.
Alex closed his eyes.
Eight years he had lost.
He would not lose another day.
The Newark plant looked abandoned.
Inside, generators hummed.
They found Thomas tied to a chair.
Alive.
Bruised.
Mason stood beside him.
Daniel Ellis stood near the far wall.
Nora stopped.
“Dad.”
Daniel looked at her.
His face broke.
“Nora.”
She took one step.
Alex stopped her.
“Wait.”
Daniel’s expression hardened toward him.
“Still controlling everything, Gene?”
Nora stared.
“You know him.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“I knew his father.”
Thomas lifted his head.
“Daniel.”
“Shut up.”
Nora looked devastated.
“You work with Mason?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Not the way you think.”
“Everyone says that.”
Mason smiled.
“Family reunions.”
Alex’s voice dropped.
“What do you want?”
Mason looked toward him.
“The child.”
Nora stepped forward.
“No.”
“Not to kill.”
“Stop saying that like it makes kidnapping better.”
Mason laughed.
“She activates the trust.”
“We know.”
“She can open the archive early.”
Thomas looked sharply up.
“What?”
Mason nodded.
“Samuel added another clause.”
“Verified heir can voluntarily activate at any age with two blood witnesses.”
Alex frowned.
“Which witnesses?”
Mason pointed.
Thomas.
Then Dominic.
Dominic swore.
Mason continued.
“If Nanya gives DNA and both surviving Gene brothers acknowledge her…”
“The archive opens now.”
Alex stared.
“So this is about getting her here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Mason’s expression became almost reverent.
“Because Thomas has spent eleven years sanitizing history.”
Thomas struggled against the restraints.
“I have been protecting victims.”
“You’ve been deleting leverage.”
Mason turned toward Nora.
“Your father understands.”
Nora stared at Daniel.
“Do you?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“I wanted the archive open.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother is in it.”
Nora stopped.
“My mother?”
“You told me she died from cancer.”
Daniel whispered:
“She was murdered.”
Silence.
Nora looked physically ill.
“By who?”
Daniel stared at Thomas.
“Gene Medical.”
Alex turned toward his father.
Thomas closed his eyes.
Nora’s voice broke.
“Why?”
Daniel continued.
“Rebecca Ellis discovered children were being moved through medical charities.”
“She copied records.”
“She threatened to expose them.”
Alex looked at Thomas.
“Did you order it?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Thomas looked toward Mason.
Mason smiled.
“Samuel.”
Alex’s dead grandfather again.
Nora’s eyes filled with rage.
“And you knew?”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“Afterward.”
Nora slapped him.
Hard.
Alex did not stop her.
“You knew my mother was killed by your family.”
“Yes.”
“And you let Alex date me.”
“I didn’t know who you were then.”
“Later?”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“I found out when Dominic reported your pregnancy.”
Nora stepped back.
“That’s why you wanted Nanya gone.”
“Partly.”
Alex’s face hardened.
“Partly?”
Thomas looked toward Nora.
“Because Daniel made a deal with Samuel years earlier.”
Daniel shouted:
“Don’t.”
Nora slowly turned toward her father.
“What deal?”
Daniel’s face collapsed.
Thomas answered:
“Daniel helped Samuel hide the archive…”
“…in exchange for keeping Nora alive after Rebecca was killed.”
Nora stopped breathing.
Daniel whispered:
“I was trying to save you.”
She stared.
“You worked for the people who murdered Mom.”
“I had no money.”
“No power.”
“You were sixteen.”
“They knew where you slept.”
“So you joined them.”
“For you.”
Nora began crying.
“No.”
“You do not get to make me the excuse.”
Daniel flinched.
Mason laughed softly.
“That’s the problem with children.”
Everyone looked at him.
“They grow up and judge the sacrifices.”
Alex’s voice became ice.
“No.”
“They grow up and name the crimes.”
Mason’s smile vanished.
A siren sounded outside.
Roman.
Backup.
Mason pulled a gun.
Daniel moved.
The shot hit Daniel instead of Nora.
She screamed.
Alex tackled Mason.
Dominic freed Thomas.
Gunfire exploded in the warehouse.
Roman’s team stormed the floor.
Within seconds, Mason was pinned.
Daniel lay bleeding.
Nora dropped beside him.
“Dad.”
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
“I should have come back.”
“Save it.”
“You’re going to live and say it later.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Then his hand tightened around hers.
“Nanya.”
“What?”
“Her trust…”
He struggled.
“There’s another beneficiary.”
Alex froze.
“What?”
Daniel looked at Nora.
“The first Gene grandchild wasn’t Nanya.”
Silence.
Thomas went white.
Dominic stared.
Alex stepped closer.
“What are you talking about?”
Daniel’s eyes moved toward Thomas.
“He knows.”
Alex turned.
His father looked terrified.
“Dad.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
May you like
Then whispered:
“You had a brother.”
