PART 8 — THE NAME THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
PART 8 — THE NAME THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Marcus read the name again.
And again.
But no matter how many times his eyes moved over the document…
It stayed the same.
Victor Vale.
His father.
The man who taught him everything.
The man who built the foundation of the Vale empire.
The man Marcus spent his entire life trying to impress.
His own father.
“No.”
The word left Marcus’s mouth before he even realized he had spoken.
Rebecca watched him carefully.
“I know what it looks like.”
Marcus looked up sharply.
“You don’t know anything about my father.”
Rebecca didn’t flinch.
“No.”
Her voice was calm.
“But Elena did.”
That stopped him.
Because Elena’s name carried more weight than anger.
More than denial.
Elena had always been honest with him.
Even when the truth hurt.
Especially then.
“What happened?”
Marcus’s voice was low.
Controlled.
The same voice he used in business meetings when everything was falling apart.
Rebecca sat down.
“Five years ago, Elena discovered irregularities in Lily’s records.”
Marcus listened.
“She found information that didn’t match.”
“What information?”
Rebecca opened another folder.
“Someone had changed the official documentation surrounding Lily’s birth.”
Marcus looked at the papers.
“There were medical records that disappeared.”
“Names that were removed.”
“Connections hidden.”
Marcus swallowed.
“And my father?”
Rebecca nodded.
“He was involved.”
Marcus walked away from the table.
His mind rejected every possibility.
Victor Vale had been his hero.
Even after Marcus became successful, even after he built his own company, he still wanted his father’s approval.
He remembered being a child.
Standing beside Victor in his office.
Watching him make decisions.
Watching everyone listen.
Victor always said:
“Family is everything.”
Now Marcus wondered.
Which family?
The one he protected?
Or the one he controlled?
“Why?”
Marcus finally asked.
Rebecca looked down.
“That’s what Elena was trying to discover.”
A pause.
“But she found something else.”
“What?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Lily wasn’t the only child involved.”
Marcus froze.
“What does that mean?”
“There were other families.”
Other children.
Other records.
Other secrets.
Marcus felt sick.
“What kind of program was this?”
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“A private research network.”
“Using children?”
“We don’t know everything.”
“But Elena believed they were collecting information.”
Marcus clenched his fists.
“And Victor was part of it?”
Rebecca didn’t answer immediately.
That silence was an answer.
That night, Marcus went through every memory he had of his father.
The conversations.
The arguments.
The strange questions.
The times Victor showed too much interest in Lily.
He remembered one moment.
Lily was four.
Victor had visited.
He held her.
Smiled.
And asked:
“Does she remember anything?”
At the time, Marcus thought it was a strange grandfather question.
Now…
It sounded different.
Marcus found Victor’s number.
His finger hovered over the call button.
Five years.
Five years of grief.
Five years believing the worst thing that happened to him was losing Elena.
But maybe losing Elena wasn’t the beginning.
Maybe it was the moment the truth started escaping.
He pressed call.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
Then:
“Marcus.”
His father answered immediately.
As if he had been expecting him.
Marcus felt cold.
“Dad.”
A pause.
“I wondered when you would find out.”
The words nearly stopped him.
“What?”
Victor sighed.
“I hoped Elena never got that far.”
Marcus stood completely still.
“You knew.”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“You knew what happened to her?”
Victor didn’t answer.
“Dad.”
The word came out broken.
Not angry.
Not yet.
Just hurt.
“You knew?”
Finally, Victor spoke.
“She got too close.”
Marcus felt his heart drop.
“Too close to what?”
Another pause.
Then Victor said:
“The truth.”
Marcus gripped the phone.
“What truth?”
Victor’s voice changed.
Older.
Tired.
Not the powerful man everyone feared.
Just an old man who had carried secrets too long.
“Your daughter is not what you think.”
Marcus immediately snapped.
“Don’t talk about Lily.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No.”
Marcus’s voice hardened.
“You don’t understand.”
Victor continued.
“Your mother and I discovered something years ago.”
Marcus froze.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“There were people interested in certain genetic information.”
Marcus felt disgust.
“Stop.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“You hurt my daughter.”
Victor went quiet.
Then:
“I protected her.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Protected?”
“You let Cassandra into our lives.”
Silence.
That was enough.
“You knew about her.”
Victor didn’t deny it.
Marcus felt something inside him crack.
“You knew.”
“I knew she was trying to get close.”
“And you did nothing?”
“I was watching.”
Marcus’s voice exploded.
“Watching?”
His hand shook.
“My daughter was suffering!”
“I didn’t know she would hurt her.”
The sentence made Marcus stop.
Because it was the first honest thing Victor said.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then Victor said:
“Marcus, listen carefully.”
“No.”
“You need to hear this.”
“Why?”
“Because they are coming.”
Marcus froze.
“Who?”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“The people who started all of this.”
The line went quiet.
Then Victor added:
“Cassandra was never the danger.”
Marcus remembered Elena’s video.
The same words.
A piece.
Not the whole thing.
“Then who is?”
Victor hesitated.
And when he answered…
Marcus wished he hadn’t asked.
“Someone inside your company.”
Marcus felt a chill.
“My company?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Victor didn’t answer.
Instead, he said:
“Don’t trust anyone around you.”
The call ended.
The next morning, Marcus arrived at his office.
The place he built.
The place he trusted.
Security greeted him.
Employees smiled.
Everything looked normal.
But now he saw everything differently.
Every person could be hiding something.
Every conversation could be a lie.
He entered his private office.
His assistant followed.
“Mr. Vale, there’s something you should know.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
She looked nervous.
“Someone accessed your private files last night.”
His blood ran cold.
“Who?”
She hesitated.
Then handed him the report.
The access code belonged to only one person.
The person with the highest clearance.
The person who had been beside Marcus for ten years.
His closest friend.
His business partner.
Ethan Brooks.
Marcus stared at the name.
Because suddenly he understood.
The betrayal wasn’t coming from outside.
May you like
It had been standing beside him the entire time.
TO BE CONTINUED…
