Chapter 10: The Child They Could Never Have
### Chapter 10: The Child They Could Never Have
The words struck the room harder than any weapon.
"We've been searching for that child... long before she was conceived."
An icy silence followed.
Even the fetal heart monitor seemed to hesitate before resuming its frantic rhythm.
Everyone stared at the masked man.
No one understood.
Except Richard.
The color drained from the old patriarch's face.
For the first time since his dramatic return to the hospital...
Fear replaced fury.
Real fear.
The masked stranger noticed immediately.
A slow smile spread beneath the edge of his mask.
"So..."
"You remember."
---
Richard stepped forward, placing himself completely between Chloe's hospital bed and the intruder.
"You've already destroyed enough lives."
His voice was low.
"You will not touch her."
The masked man tilted his head.
"Interesting."
"After twenty years..."
"...you're still protecting the secret."
Richard tightened his grip around the silver eagle cane.
"There is no secret."
The stranger chuckled.
"Then why are your hands shaking?"
Richard looked down.
Only then did he notice it.
His hand...
Was trembling.
---
Chloe's confused voice broke the tension.
"What is he talking about?"
No one answered.
She looked from Richard...
...to Emma...
...to Harrison.
Every face carried the same expression.
Confusion.
Except Richard's.
His face held something else.
Guilt.
Deep...
Crushing guilt.
---
The masked man slowly walked into the room.
Remarkably...
No one tried to stop him.
Not because they couldn't.
Because something about his confidence made resistance feel meaningless.
He stopped only a few feet from Chloe's bed.
His eyes settled gently on her swollen belly.
When he finally spoke...
His voice had softened.
Almost respectfully.
"Your child is innocent."
Chloe instinctively wrapped both arms around her stomach.
"Stay away from my baby."
The stranger nodded once.
"I intend to."
His answer stunned everyone.
"I didn't come to kill the child."
Richard's eyes narrowed.
"What do you want?"
The masked man finally looked at him.
"I came..."
"...to prevent you from repeating your greatest mistake."
---
Before Richard could answer—
The stranger reached into the inside pocket of his coat.
Every bodyguard immediately raised their weapons.
"Don't."
He slowly removed...
Not a gun.
Not a knife.
A faded photograph.
He placed it carefully on the bedside table.
Chloe looked down.
The photograph was old.
Nearly thirty years old.
It showed a younger Richard Sterling standing beside his son Edward.
But there was someone else.
A little girl.
Perhaps five years old.
She stood between them, laughing.
Edward held her hand.
Richard gently rested a hand on her shoulder.
The family looked genuinely happy.
Chloe frowned.
"Who is she?"
Richard closed his eyes.
No answer.
The masked man supplied one.
"Her name..."
"...was Emily."
---
The room fell silent.
Richard slowly lowered himself into a chair.
He suddenly looked twenty years older.
"Emily..."
He whispered.
"I buried her."
The masked man shook his head.
"No."
"You buried the truth."
---
Emma stared at the photograph.
"Chairman..."
"I've never heard of Emily Sterling."
"You weren't supposed to."
Richard's voice cracked.
"Neither was anyone else."
He finally looked at Chloe.
"There were originally..."
"...two heirs."
---
Twenty-eight years earlier...
Edward Sterling had become a father.
Twins.
A boy.
And a girl.
Arthur...
And Emily.
The entire Sterling family celebrated.
Until three months later.
Emily disappeared.
Official records claimed she died from sudden infant complications.
A private funeral followed.
No media.
No public announcement.
No investigation.
Richard had personally ordered every record sealed.
Chloe felt her stomach tighten.
"She didn't die."
It wasn't a question.
The masked man answered.
"No."
Richard covered his face with both hands.
His shoulders shook.
"The hospital nursery caught fire."
He spoke through broken breaths.
"There was smoke."
"Confusion."
"When we found the crib..."
"...Emily was gone."
"The only thing left..."
"...was blood."
Authorities assumed the worst.
No body was ever recovered.
But Richard...
Had accepted the official explanation.
Edward never had.
"He spent the rest of his life searching."
Richard whispered.
"He believed someone took her."
The masked man nodded.
"He was right."
---
Chloe's heartbeat quickened.
"You mean..."
"Emily is alive?"
The stranger remained silent.
Instead...
He slowly removed his mask.
Everyone gasped.
The face beneath wasn't scarred.
It wasn't monstrous.
It was refined.
Calm.
Intelligent.
Perhaps forty years old.
His gray eyes looked strangely familiar.
Richard stared at him in disbelief.
"No..."
His voice barely existed.
"It can't be..."
The man looked directly into Richard's eyes.
"My name..."
He paused.
"...is Daniel."
"I was raised by the Covenant."
"I spent my entire life believing my family abandoned me."
Silence.
Then—
"I was Emily's twin brother."
The room exploded into confusion.
Arthur?
Impossible.
Richard staggered backward.
"No..."
Daniel nodded.
"The Covenant took only one child."
"They couldn't take both."
"They wanted the girl."
"They believed..."
"...she carried something unique."
Emma frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
Daniel looked toward Chloe.
Then at the unborn baby.
Finally...
He answered.
"The Sterling bloodline..."
"...was never their true objective."
He placed another document on the bed.
A classified medical file.
Across the top...
One name.
PROJECT GENESIS
Richard's eyes widened with horror.
"No..."
Daniel looked at him coldly.
"You should have destroyed it."
Instead...
"You buried it."
He pointed toward Chloe's belly.
"That child..."
"...is the first successful descendant..."
"...since Project Genesis began."
The room fell into absolute silence.
Nobody understood what Project Genesis was.
Nobody...
Except Richard.
And judging by the terror on his face...
May you like
Whatever Project Genesis truly was...
It was far more dangerous than anyone had imagined.
