Chapter 12 - The Brother Who Came Back
We entered Helvetia through a service passage Isabella could unlock with an archival token.
Emergency lights glowed red through the underground levels.
Security staff had been bound or knocked unconscious.
Mercer had emptied the building for his own operation.
At level five, older Emma and Mateo met us near the succession vault.
Adrian was inside with four armed men, Noah, and Marcus.
Through the intercom Adrian demanded Isabella and the black box.
We refused.
He opened the chamber anyway because he wanted the confrontation.
Noah stood beside the black ledger on a stone table.
When Luca entered, Adrian smiled and introduced him.
"Noah, meet your father."
Noah rejected Luca immediately.
Adrian had spent years convincing him Luca knew about him and chose another family.
Luca did not defend himself with excuses.
He simply told Noah he had not known and that he wanted the chance to know him now.
Marcus warned Noah not to touch the ledger.
Adrian threatened him.
Then Marcus exposed something Adrian had never been told.
Evelyn had searched for Adrian for years.
She had written letters to him every birthday.
Older Emma still possessed them.
Adrian's certainty cracked.
Mateo used the distraction to fire.
The vault erupted into chaos.
I freed Marcus.
Luca pulled Noah behind the stone table.
Older Emma disarmed one guard.
Adrian grabbed the ledger and revealed a detonator.
He pressed it.
Nothing happened.
Victor appeared in the doorway, bleeding and barely upright, holding the real device.
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"Never trust a banker with explosives," he said.
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