Chapter 4 The Vanishing Geneticist

The storm finally broke by dawn.

Rainwater slid in thin rivulets down the glass, washing away the night's thunder but not the tension that still gripped Blackstone Manor. The house was unnervingly quiet, the kind of silence that came only after something irreversible.

Elena stood at her window, the DNA results replaying in her mind like a broken film reel.

99.4% – Direct Sibling Relation.

The words were carved into her thoughts, impossible to erase.

She wasn't who she thought she was.

She was Eleanor Devereux, the daughter erased from existence, buried beneath layers of privilege, lies, and bloodlines.

And now, every person under that roof wanted something from her.

Damian found her in the east library later that morning, the heavy scent of rain-soaked wood and paper hanging in the air. He looked different, his composure frayed, his shirt open at the collar, his usual control replaced by restless energy.

We need to talk, he said, his voice low.

Elena didn't look up from the book she wasn't really reading. I think we've done enough of that.

He stepped closer. You saw what my mother said last night. She's hiding more than she admits. I found something in her wing after she left the lab.

He placed a folded paper on the table. Elena hesitated, then unfolded it. The page was torn from a medical ledger, marked with Victor Devereux's signature and a name scrawled in bold ink:

Dr. Samuel Lang.

Her breath caught. That's the geneticist who sent me the encrypted email.

Damian nodded grimly. He worked for my father before the foundation bought out his lab. Then he disappeared three years ago. No one's heard from him since.

She looked up sharply. Disappeared? Or was it made to disappear?

He didn't answer.

He's the key, she murmured. "If he knew about me, he might have left proof. Something beyond a DNA test.

I thought so too, Damian said. So I checked the foundation archives. His research was erased. Every trace.

Elena frowned. But someone sent me his file. Someone inside your system.

He met her eyes. Or someone who still has access.

They spent the next hour in the manor's secure data room, a narrow, steel-lined vault hidden behind a false bookcase. Damian keyed in the passcode, the air chilling as the door slid open. Dozens of drives and servers hummed softly, blue lights blinking in rhythmic patterns.

Every Devereux innovation, every scandal is archived here, Damian said. If Lang left anything behind, it'll be buried somewhere in this labyrinth.

Elena stepped forward, scanning the monitors, Can you access internal logs?

Yes. His fingers flew across the keyboard. But if someone tampered with the system, it'll be dangerous.

Do it anyway.

He hesitated. You're not afraid?

Fear's just another luxury your family could afford, she said quietly. "I never had that privilege.

A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Within minutes, a flood of encrypted data filled the screens: genetic sequences, family records, project files. Elena leaned closer, scanning for anything marked Lang. Then she froze.

A folder flickered at the bottom of the archive, labeled simply: Project Heirloom.

Open it, she said.

Damian hesitated. That's restricted to Level Black authorization.

She turned to him. Whose level is that?

My father's. And now my mother's.

Before he could speak again, she moved past him, her fingers swift on the keys. A line of code flashed across the screen. For a moment, the system resisted, then unlocked with a soft chime.

Damian looked at her, startled. How did you do?

Your security encryption uses a mirrored hash, she said. Your father's code was stored in the DNA algorithm used for the test.

His expression was part disbelief, part reluctant admiration. You really are a Devereux.

The folder opened.

Rows of video logs filled the screen, each timestamped over two decades. Damian clicked one.

A dim lab appeared on the monitor of his father, Victor Devereux, standing beside a young Dr. Lang. Both men looked tense.

Victor: You said the embryo split into two viable subjects?

Lang: Identical genetic material, sir. But one shows an anorectic recessive, unstable.

Victor: Then terminate it.

Lang: She's still viable.

Victor: Then she's a liability.

The recording crackled before ending abruptly. Elena's stomach turned. "He was talking about me.

Damian's voice was hoarse. You weren't supposed to live.

Her pulse pounded. Lang saved me. He must've faked my death.

Damian looked at her. And now he's missing.

Before she could respond, the lights flickered. The air conditioning cut out with a low groan.

Damian's head snapped toward the control panel. Someone's overriding the system.

The monitors went black. Then, a single image flashed on-screen an eye, filmed through static, and a distorted voice whispered through the speakers:

You shouldn't have opened it.

The image vanished. Every light in the data vault went out.

The room plunged into darkness. Damian! Elena gasped.

I'm here, he said quickly. Stay close.

She reached out, feeling his arm brush hers. The silence between them pulsed with adrenaline.

Somewhere in the darkness, a faint click sounded the unmistakable sound of a mechanical lock engaging.

They've sealed us in, Damian muttered. Manual override from the security office.

Elena swallowed. Can we break out?

Not easily. These doors are reinforced. Whoever did this knows what's down here.

Then came another sound: a soft beep, rhythmic, growing faster. Damian's hand shot to his side, pulling a small flashlight from his pocket. The beam illuminated the source: a small black device blinking red on the terminal.

A timed data purge.

Everything in the system's about to be wiped, Damian said. Lang's research of your proof, it's all going to vanish.

Elena stepped forward, scanning the blinking light. Give me your phone.

What are you? Trust me!

He handed it over. She connected it to the terminal, her fingers flying across the keys. The red light blinked faster for ten seconds.

Come on, come on, she whispered, sweat beading on her forehead.

Damian watched, torn between awe and dread. Five seconds!

I know. She hit Enter. The screen flickered. Data transfer initiated.

The light turned green. Then everything went dark again.

When they finally forced the vault door open from inside, the corridor was empty. The manor's lights were back, but something was off in the air, too still, too quiet.

Damian's phone buzzed. A single message flashed across the screen. No sender ID.

He was right to hide her. But you shouldn't have found her.

Beneath it was a location in an address in Cambridge. The coordinates of Lang's last known lab.

Elena's heart raced. He's alive. Or someone wants us to think he is.

She met his eyes. Either way, we have to go.

He hesitated. If Lang's still out there, whoever silenced him once will come after him again. Or us.

Then we'll get to him first.

Her voice left no room for argument. For the first time, Damian saw not just the frightened woman from the sea cliffs, but the survivor beneath the woman his father hadn't managed to erase.

He nodded slowly. I'll arrange a car. We leave at dusk.

As Damian left to prepare, Elena slipped into her room and sat on the edge of the bed, the manor's wind sighing around her like a restless spirit.

She opened Damian's phone and checked the transfer of three encrypted files labeled Heirloom A, B, and C. Each bore the same cryptic symbol: a helix entwined with a dagger.

Beneath it, a short note appeared, likely Lang's last message before he vanished:

The truth is in the blood. But the blood was never human.

A chill ran down her spine.

She replayed the words, her mother's letter echoing beside them: The truth is hidden where the light first fell upon you.

The clues weren't random; they were connected. The light, the blood, the experiments. Her mother hadn't just been a victim of Victor Devereux's affair; she'd been part of something far larger.

Something dangerous.

As night fell, Damian's car rolled down the long drive, its headlights slicing through the mist. Elena sat beside him, clutching the flash drive that now held Lang's last research. Neither spoke for miles, the silence filled with unspoken truths.

Finally, Damian said quietly, If Lang is alive, he'll tell us everything. About you. About Father. About Project Heirloom.

She looked out at the rain-slicked road, her reflection ghostly in the window. And if he's dead?

Then someone killed him for what he knew.

The car sped on through the dark countryside, the storm clouds closing once more behind them.

Far back at Blackstone Manor, Vivienne watched from the upper balcony, a phone pressed to her ear.

They've found the Cambridge address, she whispered.

A voice answered from the other end, low, distorted, and calm.

Then it's time they learn why Project Heirloom was never meant to be completed.

Vivienne closed her eyes, her expression unreadable. You promised me they'd never find each other.

I promised nothing, the voice said. You can't stop what's already in their blood.

The line went dead. Vivienne lowered the phone, her fingers trembling.

Outside, lightning tore the sky apart once more, illuminating the portraits lining the great hall, faces painted in shadow and pride.

For the first time, one seemed to move.

Eleanor Devereux's unfinished likeness to the girl in the portrait Elena had come to restore now had eyes that seemed almost alive.