Chapter 19 - The Last FolderAdrian's arrest opened everything.
Bank accounts.
Research networks.
Private laboratories.
Hidden contracts.
But one file remained locked.
K-00.
Victor found it inside the old archive.
There was no name.
No photograph.
Only a date.
The date my father died.
I opened it.
Inside was a single sentence.
The original child was never treated.
I stared.
"What's this?"
Victor didn't know.
Then Eleanor arrived.
She saw the file.
And went pale.
"No."
"What?"
She sat down.
"The first child."
"Who?"
"Your father's own son."
I stopped breathing.
"My father had a son?"
She nodded.
"Before you."
I stared at her.
"That's impossible."
"He died as an infant."
"Why isn't there a record?"
"Because your father erased him."
"Why?"
"Because the child carried the original marker."
I couldn't speak.
My father had spent his life protecting the secret.
The research.
The children.
The truth.
And perhaps me.
I opened the last page.
There was a photograph.
A baby.
Around his neck was a tiny silver star.
The same symbol Keo had drawn for years.
Under the photograph:
Subject Zero.
I looked at Eleanor.
"Why did my father never tell me?"
"Because he wanted you to live without becoming part of it."
I thought about Keo.
The hospital.
The eighty thousand dollars.
The Hope Ship.
Everything had begun with one sick child.
But now I understood.
My father hadn't simply left behind money.
He had left behind a war.
And we had only uncovered the first layer.
Then Linda entered.
She was holding a phone.
"Mr. Gallo."
"What?"
"Keo is missing."
My blood froze.
"What?"
"He was here ten minutes ago."
"Security?"
"Nobody saw him leave."
Victor ran toward the cameras.
I followed.
The footage showed Keo walking outside.
Then a black vehicle stopped.
The door opened.
Keo got inside.
But he wasn't forced.
He entered willingly.
I watched the footage again.
He turned toward the camera.
And smiled.
Then the screen went black.
I stared.
"Why would he do that?"
Eleanor whispered:
"Because he knows something."
"What?"
May you like
She looked at me.
"Something your father told him."
