Chapter 6 - The Doctor Who Buried Us
Samuel’s men surrounded the vault entrance.
Victor fired first.
The tunnel exploded with gunfire.
I pulled Mia behind a stone pillar while Luca covered Evelyn and the baby.
Victor took a bullet through the arm but remained standing. Two of Samuel’s men fell near the stairs.
The rest forced us deeper toward the vault.
Samuel raised one hand.
“Enough.”
His men stopped.
He knew we would not risk stray bullets near the children.
“I warned Roman not to trust the paternity test,” Evelyn said through clenched teeth.
Samuel smiled.
“You warned him after using my clinic for twelve years.”
“You changed the samples.”
“I corrected your mistake.”
Luca stared at him.
“You told me Roman’s sample remained viable.”
“It did. I simply chose yours.”
“Why?”
“Antonio required both branches of blood. Roman had no child. You already had Mia. The easiest solution was creating your second.”
Mia clung to Mrs. Harlow.
She listened to adults discuss her brother as though he were a key cut from flesh.
Samuel had spent years guiding every side.
He told me my samples were destroyed.
He told Luca they survived.
He forged Clara’s authorization.
He helped Evelyn hide the embryo.
Then he leaked just enough information to force the newborn toward my estate.
“You sent the message threatening the baby,” I said.
“Yes.”
“You made Luca believe Evelyn would kill him.”
Samuel laughed.
“Fear moves families faster than love.”
He worked for a council created by my father.
Antonio knew his sons might reject his criminal empire. The vault contained proof that could either destroy the council or give its owner complete control.
Samuel intended to seize it.
The scanner still needed two confirmations.
Mia’s blood.
The newborn’s blood.
Evelyn had already used the baby for the first lock. The final vault required both children simultaneously.
Samuel’s men dragged a medical kit forward.
Mia began shaking.
I stepped between her and the needle.
“You will not touch her.”
Samuel aimed at Mrs. Harlow.
“Then she dies first.”
The elderly woman lifted her chin.
“I buried my daughter because of men like you. Do not expect fear now.”
Samuel moved the gun toward Mia.
Luca raised both hands.
“I will do it.”
His daughter stared at him.
“Dad.”
“It is only a small cut.”
“No.”
“We need what is inside.”
“You need it.”
The difference stopped him.
Mia looked at me.
“What happens if we open it?”
“I do not know.”
“Will it save my brother?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
No adult had a clean answer.
Samuel did.
“Because men have killed for what is behind that door.”
Mia turned toward him.
“That means it should stay closed.”
I nearly smiled.
Seven years old.
Hungry.
Abandoned.
Still wiser than all of us.
Samuel’s face hardened.
He ordered his men forward.
The newborn began crying.
The sound echoed through the stone chamber.
Then another voice came through the vault speaker.
Antonio DeLuca.
“Blood coercion detected.”
Red lights flashed.
Samuel froze.
The system had recorded stress levels and recognized the children were being forced.
Steel doors began descending between sections of the tunnel.
Victor pulled Mrs. Harlow and Mia through the nearest opening.
Luca carried Evelyn and the baby after them.
I remained on Samuel’s side.
The steel barrier slammed down between me and my family.
Samuel smiled.
“You always did choose the dramatic position.”
His men raised their guns.
The vault speaker continued.
“Unauthorized council presence confirmed.”
Gas hissed from vents in the ceiling.
Samuel’s men panicked.
I tore my shirt sleeve and covered my mouth.
Samuel ran toward a control panel.
The gas was not poison.
It was a tracking compound visible under ultraviolet light.
Antonio had prepared the vault to mark anyone attempting forced entry.
Above us, my security network suddenly returned.
Every council member connected to Samuel’s men appeared on Victor’s monitor.
Judges.
Police commanders.
Corporate leaders.
My father had built a list of his own loyalists and trapped them inside the system.
Samuel realized the vault had never been designed to reward the council.
It had been designed to expose them.
He turned his gun toward me.
Before he fired, Luca’s voice came through the wall speaker.
“Roman, move.”
I dropped.
A hidden panel opened behind Samuel.
Luca fired through it.
Samuel fell.
The doctor looked down at the blood spreading across his chest and laughed.
“You still think I am the one in control?”
He pressed a remote.
The newborn’s medical monitor began beeping rapidly on the other side of the wall.
Evelyn screamed.
May you like
Samuel whispered, “The baby has a device inside him.”
Continue to the next part: Samuel reveals the newborn was implanted with a hidden device that could kill him before the vault is opened.
