The real wealth?” Graham muttered, still on the ground, snow soaking through his trousers. “The company is everything.”
“The company is a front, you idiot!” Vivian screamed at her son. “Conrad liquidated the true Harrington assets—billions in untraceable gold, offshore accounts, sovereign tech patents. He placed it all into an underground, biometric trust. A vault.”
Marcus stepped up beside me, his eyes narrowing. “A biometric trust requires living DNA to unlock. A continuous pulse.”
“Not just any DNA,” Vivian sneered, her eyes locking onto mine with a manic glint. “Conrad was obsessed with genetics. With ‘superior’ bloodlines. He believed the Harringtons lacked resilience. But the Vales… he had observed your family. He had an affair with your mother, Evelyn. He knew about Celeste.”
My breath hitched. The labyrinth of lies was deeper, darker than I could have ever calculated.
“The vault requires two genetic keys to open,” Vivian continued, breathless
now. “Direct lineage from Conrad Harrington, merged with direct lineage from the Vale bloodline. I spent years trying to find a way in. I needed a child born of both bloodlines to act as the key. I needed Celeste.”
“But she died,” I repeated, the word tasting like ash.
“She disappeared,” Vivian corrected, a sickening smile curling her lips. “I found her before Conrad died. I made sure she vanished from the public eye. I’ve kept her… safe. A silent partner in our little family endeavor. But her body was frail. She couldn’t carry a child to term. When Graham brought you home, a young, healthy Vale… it was divine providence. You were the perfect incubator for the perfect key.”
She pointed a trembling finger toward the SUV. “Those twins aren’t just babies, Evelyn. They are living keys. They are the only things on this earth that can open the
