Chapter 12 – The Archive Beneath the Hospital
The mechanical voice echoed through every corridor.
"Archive Protocol Initiated."
"Automatic destruction begins in ten minutes."
A digital countdown lit up on the hallway monitors.
09:59
09:58
The numbers continued falling.
Julian looked at Isabella.
"What records?"
She answered without hesitation.
"The evidence that could destroy everyone responsible."
Marco grabbed the hospital blueprints.
"Show me the entrance."
"There isn't one on the official plans," Isabella replied. "The architects designed it to disappear."
She turned toward Emily.
"But she knows."
Everyone looked at the little girl.
Emily squeezed Elena's hand tightly.
"The bird showed me."
Julian knelt in front of her.
"Can you take us there?"
Emily nodded.
"But we have to hurry."
"They don't like visitors."
Three floors below...
The elderly man in the wheelchair gently rocked Julian and Elena's newborn.
The baby slept peacefully.
Completely unaware of the storm surrounding him.
Camila stood beside the old man.
"When do we leave?"
"We don't."
She frowned.
"What?"
The old man smiled.
"The parents are coming."
Camila's expression hardened.
"You want them here?"
"I've waited thirty years."
"I want Julian Rossi to hear the truth before he dies."
Emily led the group through the pediatric wing.
She stopped in front of an old supply closet.
The room was barely large enough to hold cleaning equipment.
Marco searched every wall.
"Nothing."
Emily shook her head.
"You have to touch the bird."
She pointed toward a faded brass ornament shaped like a swallow mounted above the doorway.
Julian pressed it.
Nothing happened.
Emily smiled.
"No."
"Daddy has to turn it."
Julian twisted the brass bird clockwise.
A quiet click echoed behind the wall.
The shelves slowly slid aside.
A hidden steel elevator appeared.
Marco stared in disbelief.
"This place..."
"...was built like a bunker."
The elevator doors opened automatically.
Inside, there were no numbered buttons.
Only one.
A black button engraved with a silver crescent moon.
The same symbol as the birthmark on Julian's son.
Julian looked at Isabella.
"What does this mean?"
She answered softly.
"It means your son was never the first."
The elevator descended.
No one spoke.
Only the low hum of the machinery filled the silence.
The digital display didn't show floor numbers.
Instead, it counted years.
1996...
1994...
1992...
Marco frowned.
"What kind of elevator does this?"
"It isn't showing floors," Isabella whispered.
"It's showing the year each level of the Archive was built."
The doors finally opened.
Everyone stepped into a massive underground chamber.
Rows of fireproof vaults stretched farther than the eye could see.
Thousands of shelves.
Millions of files.
DNA samples.
Birth certificates.
Financial records.
Hidden cameras silently watched every movement.
Julian had never seen anything like it.
A slow clap echoed through the chamber.
One.
Two.
Three.
The elderly man rolled his wheelchair forward.
The newborn slept peacefully in his arms.
Julian's heart nearly stopped.
"My son."
He stepped forward.
Four armed guards immediately raised their rifles.
The old man smiled.
"Easy."
"If I wanted him dead..."
"...he never would have been born."
Elena's entire body trembled.
"Give him back."
The old man looked at the baby almost affectionately.
"He truly resembles Antonio."
Julian's expression changed.
"You knew my father."
"I knew him better than anyone."
The old man extended his hand.
"Allow me to introduce myself."
"My name is Victor DeLuca."
The name hit Isabella like a bullet.
"No..."
She whispered.
"You died twenty years ago."
Victor laughed.
"That's what I wanted the world to believe."
Julian searched his memory.
The name suddenly surfaced.
Victor DeLuca.
Founder of one of Europe's oldest banking dynasties.
Officially pronounced dead in a helicopter crash.
Twenty-two years earlier.
The crash that had never produced a body.
"You've been alive this entire time."
Victor nodded.
"Very much alive."
Julian stared at the child in Victor's arms.
"What do you want with my son?"
Victor looked almost offended.
"Want?"
"I've spent decades protecting him."
"You kidnapped him."
"I rescued him."
Julian took another step.
"You've lost your mind."
Victor's smile faded.
"No."
"Your father lost his."
The chamber fell silent.
Victor pressed a button on his wheelchair.
A giant screen descended from the ceiling.
A video began playing.
This time...
It wasn't edited.
It wasn't grainy.
The footage was crystal clear.
The same conference room.
The same night.
Antonio Rossi entered carrying a leather briefcase.
Victor sat at the head of the table.
Isabella stood beside him.
Julian watched in disbelief.
His father wasn't arguing.
He was negotiating.
Antonio placed several documents on the table.
Victor spoke calmly.
"Once you sign..."
"...the bloodline agreement becomes permanent."
Antonio shook his head.
"I've changed my mind."
"No child should inherit this curse."
Victor leaned forward.
"You signed twenty-nine years ago."
"I was young."
"I was foolish."
"My son deserves freedom."
Victor's voice turned cold.
"The agreement cannot be broken."
Antonio reached inside his jacket.
Julian's breathing stopped.
His father wasn't pulling a weapon.
He pulled out a portable hard drive.
"I copied everything."
"If anything happens to me..."
"...Julian will learn the truth."
Victor slowly nodded.
"I expected that."
He looked toward someone standing outside the camera's view.
"Take the drive."
A masked man stepped into frame.
Julian couldn't see his face.
Only his gloved hands.
The man reached for Antonio.
Antonio resisted.
A struggle broke out.
Three shots rang through the room.
Antonio collapsed.
The masked shooter immediately fled.
Victor slammed his fist onto the table.
"You idiot!"
"I said take the drive!"
"I never ordered him killed!"
The footage froze.
Julian slowly turned toward Victor.
"You didn't kill my father."
Victor closed his eyes.
"No."
"But I created the world that led to his death."
Before anyone could speak—
Camila's voice echoed from the darkness.
"Touching."
Everyone spun around.
She stepped into the chamber wearing a black tactical uniform.
Nearly twenty mercenaries emerged behind her.
Automatic rifles locked onto everyone in the room.
Victor's face darkened.
"You betrayed me."
Camila smiled.
"No."
"I simply learned from the best."
She slowly raised a pistol.
And pointed it directly at Victor.
"I don't need the old king anymore."
May you like
Then she shifted the barrel toward Julian's newborn.
"I only need the new one."
