Shattered bloodlines
1389 Words
For a moment, nobody breathed.
Not Elias.
Not Lena.
Not the masked men.
Not even the damn air.
It was like the universe hit pause.
Lena stared at her father — their father — the monster who’d wrecked her life, who’d tried to have her killed, who’d been hunting her like prey. And now he stood there saying this twisted, sick truth like it was nothing.
Elias Thorn and Lena Hart had the same father.
Her stomach lurched violently. Her knees almost gave out.
“No,” she whispered, voice cracking. “You’re lying. You’re— you’re sick. Stop.”
Her father only smiled like she was a child throwing a tantrum. “Lena, I gain nothing from lying now.”
Elias didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t breathe.
His face — usually unreadable, sharp, controlled — was frozen in shock. Something raw and ugly flickered in his eyes, something Lena had never seen before.
Fear.
Not of her father.
Of what this meant.
“Elias,” Lena croaked, stepping closer to him even though her legs shook uncontrollably. “Say something. Please.”
He didn’t answer.
Her father let out a small laugh. Cold. Dark. Cruel. “He didn’t know, you see. I made sure of that. I kept him far away from my old identity, from the truth… from you.”
Lena’s breath came in shallow gasps. If Elias was her half-brother — if this was true — then what did that make everything between them? Every touch? Every moment? Every shift of tension?
Wrong.
Dirty.
Impossible.
Her chest squeezed painfully.
Elias finally spoke, voice low and gutted. “You expect me to believe a word coming out of your mouth?”
“Believe it,” his father said, stepping forward. “Or don’t. It won’t change the blood running through your veins.”
Elias’s hand tightened on his gun until his knuckles whitened. “Give me one reason to shoot you where you stand.”
His father tilted his head. “Because if you kill me, you’ll never know who your mother really was.”
Elias stiffened.
Lena’s heart sank.
“That’s right,” her father continued calmly. “You think Lena’s mother was the only one keeping secrets? You have your own past buried in places you’ve never dared to look.”
“Shut your mouth,” Elias growled, but his voice wasn’t steady.
It was shaking.
Lena stepped between them before he could do something reckless. “Elias—”
“Lena, move,” he snapped.
She didn’t.
“No. I need answers. I need the truth. I won’t let you kill him until I know everything.”
Her father smirked. “Smart girl.”
Elias’s rage cracked open in his eyes. “Don’t call her that.”
“Why?” her father asked softly. “Because you don’t like the truth of what she is to you?”
Lena felt her heart tear.
“Stop,” she whispered. “Just stop talking.”
“Why?” he asked again. “You deserve to know. Both of you do.”
He took one more step, but Elias snapped his gun upward, pointing it directly at the center of his chest.
“One more step and I swear I’ll put you down.”
“Elias,” Lena said shakily, “please—”
“I warned you,” Elias hissed, his voice breaking in a way that terrified her. “Lena, get behind me. Now.”
“No,” she said firmly — or as firmly as her trembling voice allowed. “Not until this is explained. All of it.”
Her father folded his arms calmly. “Very well.”
He looked at Elias.
“You were born under a different name. Your mother — my wife — made me promise to keep you out of this world. Out of the bloodshed. She wanted you safe. But I…” He exhaled. “I lost her. And when I did, I lost you. I failed both of you.”
Elias’s expression flickered with something sharp and painful. “Don’t talk about her.”
“Your mother was a good woman,” his father said softly. “The only good thing to ever touch my world.”
Lena’s throat tightened.
She’d never heard Elias talk about his mother. Never seen him react to anything like this.
“You want to manipulate me?” Elias asked, voice cold. “Not happening.”
“This isn’t manipulation. It’s truth.”
His father lifted his chin.
“And the truth is… you and Lena are connected by blood. Half-siblings. I didn’t want either of you involved in my life. I kept you apart. Until your paths crossed by accident.”
Lena shook her head violently. “You’re lying! Elias and I meeting wasn’t some accident—”
“Oh, but it was,” her father said with a chilling smile. “Life has a sense of humor. A twisted one.”
Lena’s mind spun. Her breathing turned ragged.
“Elias,” she whispered, turning to him, “is there any way this could be true?”
He finally looked at her.
Really looked at her.
And it broke her heart.
Pain.
Guilt.
Conflict.
Devastation.
All crashing together behind his eyes.
“I don’t know,” he whispered.
The first honest, vulnerable words he’d ever given her.
Her father spoke again, voice quieter now. “I never wanted you two to meet. Not because I feared what you’d learn, but because I feared what your bond would become.”
Lena’s stomach dropped.
“What bond?”
The smile he gave was hollow. “You’ve grown close. Too close.”
Elias’s jaw clenched. “Shut up.”
“You feel it, don’t you?” he continued. “The pull? The instinct? The connection neither of you can explain?”
“Stop.” Elias’s voice cracked.
“You think it’s fate,” he said. “But it’s blood.”
Lena felt something inside her shatter.
Her father looked right at her.
“You can lie to yourself, Lena. But your heart already knows.”
She stumbled back like he’d punched her. “No. No, no, no—”
Elias grabbed her shoulders. “Lena, look at me—”
“I can’t,” she whispered, tears spilling. “I can’t look at you right now, Elias.”
He flinched like she’d stabbed him.
Her father sighed softly. “Come with me, Lena. I can explain everything. I can protect you from all of this.”
“Protect?” she laughed bitterly. “You’ve done nothing but ruin my life!”
“You’re safer with me than with him.”
Elias stepped in front of her instantly. “Over my dead body.”
“It can be arranged,” his father said.
The tension snapped.
Bullets tore the air as Elias fired.
Her father dodged behind a wall of glass shards and smoke as his men opened fire. Gunshots exploded around them. Lena screamed, ducking as Elias wrapped an arm around her and dragged her behind the marble column.
“Lena, stay down!” he shouted, reloading.
Her father’s voice echoed through the wreckage.
“Lena! You can’t stay with him! You’re both a danger to each other!”
“Don’t listen to him!” Elias yelled back.
A grenade clattered across the floor.
Elias didn’t think.
He didn’t hesitate.
He grabbed Lena, lifted her off the ground, and ran.
The explosion ripped the hallway behind them apart — fire, smoke, shattering glass.
Elias threw himself over her, shielding her completely.
Heat washed over them.
Dust filled her lungs.
Alarms screamed.
The building shook.
Elias clenched his jaw, holding her tight. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. I’m not letting anything touch you.”
Her father’s voice echoed faintly through the smoke.
“Lena! Choose!”
Elias pulled her up, gripping her face with both hands, eyes burning into hers.
“I don’t care what he says,” he said, voice cracking. “I’m not your brother. I’m not tied to him. I choose you. I will always choose you.”
Lena’s heart almost stopped.
Before she could speak—
Her father stepped out of the smoke.
Gun aimed.
Straight at Lena.
“Then I choose,” he said.
And the trigger clicked.
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