Forbidden Bloodline

THE GHOST IN THE MIRROR

Chapter 3:

Elara Vance

Julian pulled away, a lethal glint in his eyes. He handed me a small, sleek black pistol. "Do you know how to use this?"

"You taught me how to shoot when I was twelve," I reminded him. "You said a cross always hits their mark."

"Good," he said, checking his own weapon. "Because today, you aren't a Cross. You’re a ghost. And ghosts don't miss."

We headed for the rear exit, a tunnel that led toward the subway system. But as Julian reached for the keypad, the lights flickered and turned red. A voice boomed over the intercom. It was my mother’s voice…not the panicked woman from the video, but a cold, clinical version of her.

"Julian, did you really think I wouldn't build a back door into my own daughter’s sanctuary? Elara, honey, it’s time to come home. Your father is tired of waiting."

I froze. "My father? Julian said," My father was dead."

Julian turned to me, his face pale for the first time in his life. He looked at the security monitors. Standing behind the masked men in the library was a man who looked exactly like a version of Julian—if Julian had been carved out of ice and hated.

"Julian," I whispered, pointing at the screen. "If that man is my father... then who are you?"

The man on the screen looked like a version of Julian that had been carved out of ice. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I just stared at the security monitor, watching the stranger stand among the ruins of the library I had called home. He had the same sharp jawline as Julian. He had the same broad shoulders. But his eyes were dead, reflecting nothing but the cold desire for power.

"Julian," I whispered, my voice trembling so hard it barely carried across the bunker. "If that man is my father... then who are you?"

Julian didn't look at me. He kept his eyes fixed on the screen, his hand tightening on the grip of his pistol until his knuckles turned white. The silence between us was heavy and suffocating. It felt like the walls were closing in, crushing the eleven years of lies into a single, painful point.

"He is Sterling Cross," Julian finally said. His voice was flat, devoid of the warmth he usually reserved for me. "My older brother. The man the world thinks died in a plane crash fifteen years ago."

I staggered back, my heels clicking sharply against the steel floor. "Your brother? You told me you were an only child. You told me the Cross empire was yours alone."

Julian turned to me then. His expression was a storm of regret and iron-clad resolve. "It was supposed to be mine. Sterling was the golden son, the one our father loved. But Sterling was a monster, Elara. He didn't just want company. He wanted science. He wanted the blood. I didn't steal you from a hero. I stole you from him."

"So you're not my father," I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "And he is. A man who looks like a ghost and acts like a butcher."

"Biology is a curse, Elara. Not a bond," Julian snapped. He stepped toward me, grabbing my shoulders. His touch was fierce. "I raised you. I bled for you. I burned my own soul to keep you hidden from him. Does that not count for more than a DNA strand?"

"It counts as a lie!" I screamed, shoving him away. "You let me love you under false pretenses! You let me believe I was part of your blood, while you knew all along that I belonged to the very man you were hiding from!"

Julian let out a harsh, jagged laugh. "Belonging? You don't belong to anyone. But Sterling thinks you are his property. He thinks you are the final piece of his immortality project. If you go to him, you aren't a daughter. You are a harvest."

The intercom crackled again, and Sterling’s voice filled the room. It was smoother than Julian’s, like silk over a razor blade. "Julian, stop filling the girl’s head with your petty jealousies. Elara, look at me. Look at my face. You see yourself in me, don't you? The same eyes. The same hunger. Come upstairs. I have something of your mother’s that Julian was too afraid to show you."

I looked at the monitor. Sterling was holding up a small, silver locket. My heart stopped. It was the locket my mother wore in every childhood photo I possessed.

"He’s baiting you," Julian hissed. "If you step into that elevator, I can't protect you."

"Maybe I don't want your protection anymore," I said, my voice cold and hollow. "Everything you’ve told me is a fabrication. How do I know Sterling is the monster? Maybe you’re the one who stole me because you wanted the 'harvest' for yourself."

Julian flinched as if I had struck him. He looked down at the floor, a dark shadow crossing his face. "I deserve that. But I am the only one standing between you and a laboratory table. Make your choice, Elara. But make it fast. They are bypassing the bunker’s secondary seal."

I looked at the locket on the screen. I looked at Julian, the man who had been my entire world. My mind was a battlefield. I felt a deep, aching betrayal, but beneath it was a terrifying spark of desire for the man who had lied to me. I hated him for what he was, yet I couldn't imagine a world without his shadow over me.

"I'm going up," I said.

"Elara, no!"

"I need to see him," I insisted, heading for the elevator. "I need to look into the eyes of the man who actually gave me life. I need to know the truth without your filter."

Julian didn't stop me. He stood by the tactical table, his shoulders slumped. "Then take the gun. If he moves toward you, don't think. Just fire."

I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the penthouse. The ascent felt like an eternity. My heart was a drum, beating a frantic rhythm against my ribs. I checked the sleek black pistol Julian had given me. It felt heavy and wrong in my hand, but it was the only real thing I had left.

The doors opened. The library was a mess. Books were scattered like fallen soldiers. The air smelled of gunpowder and expensive cologne. Sterling Cross was standing by the window, silhouetted against the Manhattan skyline. He turned slowly, a thin smile playing on his lips.

"There she is," Sterling said. "My greatest achievement."

"I am a person, not an achievement," I said, leveling the gun at his chest. My hands were shaking, but my gaze was steady. "Give me the locket."

Sterling laughed and tossed the silver piece onto the floor between us. It skittered across the wood. "Keep your trinket. It’s the girl inside that matters. Do you know why Julian kept you caged, Elara? It wasn't to protect you. It was because as long as you were 'his,' I couldn't claim the Cross inheritance. You are the key to the family trust. Without you, Julian would be just a caretaker. With you, he is the king."

I felt the floor drop away from me. "The inheritance? Julian told me he did it for my safety."

"Julian is a romantic," Sterling said, stepping closer, ignoring the gun. "He likes to play the dark hero. But he loves power more than he loves you. He knew that if I ever found you, I would take back everything he took from me. He didn't save you from a lab, Elara. He saved his bank account."

"Liar!" I shouted.

"Is he?" Sterling reached into his pocket and pulled out a legal document. "This is the Sterling Cross Trust. It states that the majority shareholder must be the eldest living descendant or their direct offspring. By keeping you, Julian stayed in control. He used you as a human shield against my return."

I felt a wave of cold fury. Was Julian just using me? Was every "fatherly" talk and every possessive touch just a way to secure his fortune? I thought of the way he looked at me in the mirror…the predatory hunger. Did it hunger for me, or hunger for the power I represented?

Suddenly, the lights in the library turned a deep, blood-red. A siren began to wail.

"What is that?" I asked, looking around in a panic.

Sterling’s smile vanished. He looked at the ceiling, his expression turning to one of pure rage. "That i***t. He started to self-destruct. He’d rather burn us both than let me have you."

"Julian wouldn't," I whispered.

"He has already done it once, hasn't he?" Sterling sneered, lunging for me. "He burned the car! He’ll burn this building too!"

I fired the gun. The sound was deafening in the small space. The bullet grazed Sterling’s shoulder, spinning him around. He screamed in pain, clutching his arm. I didn't wait to see if he would get up. I turned and ran for the service stairs.

The building groaned. The sound of shifting steel and breaking glass filled the air. I ran down the stairs, my lungs burning, the diamond choker heavy against my throat. I had to find Julian. I had to know if he was really going to kill us all.

I reached the bunker level just as the door hissed open. Julian was there, but he wasn't alone. Silas Vane was standing over him, a combat knife pressed against Julian’s throat. Julian was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, his eyes fixed on me.

"Elara, run!" Julian choked out.

Silas looked at me, his blonde hair tousled, a manic light in his eyes. "Don't listen to him, Elara. The building isn't going to explode. That’s just the lockdown sequence. I’m taking you to the Circle now. Julian is just a loose end."

I raised my gun, pointing it at Silas’s head. "Let him go, Silas. Or I’ll do to you what I just did to Sterling."

Silas laughed. "You won't shoot me. You're the girl who cries over broken birds. You don't have the stomach for…"

I pulled the trigger. The bullet hissed past Silas’s ear, shattering a monitor behind him. He flinched, his grip on Julian loosening for a split second. Julian seized the moment, slamming his elbow into Silas’s ribs and throwing him off.

Julian scrambled to his feet, grabbing his own gun from the table. He didn't look at Silas. He looked at me. There was something in his eyes I had never seen before…total, devastating fear. Not for himself, but for me.

"We have to go," Julian said, grabbing my hand. His grip was frantic. "The tunnel is the only way out."

"Did you do it for the money, Julian?" I asked, resisting his pull. The red lights bathed us in a hellish glow. "Did you keep me company?"

Julian stopped. He looked at the gun in my hand, then at my face. The sirens were screaming, but his voice was quiet and clear. "At first? Yes. Eleven years ago, I was a man who cared about nothing but the throne. But then you grew up. And I realized that I would give every cent, every building, and every breath I have just to see you smile one more time."

"I don't believe you," I whispered, though my heart was screaming that he was telling the truth.

"Then kill me," Julian said, stepping into the barrel of my gun. He pressed his forehead against the cold metal. "If you think I'm the monster Sterling says I am, end it now. But do not go with them. Please, Elara. Don't let them take your light."