Chapter 3
PART 3: THE MAN WHO SHOULD BE DEAD
The gunfire echoed through the Kane Estate like thunder.
Sophia clutched Emma tightly against her chest as security teams rushed through the hallways.
Somewhere below them, men were fighting.
Dying.
And all because of a baby who had been alive for less than a week.
It felt impossible.
Unreal.
Yet the fear on Alexander's face told her otherwise.
This was real.
Very real.
The security officer at the door pressed a hand against his bleeding arm.
"We've lost the east wing."
Alexander's eyes hardened.
"What about the underground exits?"
"Compromised."
A curse escaped his lips.
Sophia had never seen him like this.
Not the billionaire.
Not the media icon.
Not the untouchable businessman.
This version of Alexander looked like a man fighting a war he had expected for years.
A war he hoped would never come.
Another explosion shook the building.
Glass shattered somewhere below.
Emma started crying again.
Sophia instinctively rocked her daughter.
"It's okay... it's okay..."
But she wasn't sure if she was comforting Emma or herself.
Alexander turned toward his mother.
"Evelyn, take Sophia through Tunnel Seven."
Evelyn immediately shook her head.
"No."
Alexander stared at her.
"No?"
A strange tension appeared between them.
The kind that came from old secrets.
Old wounds.
Old betrayals.
"We both know it won't matter," Evelyn said quietly.
Sophia looked between them.
"What won't matter?"
Neither answered.
Suddenly, a voice crackled through the security communication system.
Static filled the room.
Then silence.
Then a voice.
A man's voice.
Deep.
Calm.
Terrifying.
"Hello, Alexander."
Every person in the room froze.
Alexander's face turned white.
Not pale.
White.
As though all blood had vanished from his body.
The voice continued.
"You've grown older."
Sophia frowned.
She had never heard that voice before.
But Alexander clearly had.
His hand tightened around his pistol.
Impossible.
No.
It couldn't be.
Then Evelyn whispered a single name.
"Michael..."
The room went silent.
Sophia stared at her.
"Who is Michael?"
No one answered.
The voice came through the speaker again.
"You should have stayed away from the child."
Alexander looked as though he'd seen a ghost.
Because in a way...
He had.
Twenty minutes later they reached the underground bunker beneath the estate.
Massive steel doors sealed behind them.
For the first time since the attack began, there was silence.
No gunfire.
No explosions.
Only breathing.
Sophia finally lost her patience.
"Tell me what's happening."
Alexander sat heavily in a chair.
For several moments he simply stared at the floor.
Then he spoke.
"My father is alive."
Sophia blinked.
"What?"
The words barely registered.
Alexander looked up.
His blue eyes were filled with something she had never seen before.
Fear.
"My father died thirty years ago."
"No..."
Evelyn corrected quietly.
"He was supposed to have died."
Sophia felt dizzy.
Nothing made sense anymore.
Alexander leaned forward.
"When I was eight years old, there was a plane crash."
Sophia listened.
"Everyone said my father died."
"The media reported it."
"The government confirmed it."
"The funeral happened."
His voice became darker.
"But there was never a body."
A cold sensation crawled down Sophia's spine.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"As long as there was no body, I knew he was alive."
"Then why lie?"
"Because the truth was worse."
Sophia swallowed.
"Worse how?"
Alexander stood and walked toward a wall-mounted monitor.
With a few keystrokes, an old photograph appeared.
A younger version of Michael Kane stood beside several powerful politicians, military officers, and businessmen.
The men looked important.
Dangerously important.
"Thirty years ago," Alexander said, "my father created something."
"What?"
"A secret organization."
Sophia stared.
"The Circle."
The name alone felt wrong.
Heavy.
Dark.
Alexander continued.
"The wealthiest families in the world funded it."
"The most powerful governments protected it."
"The most influential corporations worked with it."
Sophia couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"What does any of this have to do with Emma?"
Alexander looked toward his sleeping daughter.
Everything changed.
"Because Emma shouldn't exist."
The words hit like a punch.
Sophia stood immediately.
"What?"
"The bloodline should have ended."
Evelyn stepped forward.
"There is something unique about certain children born into our family."
Sophia remembered the birthmark.
The crescent moon.
"The mark?"
Evelyn nodded.
"The mark appears once every generation."
"And?"
Alexander's expression darkened.
"The child carrying it inherits something."
"What?"
Silence.
Then he answered.
"Memory."
Sophia stared.
"Memory?"
"Not ordinary memory."
Evelyn looked away.
"As strange as it sounds, every marked child remembers things they were never taught."
The room felt colder.
"They see fragments."
"Dreams."
"Moments."
"Secrets."
Alexander's voice dropped lower.
"Secrets that members of The Circle have spent decades trying to bury."
Sophia struggled to process the information.
It sounded impossible.
Insane.
Yet the attack on the estate proved someone believed it.
Someone feared it.
"You're saying people are trying to kill my daughter because of a birthmark?"
"No."
Alexander shook his head.
"They're trying to kill her because of what she might remember."
A terrible realization hit Sophia.
"The children before her..."
Alexander nodded.
"They were all murdered."
Every single one.
Not accidents.
Not illnesses.
Not bad luck.
Murders.
Generations of murders.
To silence children.
Sophia's stomach twisted.
She looked down at Emma.
Her tiny daughter slept peacefully.
Completely unaware that people were willing to kill for secrets she didn't even know.
Then suddenly—
An alarm sounded.
Different this time.
Louder.
Urgent.
A technician rushed into the bunker.
His face was pale.
"Sir."
Alexander turned.
"What now?"
The man swallowed hard.
"The outer defenses have fallen."
The room froze.
"Impossible."
"They're inside."
Sophia's heart pounded.
"Who?"
The technician looked terrified.
More terrified than anyone should be.
Because he knew.
And he didn't want to say it.
Finally he forced the words out.
"Michael Kane."
Silence.
Pure silence.
Then the bunker security cameras activated automatically.
Every screen flickered to life.
One by one.
Showing hallways.
Destroyed checkpoints.
Fallen guards.
And finally...
A man.
An older man.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
Walking calmly through the estate as chaos burned around him.
He didn't look like a fugitive.
He didn't look like a criminal.
He looked like a king returning to his kingdom.
Sophia glanced toward Alexander.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
Same eyes.
Same jawline.
Same presence.
Father and son.
Separated by thirty years of lies.
Michael Kane stopped directly in front of one of the cameras.
As though he knew they were watching.
Slowly...
He smiled.
Then he spoke.
"Hello, son."
Alexander's entire body went rigid.
The bunker fell silent.
Michael's smile widened.
Then his eyes shifted toward the camera.
Toward Sophia.
Toward Emma.
And the smile disappeared.
For the first time, his expression showed emotion.
Obsession.
Possession.
Need.
"I've waited a very long time to meet my granddaughter."
The transmission cut to black.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Because every person in that bunker understood the same terrifying truth.
The attack was never about killing Emma.
Michael Kane wanted her alive.
May you like
And whatever he planned to do with her...
Was far worse.
