“That’s strategy.”

“That’s cheating.”

Noah grinned.

“You sound like Victor.”

“Take that back.”

Noah laughed.

The sun disappeared beyond the ocean.

For the first time in years, Adrian felt peace.

Then a car stopped at the end of the driveway.

Michael Hart stepped out.

Adrian sighed.

“Of course.”

Michael approached.

“You look disappointed.”

“I was having a good day.”

“I can come back.”

“No.”

Adrian stood.

“What happened?”

Michael handed him an envelope.

Adrian stared.

“What is this?”

“I found it in Switzerland.”

“That sentence never leads anywhere good.”

Michael smiled.

“Probably not.”

Adrian opened the envelope.

Inside was a photograph.

His mother.

Samuel Vale.

Gabriel.

Daniel Mercer.

And one other woman.

Young.

Beautiful.

Standing beside them.

On the back was written:

THE FIRST EDEN GROUP — 1994.

Adrian looked at Michael.

“Who is she?”

Michael’s expression became serious.

“That’s what I came to tell you.”

Noah walked onto the porch.

“Another secret?”

Michael smiled.

“Unfortunately.”

Adrian sighed.

“Who?”

Michael looked at Claire through the kitchen window.

Then back at Adrian.

“The woman in that photograph was Daniel Mercer’s first wife.”

Adrian frowned.

“Claire’s mother?”

“No.”

Claire stepped outside.

“What?”

Michael looked at her.

“Your father was married before your mother.”

Claire stared.

“Did they have children?”

Michael said nothing.

That was answer enough.

Adrian looked at the photograph.

“A son or daughter?”

“A daughter.”

“Where is she?”

Michael looked toward the road.

“No one knows.”

Claire whispered:

“What was her name?”

Michael hesitated.

“Eleanor.”

Adrian’s blood went cold.

“No.”

“Not Eleanor Crown.”

“Then who?”

Michael handed him another photograph.

A girl.

Sixteen years old.

Taken decades ago.

Underneath:

ELEANOR MERCER.

Claire stared.

“My sister?”

“Half-sister.”

Adrian looked at Michael.

“What happened to her?”

“She disappeared in 2001.”

“Why does that matter now?”

Michael took out his phone.

“One hour ago, someone accessed the Mercer archive.”

Claire froze.

“I thought Noah was required.”

“He was.”

Adrian looked at Noah.

Noah stood beside him.

Safe.

“Then how?”

Michael’s voice dropped.

“The system accepted a second Mercer bloodline.”

Claire’s half-sister.

Alive.

Adrian felt the old dread return.

“Where was the access?”

Michael turned the phone.

A map appeared.

Washington, D.C.

A government building.

Sarah had identified it.

Adrian stared.

“What building?”

Michael answered:

“The Department of Justice.”

Claire whispered:

“She works for the government?”

“We don’t know.”

Then Noah pointed at the screen.

“What’s that?”

A second notification had appeared.

FILE REMOVED:

PROJECT ORPHEUS.

Adrian frowned.

“What is Project Orpheus?”

Michael’s expression told him he knew.

“Michael.”

He slowly looked at Adrian.

“Gabriel once told me the Crown wasn’t his greatest mistake.”

“What was?”

“A program designed to create new identities for witnesses.”

Claire frowned.

“That sounds like Eden.”

“It started that way.”

“What happened?”

“Kane weaponized it.”

Adrian felt cold.

“How?”

Michael looked at the photograph.

“He stopped using Orpheus to hide witnesses.”

A pause.

“He used it to replace them.”

Silence.

Claire whispered:

“Replace?”

“New identities. Altered histories. Manufactured deaths.”

Adrian thought about Gabriel and Victor switching names.

Michael’s disappearance.

Claire’s false death.

The pattern suddenly became obvious.

Orpheus had been hiding in front of them the entire time.

Noah moved a chess piece.

Check.

Adrian looked down.

Noah smiled.

“You weren’t paying attention.”

Adrian stared at the board.

Then at Michael.

“How many people went through Orpheus?”

Michael answered:

“Hundreds.”

“And nobody knows who they are now?”

“No.”

Claire looked toward the dark road.

Somewhere in America, hundreds of people could be living under names that had never belonged to them.

Some victims.

Some witnesses.

Some criminals.

Some agents.

And one of them had just opened the Mercer archive.

Adrian looked at the photograph of Eleanor Mercer.

“What did she take?”

Michael repeated the file name.

“Project Orpheus.”

“No. I mean what was inside it?”

Michael hesitated.

Then handed Adrian one final page.

A list of subjects.

Most names had been redacted.

But one remained visible.

SUBJECT 001.

Adrian read the original identity.

Then stopped breathing.

Claire saw his face.

“What?”

He handed her the page.

Claire read it.

Her hand began trembling.

“No.”

Noah looked between them.

“What does it say?”

Neither parent answered.

Because Subject 001 had a name Adrian knew better than his own.

ADRIAN VALE.

Status:

IDENTITY REASSIGNMENT SUCCESSFUL.

Original identity:

CLASSIFIED.

Adrian stared into the darkness beyond his home.

He had spent months uncovering who Noah really was.

Then who Claire really was.

Then who Victor and Gabriel really were.

But the final secret had been waiting beneath all of them.

Adrian Vale himself might never have existed.

And somewhere in Washington, Claire’s missing sister had just stolen the file containing the answer.

Noah quietly moved his queen across the chessboard.

“Checkmate.”

Adrian looked at his son.

Noah smiled.

But Adrian couldn’t.

Because for the first time since the nightmare began, the question was no longer who wanted Noah.

It was far more dangerous.

Who was Adrian before he became Adrian Vale?

And why had someone gone to such extraordinary lengths to make sure he never remembered?

TO BE CONTINUED…