Chapter 13 - The Third Vale
Victor's mother had undergone fertility treatment in 1957.
The family story said she conceived twins naturally.
False.
Archived records revealed three embryos.
All genetically identical.
Three boys were born.
Victor.
Vincent.
And a third infant recorded as stillborn.
No body.
No burial record.
Victor knew the pattern now.
“Who took him?”
The answer:
Dr. Henry Kessler.
Father of the scientist whose identity Vincent later adopted.
The entire experiment began one generation earlier.
The third brother was raised inside research facilities.
Name:
Julian.
Julian escaped at twenty-one.
Disappeared.
Vincent spent decades looking for him.
Why?
Because Julian possessed something neither Victor nor Vincent did.
Despite identical starting DNA, epigenetic differences caused by childhood environment changed gene expression.
Julian showed no sign of Vincent's neurological disease.
He was the missing comparison.
Vincent's obsession with descendants had been an attempt to recreate Julian's protective biology.
The infant Claire carried was created using Julian's preserved sample.
That explained the near-identical paternal match.
But who authorized it?
Caroline.
Claire's twin.
She found Julian years earlier.
He agreed to provide a sample for research designed to expose Vincent's fraud.
But Vincent stole the embryo project.
Again, intentions became corrupted.
Victor asked:
“Is Julian alive?”
Sarah did not know.
Then Lily said:
“I know Uncle Julian.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
“The old man who gives me fish food.”
Victor felt cold.
For two years, a quiet aquarium maintenance worker visited the mansion monthly.
His name was Jules.
Silver-haired.
Soft-spoken.
Lily liked him.
Victor had barely noticed him.
They pulled security footage.
Victor stared at the screen.
Jules removed his cap.
Victor saw his own face.
Not exactly.
A different life carved different lines.
But unmistakably:
his brother.
Julian had been inside Victor's home for years.
Watching.
Why?
Lily answered before anyone else.
“He said he was keeping the fish safe.”
Victor looked toward the enormous aquarium wall.
Fish?
Or whatever was hidden behind it?
The underground safe rooms.
The passages.
The baby.
Julian had built the aquarium system.
He had access to every hidden corridor.
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He had helped Sarah hide the infant.
And he had known about Claire's fake pregnancy from the beginning.
