Chapter 5: Shadows of the Bloodline

Ivy couldn’t look away from the photo in her hand. The woman’s eyes seemed to pierce through time itself—there was something hauntingly familiar about them. The baby in her arms was no more than days old, wrapped in a hospital-issue blanket. Ivy’s fingers trembled as she turned the photograph over again, staring at the inscription on the back:

“Not everything that runs in your bloodline is yours alone.”

She slowly raised her eyes to Aiden. “You said this is your mother?”

He gave a tight nod, jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “Hers... and ours.”

“What does that mean?” Ivy asked. “You and Ethan? She’s your biological mother?”

“She was,” he said. “But she didn’t raise us.”

“Why not?”

Aiden exhaled slowly and sat down on the edge of his desk. “Because she died when we were two.”

Ivy felt her stomach tighten. “How?”

“That’s where it gets complicated.”

He walked over to a safe embedded into the wall behind his bookshelf. The lock clicked open, and he pulled out a thick manila envelope.

“She was never supposed to be part of our lives,” he said. “Not the way she ended up being.”

Ivy blinked. “What does that even mean?”

“She was a surrogate,” Aiden revealed. “Hired by our father. Paid in silence, promised anonymity. She wasn’t meant to keep us. But… something went wrong.”

Ivy’s heart thudded. “What went wrong?”

“She ran,” Aiden said. “Took us with her. Disappeared for nearly two years. No one knew where she’d gone. Our father nearly lost everything trying to track her down.”

Ivy stared at him. “She kidnapped you?”

“Yes,” Aiden said. “But the strange thing is… when they found her, she wasn’t trying to hide us. She was protecting us.”

“From what?”

Aiden’s eyes met hers. “From the Kings.”

He opened the envelope and laid out old photos and files—grainy images of a house in the countryside, legal documents, birth certificates, medical records. Ivy’s eyes skimmed across a therapist’s report dated over two decades ago.

“She told the social worker that our father was dangerous. That she’d discovered something in his past—something worth fleeing over. But no one believed her. They said she was unstable. Delusional.”

“Was she?” Ivy whispered.

“I used to think so,” Aiden replied. “But then I found this.”

He slid another photo across the desk—this one in color. A photo of Ethan, smiling at some gala. Only… it wasn’t recent. It was dated five years ago.

“What am I looking at?” Ivy asked.

Aiden pointed at the background. “That woman behind him. Recognize her?”

Ivy squinted. The woman was blurry, half-turned. But something about her shape, her posture, was unnerving.

“That’s her,” Aiden said. “Our mother.”

Ivy’s mouth dropped. “But you said she was dead—”

“I thought she was,” Aiden said. “We all did. But now I’m not so sure. Someone’s been covering their tracks. Payments made to anonymous bank accounts. A shadow company tied to the family trust. And this photo—it was deleted from every public database. I only found it through a hacked archive.”

“Are you saying… she’s alive?”

Aiden’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I think she faked her death. Or someone helped her disappear.”

Ivy couldn’t breathe. “Why? What’s the point of hiding for two decades?”

“Because maybe,” Aiden said, “she wasn’t crazy after all.”

Ivy sat down, reeling. The walls felt like they were closing in. The twins growing inside her… they were part of this twisted legacy.

“She’d want to protect them,” Ivy murmured.

Aiden looked at her sharply. “Exactly. And so do I. But if Ethan finds out first—if he gets wind of any of this—he’ll spin the truth, destroy everything.”

Ivy looked up at him. “Why are you telling me this? Really?”

Aiden came closer. “Because you’re carrying the next generation of this family. And whether you like it or not, you're now part of a war that started long before either of us knew we were pawns.”

Ivy felt like she was drowning. “And what about Tessa? Where does she fit in all this?”

Aiden hesitated.

“She’s been part of the plan since the beginning. My father arranged that match years ago. But lately… she’s been playing both sides.”

“She threatened me,” Ivy said. “Told me to stay away. To disappear quietly.”

Aiden’s eyes darkened. “Then she knows more than she’s letting on.”

“What do we do?” Ivy whispered.

“We find our mother,” Aiden said. “And we find out the truth.”

---

~ Meanwhile – Ethan ~

Ethan stood by the fireplace in his father’s estate, sipping scotch, eyes focused on the flames.

Tessa entered the room behind him without a word. She walked silently to the bar, poured herself a drink, and watched him.

He didn’t turn around. “Did you talk to her?”

“Yes,” Tessa replied. “She’s scared. She should be.”

Ethan nodded slowly. “And the twins?”

She hesitated. “Confirmed. But there’s something else you should know.”

Ethan finally turned, narrowing his eyes. “Go on.”

Tessa placed her glass down. “Aiden’s digging into your past. Offshore records. He has people watching you.”

Ethan didn’t flinch. “Let him.”

“This isn’t like before,” she warned. “He’s not playing.”

Ethan gave her a cold smile. “Neither am I.”

“You can’t control everything,” she said, folding her arms.

He walked toward her, voice low. “Watch me.”

She stared at him. “You’re forgetting one thing. Ivy’s not the same girl you used to manipulate. She’s stronger now.”

“Then we’ll break her differently,” Ethan said.

Tessa’s expression twisted. “If this backfires—”

“It won’t.”

Ethan poured himself another drink and lifted it toward the ceiling. “To secrets. And how easily they burn.”

---

~ Later That Night – Ivy ~

Ivy sat in her small living room, lights off, the only glow coming from the streetlamps outside. Her phone buzzed again—another unknown number.

She picked it up.

A distorted voice came through the line. “You’re not safe.”

Ivy jolted upright. “Who is this?”

“They’re watching you.”

Her heart slammed. “What do you want from me?”

The voice replied, “You don’t know the full story. But I do. Check the back of the photo. There’s a second message.”

The line went dead.

With trembling fingers, Ivy grabbed the photo Aiden had given her. She turned it over again, holding it to the light. There—faint, almost invisible, in red ink along the bottom edge:

“Find the bracelet. It holds the truth.”

Ivy’s eyes widened.

The baby in the photo—wrapped in a blanket—wore a thin silver bracelet around its wrist.

She hadn’t noticed it before.

She stared at the bracelet, her pulse quickening. It had a symbol etched into it.

A symbol she’d seen once… in a photo frame at Ethan’s estate.

Only it wasn’t on him.

It was on a girl.