A WOMAN IN BLUE MEDICAL SCRUBS LANDED BY HELICOPTER AT A WEALTHY FAMILY’S CHRISTMAS PARTY WITH FOUR LITTLE BOYS—AND THE DECORATED MARINE OFFICER WAITING INSIDE WENT COMPLETELY SILENT WHEN HE SAW THEIR FACES. WHO WERE THOSE CHILDREN, AND WHY DID THEY LOOK SO MUCH LIKE HIM? / Chapter 3 / 20

Chapter 3 - Shadows on the Snow"Who tracked you?" Lucas demanded, instantly stepping between Clara’s family and the open lawn.

"The same men who cleared out my clinic in Berlin three days ago," Clara said, her calm facade finally showing cracks of sheer terror. "Your brother’s men."

Lucas’s head snapped toward the grand glass doors of the manor. Standing near the bar, holding a tumbler of scotch with a calm, predatory smile on his face, was his older brother, Julian Vance—the COO of Vance Global.

Julian took a slow sip of his drink and raised his glass in a silent, mocking toast toward Lucas.

CRACK!

A sharp, suppressed gunshot echoed from the edge of the woods. A spray of snow erupted two feet from where the children stood.

Panic exploded across the terrace. Guests shrieked, dropping champagne glasses, trampling over each other as they scrambled back through the French doors into the safety of the mansion.

"Get inside! Move!" Lucas roared, grabbing the two smallest boys, Mason and Noah, into his arms while Clara grabbed Liam and Ethan.

They sprinted past the screaming crowd, ducking through the grand entryway into the mansion’s interior. Lucas slammed the heavy oak double doors shut and threw the brass deadbolt just as two more suppressed rounds thudded deep into the solid wood from the outside.

The ballroom was in utter chaos. Women were screaming, security guards were drawing weapons without knowing where the threat was coming from, and Eleanor was shouting orders into her encrypted mobile phone.

"Lucas, what are you doing?!" Julian walked over, his voice smooth, unaffected by the madness. "You brought armed mercenaries to our doorstep by letting this woman inside!"

Lucas stepped up to Julian, his chest heaving, his eyes burning with an unholy rage. He grabbed his older brother by the collar of his silk tuxedo, driving him back against a marble pillar hard enough to rattle the crystal sconces.

"You sent snipers to my home?" Lucas growled, his voice a low, terrifying rumble.

"I am protecting this company!" Julian hissed back in a whisper, his smile vanishing. "Do you have any idea what happens to our stock price, or our government defense contracts, if the world finds out Vance Global was using human embryonic experimentation on its own officers? Those four things in sweaters aren't children, Lucas. They are four multi-billion-dollar liabilities!"

A cold, sickening realization washed over Lucas.

He looked back at Clara. She was crouched in the corner beneath a Renaissance painting, her body completely wrapping around the four boys, who were huddled together in absolute, eerie silence—not a single one of them was crying. They had done this before. They knew how to hide.

"You knew," Lucas whispered, looking from Julian to his mother. "All six years... while I was drinking myself to sleep, mourning a dead woman and a lost life... you both knew."

"We saved your life, Lucas!" Eleanor said, stepping forward, her eyes cold as ice. "You were broken! Your spine was crushed! That serum gave you back your legs, your career, your medal! The children were an unintended side effect. A science project that should have been terminated at birth!"