Chapter 7 The Mother's Will

# Chapter 7: The Mother's Will

Alexander's breakdown marked a turning point. Within hours, the Constantine empire began to fracture—board members distancing themselves, company stocks in freefall, media outlets circling like vultures sensing blood in the water. Eden moved quickly to secure our position, installing us in a previously hidden section of the estate that even Alexander's security team didn't know existed.

"My mother's private quarters," Eden explained as he led me through the secure doorway. "Designed to be a sanctuary when my father's rages became too dangerous."

The space was surprisingly warm—a stark contrast to the cold opulence of the rest of the mansion. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with scientific journals and personal notebooks. A small laboratory occupied one corner, its equipment dusty but sophisticated.

"We'll be safe here while things settle," Eden said, sealing the entrance behind us. "Alexander is being... contained. The board has temporarily suspended his authority pending an investigation."

"Investigation into what, exactly?" I asked, collapsing onto a sofa. The adrenaline that had carried me through the confrontation was fading, leaving bone-deep exhaustion in its wake. "The videos? The tattoo? His mental breakdown?"

"All of it." Eden's satisfaction was palpable. "The Constantine name still carries enough weight to prevent immediate police involvement, but internally, the damage is done. Alexander's control is broken."

I touched the tattoo on my shoulder, still sensitive beneath my fingers. "You said this contains actual diamond particles? From the Crimson Tear?"

"A small amount," Eden confirmed. "Enough to carry a trace of the original DNA."

"That's impossible," I said, my professional skepticism surfacing despite everything. "Diamond is just carbon. It can't preserve DNA."

Eden smiled, the expression both condescending and admiring. "Conventional diamonds, yes. But my mother's creation is something else entirely." He moved to a cabinet, unlocking it with a key he wore around his neck. "It's time you understood exactly what the Crimson Tear is."

He withdrew a sealed case containing scientific equipment—more advanced versions of what I'd used to examine the diamond earlier. But instead of traditional gemological tools, these appeared to be medical in nature.

"Your mother was working with mine on this technology," Eden explained, setting up a scanning device. "Before she died."

The mention of my mother sent a familiar pang through my chest. "My mother was a geologist. She studied rock formations in the field."

"That was her cover story." Eden activated the device. "Julia Harlow was a biochemist specializing in crystalline preservation of organic compounds. She and my mother were pioneers in the field."

He gestured for me to come closer. "Remove the necklace. It's time to see what my mother really created."

With shaking fingers, I unfastened the diamond from my throat, placing it on the scanning platform. Eden initiated the sequence, and a holographic display illuminated above the stone. Molecular structures appeared, rotating slowly—complex carbon chains interspersed with what looked like organic compounds.

"Impossible," I whispered, professional fascination temporarily overriding my fear. "Organic material would be destroyed during diamond formation."

"Unless the diamond itself is grown around the organic material, in a process that preserves rather than destroys." Eden adjusted the scanner. "My mother discovered a way to create diamonds that incorporate biological material at the molecular level—preserving DNA, proteins, even active compounds indefinitely."

The implications were staggering. "That would revolutionize medicine, data storage—"

"Precisely why the Constantine Group buried her research," Eden interrupted. "They saw only military applications—bioweapons that could be disguised as jewelry, surveillance devices that could never be detected."

He fine-tuned the scanner, and the display changed—focusing on what appeared to be intact DNA strands suspended within the diamond's structure.

"My mother's blood," Eden said softly. "Not just symbolically. Actually her blood, her DNA, preserved perfectly."

I stared at the display, my scientific mind racing to understand the implications. "But why? Why preserve her blood this way?"

"Watch." Eden pressed a button, and a laser activated, directed at a specific point on the diamond's surface.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, light began to emanate from within the stone—not reflection, but actual illumination from the core. The light expanded, projecting upward into a three-dimensional image.

A woman's face formed in the projection—the same woman I'd seen in the security footage, Eden's mother. The hologram was incredibly detailed, almost lifelike as it hovered above the diamond.

"Hello, Eden." The holographic Dr. Constantine smiled sadly. "If you're viewing this message, then you've finally understood what I've created—and why."

Eden's face transformed as he watched his mother's image. For the first time, I saw real emotion break through his controlled exterior—grief, love, and a desperate hunger for connection.

"The Crimson Tear is my legacy," the hologram continued. "Not just a diamond, but a storage device—containing everything you'll need to expose what happened and protect what matters most."

The holographic Dr. Constantine seemed to look directly at me, though I knew it was impossible—this message had been recorded years before we'd ever met.

"Julia's daughter should be with you now," she said, confirming my suspicions that this was all planned long before my kidnapping. "I'm sorry to have drawn you into this, child. Your mother would have wanted to protect you from all this, but circumstances have forced our hand."

I felt Eden's eyes on me, gauging my reaction to his mother's words.

The hologram continued, her voice growing more urgent. "Eden, the diamond contains everything—research data, evidence of tampering, security footage. But most importantly, it contains my voluntary genetic signature."

Dr. Constantine's image smiled grimly. "I willingly went to my death, because only blood... only blood could make them remember you."

Eden's sharp intake of breath was the only sound in the room.

"They tried to erase you, my son. To write you out of the Constantine legacy because you dared to question what they were doing with my research." The hologram's eyes flashed with determination. "This diamond changes everything. The DNA verification protocols your father implemented against you now work in your favor. My blood recognizes your blood."

The hologram expanded, revealing documents—legal papers, a will, corporate directives.

"I've encoded my final will and testament into the diamond's structure," Dr. Constantine explained. "Unalterable, unhackable, legally binding under the Constantine Group's own protocols. Upon verification of my death by foul play, all my shares, patents, and controlling interests transfer to you, Eden. Alexander and your father never suspected I'd found a way around their safeguards."

Eden stepped closer to the projection, his hand passing through the light as if trying to touch his mother one last time.

"There's one more thing," the hologram said, its tone softening. "Something I kept from everyone—even you, Eden. Something I protected at all costs."

The image changed, displaying a photograph that made my blood run cold. It was me—much younger, perhaps five or six years old—standing beside my mother and Dr. Constantine in what appeared to be a laboratory.

"Protect her," Dr. Constantine's voice commanded. "Julia gave everything to keep her safe. Now that responsibility falls to you."

The hologram flickered and faded, the diamond's light diminishing until only the red glow remained, then nothing. We sat in stunned silence, the implications of what we'd just witnessed settling over us like a physical weight.

"You knew," I finally said, my voice barely above a whisper. "You knew about me all along."

Eden's eyes remained fixed on the spot where his mother's image had been. "Not everything. I knew you were connected—that my mother had left instructions regarding Julia Harlow's daughter. But the specifics..." He shook his head. "Those were encrypted within the diamond itself."

"That photograph—" My mind raced to recall memories I'd long buried. "I don't remember ever meeting your mother."

"You were young," Eden said. "And afterward, there would have been reasons to... obscure those memories."

A chill ran through me. "What does that mean?"

Eden finally looked at me, his expression unreadable. "Our mothers worked together on the diamond preservation technology. When they realized what the Constantine Group planned to do with it, they tried to destroy their research. My mother stayed to gather evidence. Yours ran—with you."

"That's not what happened," I protested. "My mother died of cancer when I was twelve. We were living in Arizona. She was doing field research."

"A carefully constructed cover story," Eden said gently. "Your mother went into hiding when you were six. Changed your names, created new identities, new memories."

I shook my head, unwilling to accept that my childhood memories might be fabrications. "That's ridiculous. I remember my childhood. I remember my mother."

"Do you?" Eden challenged. "Or do you remember what you were told to remember? What was safe to remember?"

Before I could respond, an alert sounded from Eden's security system. He moved quickly to a monitor, his posture tensing as he viewed whatever was happening.

"Alexander's men have breached the east wing," he reported. "They're methodically searching the entire estate. It's only a matter of time before they find this section."

"I thought you said Alexander was contained?"

"Apparently his control over security runs deeper than the board realized." Eden began gathering equipment. "We need to complete the verification process before they find us."

"What verification process?"

Eden retrieved the diamond, placing it in a different device—something that looked like a medical scanner. "My mother's will transfers everything to me, but only if her death is verified as murder rather than accident. The diamond contains that proof, but it needs to be extracted and authenticated."

He gestured for me to come closer. "The system needs a DNA sample from both of us."

"Both of us? Why me?"

"Because the verification requires two authorized signatures—Eden Constantine and J.H." His eyes met mine. "Your DNA is the second key, Janice. That's why my mother protected you. That's why the diamond has been waiting for you."

I hesitated, suspicion warring with curiosity. "How do I know this isn't another manipulation?"

"You don't," Eden admitted. "But Alexander's men will be here within minutes. If we don't complete the verification now, everything our mothers died for will be lost."

The weight of the decision pressed down on me. Eden Constantine had kidnapped me, forced me to impersonate a possibly dead woman, used me in his revenge plot against his brother. Every instinct told me not to trust him.

And yet... the hologram. The photograph. The connections to my mother that explained so many of the gaps in my memories, the strange dreams that had haunted me for years.

"What do you need from me?" I finally asked.

"Your hand," Eden said, indicating a scanning panel. "The system will extract a microscopic blood sample."

I placed my palm on the scanner, wincing slightly as a tiny needle pricked my finger. Eden did the same on a second panel. The machine hummed to life, analyzing our samples while simultaneously scanning the diamond.

"Verification in process," an automated voice announced. "Analyzing genetic markers."

The seconds stretched into minutes, each moment bringing Alexander's security team closer to our location. Eden watched the door, tension evident in every line of his body.

"Verification complete," the system finally declared. "Identity confirmed: Eden Constantine, son of Elizabeth Constantine. Second identity confirmed: Janice Harlow, daughter of Julia Harlow. Authorization granted."

The diamond began to glow again, but differently this time—pulsing with an internal light that seemed to strengthen rather than fade. The scanning device connected to a secure terminal, and data began flowing across the screen—documents, videos, technical specifications. Eden's mother's complete files, extracted from within the diamond itself.

"It worked," Eden breathed, watching as the information was automatically transmitted to secure servers. "The evidence is being distributed to every regulatory agency, law enforcement division, and media outlet on my mother's protection list."

But I barely heard him. My attention was fixed on a separate file that had appeared on the screen—labeled simply "For J.H."

With trembling fingers, I touched the screen, opening the file. A video began to play—my mother, looking much younger than in my memories, speaking directly to the camera.

"Janice, my darling," she began, her voice sending a wave of emotion through me. "If you're watching this, you've found your way back to the truth. I'm so sorry for what we had to do—the memories we had to alter, the life we had to fabricate. It was the only way to keep you safe."

Tears blurred my vision as my mother continued, explaining how she and Elizabeth Constantine had discovered their research was being weaponized, how they had made a pact to expose the truth and protect their children.

"The diamond you've found contains everything," my mother explained. "The complete research, but also the safeguards we built into it. The technology can only be activated by the combined genetic signatures of Elizabeth's son and my daughter. Without both, it remains inert—just a beautiful stone."

She leaned closer to the camera, her eyes filled with love and regret. "I don't know what your life has been like, what memories remained or were created. But know this—everything I did was to protect you. You were always meant to find your way back to this truth. To finish what Elizabeth and I started."

The video ended, leaving me shaking with emotions I couldn't even name. Eden stood nearby, watching me with unexpected gentleness.

"Now you understand," he said softly. "Why it had to be you. Why the diamond recognized your touch from the beginning."

Before I could respond, an explosion rocked the foundation of the building. Eden grabbed the diamond and my arm, pulling me toward a concealed exit.

"They're here," he said grimly. "We need to go. Now."

As we fled through yet another hidden passage, the diamond pulsed against my skin where Eden had pressed it into my hand—warm and alive, as if awakened by the reunion of its creators' children.

For the first time since my kidnapping, I moved willingly with Eden Constantine. Whatever lay ahead, whatever truths remained to be uncovered, I knew one thing with absolute certainty: the Crimson Tear had always been meant for both of us.

And our mothers' legacy was only beginning to reveal itself.