Chapter 13 - The Mother Who DiedMy mother entered the mansion like she had never left.
No guards stopped her.
No doors were locked.
No alarms triggered.
She simply walked through the front entrance.
Her name was Lucia Moretti.
Officially dead eight years.
I had buried her.
I had touched her coffin.
I had spoken at her funeral.
Now she stood in front of me.
“Hello, Vincent.”
I couldn't speak.
She looked older.
But her eyes were the same.
Cold.
Sharp.
Intelligent.
Lila stared.
“Who is she?”
I finally answered.
“My mother.”
Lucia smiled.
“And you are my granddaughter.”
Lila stepped behind me.
“Don't touch her.”
Lucia looked at me.
“Still protecting what belongs to you.”
“What did you do?”
“Everything.”
“Three children?”
“Yes.”
“The experiments?”
“Yes.”
“Your son's fake death?”
“Yes.”
“Your empire?”
She smiled.
“Mine, before it was yours.”
I felt rage rise.
“You used my daughters.”
“Our daughters.”
“You poisoned Lila.”
“Temporarily.”
“She couldn't see.”
“She survived.”
I stepped closer.
“You call that survival?”
Lucia's face remained calm.
“She's alive because of me.”
“No.”
I pointed at Lila.
“She is alive despite you.”
For the first time, Lucia looked angry.
“You have no understanding of what this family has survived.”
“I understand enough.”
“You think money made you powerful?”
She laughed.
“Money only funded the illusion.”
“What did you want?”
“Continuity.”
“Of what?”
“The bloodline.”
She explained.
Our family had carried a rare genetic sequence.
The sequence could accelerate neural repair.
But it was unstable.
Some children inherited it.
Some did not.
Others died.
Lucia had spent decades trying to stabilize it.
Three girls had become the final generation.
Lila.
Sofia.
Eva.
And Nina.
“Why four?”
Lucia smiled.
“Because science requires variables.”
I felt sick.
“You call them variables.”
“Yes.”
“They're children.”
“They are the future.”
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“They are my daughters.”
Lucia's gaze hardened.
“You will choose one.”
“I choose all of them.”
“You cannot save all of them.”
“Watch me.”
She nodded.
“That is why you were always the problem.”
“What does that mean?”
“You were supposed to die years ago.”
I remembered the hospital.
The missing days.
The forged signatures.
My mother was there.
She had been part of it.
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Marco interfered.”
I looked at her.
“So Marco tried to save me?”
“Yes.”
“And Voss?”
“Betrayed us.”
“Then where is Marco?”
Lucia smiled.
“Below.”
A gunshot echoed.
The lights shattered.
Marco walked into the room.
Blood ran from his shoulder.
He held a weapon.
“Mother.”
Lucia turned.
“Son.”
“You should have stayed dead.”
She smiled.
“I taught you better than this.”
Marco raised the gun.
“Where is Hale?”
“Dead.”
Silence.
I looked at him.
“What?”
Marco stared at me.
“I killed him.”
“You're lying.”
“I killed him because he was going to kill Lila.”
Lucia looked at him.
“And what will you do with me?”
Marco answered:
“Finish what I should have finished eleven years ago.”
He fired.
Lucia dropped.
Camilla screamed.
The room went silent.
Marco lowered the gun.
Then he looked at me.
“Take the girls.”
I stared.
“Where?”
“Anywhere but here.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the hallway.
“Because she wasn't alone.”
Gunfire erupted from outside.
More men.
Lucia's guards.
They stormed the mansion.
Rafael returned fire.
I grabbed Lila.
Camilla took Sofia.
Nina ran beside us.
Eva appeared on the television.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“Take them to the old church.”
“Why?”
“Because that's the only place they can't track.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it belongs to me.”
The mansion exploded behind us.
Glass shattered.
Fire rose through the east wing.
We ran.
Marco stayed behind.
I looked back once.
He stood in the flames.
Facing the armed men.
Then he looked at me.
And shouted:
“GO!”
We escaped through the underground tunnel.
At the end stood an abandoned church.
Eva's people were waiting.
The girls were safe.
For thirty seconds.
Then a black SUV crashed through the front doors.
Men rushed inside.
Rafael drew his weapon.
“Boss!”
A voice came from the SUV.
“Vincent!”
I froze.
Thomas Voss stepped out.
Alive.
I had watched him die.
Or thought I had.
He smiled.
“You never learn.”
Then he pointed at the girls.
“I only need one.”
Lila stepped forward.
“Which one?”
Voss stared.
She smiled faintly.
And for the first time, she looked directly into his eyes.
“I know what you did.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
Lila raised her hand.
“I remember everything.”
Then Eva walked through the church doors.
Voss turned.
His face went white.
She smiled.
And said:
May you like
“Good.”
“Now we can end this.”
