Chapter 11 - Everyone stood frozen.Matteo looked from Elena to Isabella.
Two women.
Same eyes.
Different lives.
Different scars.
“What are you saying?”
Elena looked at him.
“I am the first Isabella.”
Matteo shook his head.
“Your sister is Isabella.”
“No.”
She looked toward her sister.
“She is the replacement.”
Isabella stepped backward.
“No.”
The old man stared at Elena.
“You were destroyed.”
“I survived.”
“You were twelve.”
“I remember the room.”
“What room?”
“The laboratory.”
Sofia's face went white.
“Elena…”
She whispered.
“You weren't supposed to remember that.”
Elena turned toward her.
“Because you helped them.”
Sofia began crying.
“I was trying to save you.”
“You gave them my memories.”
“No.”
“You gave them my name.”
Matteo looked at Sofia.
“Tell me the truth.”
Sofia couldn't answer.
Marco stepped forward.
“She did.”
Matteo looked at him.
Marco continued.
“After the fire, your father took both girls.”
“Elena…”
“Was the original.”
“Isabella?”
“The copy.”
Matteo looked at Isabella.
She seemed devastated.
“If I'm a copy…”
“You are still my daughter.”
Matteo's voice was firm.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
He stepped toward her.
“I don't care how you were made.”
She looked at him.
“You should.”
“I don't.”
The old man laughed.
“You're still sentimental.”
Matteo turned toward him.
“And you're still afraid.”
His father smiled.
“Of what?”
“Of us.”
Matteo pointed at Elena, Isabella, and Leonardo.
“You spent twenty-seven years controlling them.”
“They cannot control themselves.”
“They don't need to.”
Matteo looked at Anna.
“Can you shut this facility down?”
Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
Anna began issuing orders.
Agents stormed the control room.
Alarms sounded.
The old man's expression changed.
“You think this changes anything?”
Matteo stepped toward him.
“Yes.”
His father smiled.
“You don't know who controls the network.”
Matteo answered:
“I don't need to.”
He took the old man's gun.
“I only need to destroy it.”
His father whispered:
“They will kill you.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.”
The laboratory doors opened.
Hundreds of armed men entered.
Not clones.
Real people.
Former police.
Soldiers.
Private contractors.
Politicians' bodyguards.
Men who had been loyal for decades.
Anna's agents raised their weapons.
A standoff.
Then a man walked forward.
Matteo recognized him.
A senator.
One of the most powerful men in Italy.
He looked at Matteo.
“You don't understand what you are threatening.”
Matteo replied:
“No.”
The senator smiled.
“We built this country.”
Matteo looked at the laboratories.
“You built a prison.”
The senator nodded.
“Same thing.”
Gunfire erupted.
The lab became chaos.
Matteo dragged Elena behind a concrete wall.
Leonardo protected Isabella.
Marco and Sofia moved toward the control room.
Anna fired back.
One by one, the monitors exploded.
The senator escaped through a hidden door.
Matteo chased him.
The door led outside.
Rain poured down.
The senator entered a black car.
Matteo raised his weapon.
Before he could fire, the car exploded.
The blast threw him backward.
He woke minutes later beneath broken glass.
Anna was beside him.
“Are you alive?”
Matteo nodded.
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
Matteo looked toward the burning vehicle.
Then his phone rang.
A message.
No number.
A photograph.
The senator standing alive inside another facility.
Next to him stood a young man.
The caption read:
YOU KILLED THE WRONG MAN.
Matteo zoomed in.
The young man's face made his blood freeze.
It was him.
Twenty-seven years younger.
May you like
The message continued:
MEET YOUR ORIGINAL SELF.
