Chapter 9 - The vault became a cage.Steel doors locked from the outside.
The lights went out.
Only emergency strips remained.
Anna's agents positioned themselves around the room.
“Can you open it?” Matteo asked.
Anna shook her head.
“Not from here.”
“Then break it.”
“It's reinforced titanium.”
Matteo looked at his father.
“You planned this.”
His father smiled.
“Of course.”
Leonardo stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
The old man looked at him.
“You.”
Leonardo froze.
“You were always my favorite.”
Elena stared at him.
“Don't listen to him.”
Leonardo laughed bitterly.
“He's been in my head since I was a child.”
Matteo looked at his son.
“You don't owe him anything.”
“I know.”
Then Leonardo pulled a small device from his pocket.
Anna immediately raised her gun.
“What is that?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
“The vault.”
His father smiled.
Matteo stared at Leonardo.
“You had it all along.”
Leonardo nodded.
“I was told to bring it here.”
“By whom?”
Leonardo looked at Sofia.
She closed her eyes.
“I gave it to him.”
Matteo felt betrayed.
“You knew?”
Sofia whispered.
“I thought I could stop this.”
The device activated.
A hidden panel opened.
A tunnel appeared behind the shelves.
Anna stared.
“There is another exit.”
Matteo looked at Leonardo.
“Why help us?”
Leonardo answered quietly.
“Because I finally remembered.”
“What?”
“The first night I saw Elena.”
“What happened?”
Leonardo's eyes filled with tears.
“She wasn't afraid of me.”
Elena looked at him.
“You were my brother.”
“Yes.”
“What changed?”
“They told me she wasn't my sister.”
“They lied.”
“I know.”
Leonardo took her hand.
She did not pull away.
For the first time, the family stood together.
Matteo looked at them.
Two daughters.
One son.
All damaged by the same man.
Then the speakers activated.
His father's voice echoed.
“You're wasting time.”
Anna shouted.
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
The screen switched on.
A live feed appeared.
The real Matteo's father sat in a chair.
Beside him sat a woman.
Sofia.
But Sofia was standing beside Matteo.
The woman on the screen smiled.
Matteo stared.
Another replica.
His father continued.
“Do you know how easy it is to make people believe what they see?”
The screen showed photographs.
Fake Sofias.
Fake Marcos.
Fake Matteos.
Even fake Elena.
Anna stared in horror.
“This network is producing biological doubles.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Clones?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what?”
“Genetic duplicates.”
His father laughed.
“Close enough.”
Matteo suddenly realized the meaning of the gray-suited stranger.
The black ring.
The fake father.
The duplicate Sofia.
They had been surrounded by copies for years.
But why?
The screen changed.
A laboratory appeared.
Rows of glass chambers.
Inside were human embryos.
Anna stepped closer.
“No…”
Matteo saw a label.
DE LUCA LINEAGE.
Then another.
MARINO LINEAGE.
Then another.
PROJECT ORPHEUS: SUCCESSORS.
The camera moved down the row.
There were dozens.
Maybe hundreds.
Young bodies.
Copies.
Children.
Weapons.
Elena covered her mouth.
“They made us.”
Sofia shook her head.
“No.”
Matteo stared at the screen.
“They didn't make us.”
He pointed.
“They copied us.”
The screen went black.
Then a final message appeared.
ONE OF YOU IS ALREADY A COPY.
Everyone stopped breathing.
Anna looked at Elena.
Then Isabella.
Then Leonardo.
Then Matteo.
“No,” Matteo whispered.
A voice came from behind them.
Sofia.
But Sofia was already beside Marco.
Another Sofia stepped from the tunnel.
She held a gun.
“I am.”
Marco turned.
The woman smiled.
She looked at Matteo.
“Your real Sofia died twenty years ago.”
The real Sofia froze.
May you like
The duplicate raised her gun.
“And now you finally know why everyone has been lying.”
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