Chapter 9 - Rafe didn't speak for almost a minute.The rain filled the silence.
Anna sat beneath the bridge with her head bowed.
Rafe stood several feet away.
Every answer he had received had become another betrayal.
"Where's my mother?"
Anna's lips moved.
"I am your mother."
"You know what I mean."
She looked up.
"Your birth mother."
"You said you were."
"I am."
Rafe stared.
"Then who is the woman in the video?"
Anna looked confused.
"The woman with Victor."
Rafe showed her the image.
Anna gasped.
"That's impossible."
"You know her?"
"I've never seen her."
Rafe pointed to the screen.
"She has my face."
Anna stared.
Then whispered:
"That's not Lena."
"Then who?"
"I don't know."
Rafe watched the video again.
Something bothered him.
The girl's left hand.
There was a tiny scar across her palm.
He knew that scar.
He had it too.
He looked at his own hand.
Same position.
Same shape.
His pulse quickened.
The scar wasn't from the fire.
It was from a childhood surgery.
A surgery he had completely forgotten.
He looked at Anna.
"What did they do to me?"
Her eyes widened.
"What?"
"The scar."
Anna's face went pale.
"You were operated on."
"For what?"
She shook her head.
"I don't remember."
"You're my mother. How could you not remember?"
"Because..."
She stopped.
Rafe stepped closer.
"Because what?"
"I wasn't your mother when they took you."
Rafe stared.
"What?"
Anna covered her face.
"I thought I was."
"You thought?"
"I was told."
"By whom?"
She looked up.
"Victor."
Rafe's stomach dropped.
"He told you I was your son?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To make me protect you."
Rafe stepped back.
"Then who am I?"
Anna whispered:
"I don't know."
That answer frightened him more than anything else.
His phone vibrated again.
A message.
One location.
Meridian Medical Center.
Rafe stared at the address.
A second message arrived.
Come alone.
Then another.
Or your sister dies.
Rafe looked at Anna.
She stood slowly.
"Don't go."
"I'm going."
"It's a trap."
"Everything is a trap."
He walked toward the motorcycle.
Anna grabbed his arm.
"You're not going without me."
Rafe pulled away.
"For twenty-two years, people have been deciding where I go."
He looked into her eyes.
"Tonight, I decide."
He rode away.
Meridian Medical Center rose above the city like a glass fortress.
The lobby was empty.
Too empty.
Rafe entered through the emergency entrance.
A nurse stood behind the desk.
"Mr. Mercer?"
"Yes."
"Third floor."
He took the elevator.
The doors opened.
No doctors.
No patients.
Just a long corridor.
At the end was Room 317.
The door stood open.
Inside, the woman from the video sat on a bed.
She was alone.
Rafe stared.
She looked exactly like him.
She slowly lifted her eyes.
"Elias."
Rafe's heart stopped.
"Who are you?"
She smiled sadly.
"Your sister."
"You said you weren't Lena."
"I lied."
"Why?"
She looked toward the security camera.
"Because they were listening."
Rafe stepped closer.
"Lena."
She nodded.
"What happened to you?"
She touched her scar.
"They didn't just erase your memory."
Rafe waited.
"They changed it."
"What does that mean?"
Lena looked at him.
"They made you remember a childhood that never happened."
Rafe's blood turned cold.
"Then what do I remember?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"Everything you remember is implanted."
Rafe stumbled backward.
Lena whispered:
"You never lived in that house."
"What?"
"You weren't born there."
"Then where was I born?"
She looked at the door.
Someone was approaching.
Her eyes widened.
"They're here."
Rafe turned.
At the end of the corridor stood Victor Hale.
Beside him was Daniel.
And behind them...
A woman with the same face as Rafe.
Another woman.
Another scar.
Another identical pair of eyes.
May you like
Lena whispered:
"That's our third sister."
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