Chapter 14 - THE MOTHERThey followed Marcus into the underground tunnel.

The passage ran beneath the cemetery for nearly half a mile.

Blue lights flickered along the walls.

At the end stood an iron door.

Marcus pushed Isabella inside.

Vittorio raised his weapon.

“Let her go.”

Marcus laughed.

“You still think this ends with me.”

“What is inside?”

Marcus looked at Isabella.

“Your mother.”

The door opened.

A woman sat in a chair.

Her hair was gray.

Her wrists were restrained.

Her face was thin.

But her eyes were alive.

Isabella stopped breathing.

“Mom?”

The woman lifted her head.

For several seconds she simply stared.

Then she whispered:

“My little girl.”

Isabella ran.

Vittorio followed.

The woman looked at him.

“Vittorio.”

He stopped.

“You know me.”

“I knew you before you knew yourself.”

He stared.

“You're…”

“Maria.”

Isabella's mother.

Vittorio had never seen her.

He moved closer.

“My mother told me you were dead.”

“She wanted you to believe that.”

“Why?”

“Because your father would have killed me.”

Marcus laughed from the doorway.

“He almost did.”

Maria looked at him.

“You always were a coward.”

Marcus raised his gun.

Maria smiled.

“You still won't pull the trigger.”

Marcus hesitated.

Vittorio noticed.

“What does he fear?”

Maria looked at him.

“The truth.”

“What truth?”

“That Marcus is not who he says he is.”

Marcus fired.

Vittorio shoved Isabella aside.

The bullet hit the wall.

A second shot.

Catherine appeared behind Marcus.

She fired.

Marcus dropped his gun.

Vittorio tackled him.

They crashed against the steel floor.

Marcus fought wildly.

Vittorio punched him.

“You killed my mother.”

Marcus laughed.

“She asked me to.”

Vittorio froze.

“What?”

“She knew what your father would do.”

“No.”

“She begged me.”

Vittorio slammed him against the wall.

“Liar.”

Marcus smiled through blood.

“Ask Elena.”

Vittorio turned.

Elena stood in the tunnel.

Alive.

The bullet had been stopped by a hidden metal plate under her coat.

She looked at Marcus.

“He's telling the truth.”

Vittorio stared.

“You knew?”

“I knew your mother had chosen Marcus to perform one final act.”

“What act?”

Elena's voice broke.

“She asked him to kill her.”

Vittorio stood frozen.

“Why?”

“Because she knew your father would torture her for the location of Isabella.”

Maria closed her eyes.

“She sacrificed herself.”

Vittorio looked at his father, unconscious on the floor.

All those years.

All that hatred.

All that grief.

And the truth was more complicated than anything he'd imagined.

Then Maria whispered:

“There's one thing you don't know.”

Vittorio looked at her.

“Your father didn't create Isabella.”

“What?”

Maria stared at him.

“She was born naturally.”

Vittorio frowned.

“Then why all the experiments?”

“To make you believe she was the heir.”

His blood turned cold.

“Why?”

Maria looked at Isabella.

“Because the real heir died.”

Silence.

“Who?”

Maria pointed toward Lucy.

Vittorio's heart stopped.

“The girl you call Lucy…”

Maria whispered.

“…is Isabella's twin.”

Everyone froze.

Lucy slowly looked at Isabella.

The two girls stared at one another.

Same eyes.

Same face.

Different lives.

Vittorio's voice cracked.

“You're saying they are twins?”

Maria nodded.

“Separated at birth.”

“But which one is the heir?”

Maria smiled sadly.

“Both.”

Then a distant alarm began screaming.

The tunnel lights turned red.

Catherine looked at her phone.

“We have a problem.”

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