Chapter 11 - Brielle Knew EverythingI didn't believe him.
Not at first.
Brielle had been raised beside me.
We had shared charity events, dinners, holidays.
She had always been polished.
Perfect.
Safe.
But suddenly every conversation with her felt different.
Every time she asked about Mara.
Every time she talked about my family history.
Every time she made a joke about "heirs."
I had never noticed.
Now I noticed everything.
Charles ordered his men to take the boys.
Zero moved faster.
A gunshot exploded.
The lights shattered.
The facility plunged into darkness.
I grabbed Mara.
"Run!"
We ran through the corridor.
Three boys ahead.
Three behind.
Gunfire echoed.
Zero stayed behind us.
Then his voice rang through the darkness.
"Left!"
We turned.
A steel door slammed behind us.
For several seconds, there was silence.
Mara leaned against the wall.
The boys were crying.
I tried to catch my breath.
Then we saw the emergency lighting.
The corridor ended in a hidden archive.
Rows of physical files.
Photographs.
Boxes.
Every secret the Whitakers had buried.
At the center sat one locked cabinet.
Mara pointed.
"That's it."
"What?"
"My file."
We opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Brielle.
Six years old.
Standing beside my mother.
Another photograph.
Brielle at twelve.
Inside the Echo facility.
Another.
Brielle at nineteen.
Sitting beside Charles.
Then the final photograph.
Brielle and Mara.
Six years ago.
The night the babies were born.
Brielle was holding one of them.
I stared.
"She knew."
Mara nodded.
"She always knew."
My phone rang.
Brielle.
I answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then her voice.
"Where are you?"
"With your father."
"No."
She sounded terrified.
"My father isn't with you."
"He's here."
"Then you don't understand."
"Explain."
She whispered:
"He's not my father."
I froze.
"What?"
"He took me when I was seven."
Mara covered her mouth.
Brielle continued.
"I was another Echo subject."
I couldn't breathe.
"Then who are you?"
"I don't know."
"What happened to your real family?"
"Dead."
A pause.
"My father raised me to marry you."
I felt sick.
"Did you love me?"
She began crying.
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he told me he'd kill the boys."
I closed my eyes.
"Where is Micah?"
"I know where he is."
"Tell me."
"There's a second facility."
"Where?"
"Under the conservatory."
I thought of the engagement party.
The glass roof.
The gardens.
My mother greeting guests.
The ring in my pocket.
Everything had been planned around that location.
Brielle whispered:
"The ceremony isn't a wedding."
"Then what is it?"
"A transfer."
"For the boys?"
"No."
"For you."
The line went dead.
Mara looked at me.
"Alexander."
I stared at the floor.
The ring box felt heavy in my pocket.
"What?"
"Your mother is at the conservatory."
"With everyone."
"Yes."
"And she knows we're here."
Mara nodded.
"Which means..."
I finished the sentence.
"They want us to go back."
We left the underground facility.
But before we escaped, I found one final file.
It contained a photograph of me sleeping.
Taken six years ago.
Underneath it was a handwritten sentence.
SUBJECT ALEXANDER WILL BE REACTIVATED AT THE ENGAGEMENT.
My blood ran cold.
The engagement announcement had never been a social event.
May you like
It was a trigger.
And tonight was the night my family planned to turn me back into the man they created.
