Chapter 12 - My mother raised the gun.Elena did not move.

“Mom.”

“Put yours down.”

I kept my weapon trained on her.

“You kidnapped Claire?”

“No.”

“Then who did?”

“I did.”

The voice came from behind me.

Claire stepped out.

But she was not alone.

A woman stood beside her.

Older.

Gray hair.

Thin.

Cold.

I stared.

I had never seen her before.

Elena gasped.

“You.”

My mother lowered her gun.

The older woman smiled.

“Hello, Elena.”

“Who is that?” I asked.

Elena whispered:

“My mother.”

Silence.

Sophie stared.

“Grandmother?”

The woman laughed.

“No.”

She looked at Elena.

“I am not your grandmother.”

Elena stepped backward.

“My mother died when I was nine.”

“No.”

The woman removed a false skin patch from her cheek.

Her face changed subtly.

A disguise.

“I was your mother's sister.”

Elena's eyes widened.

“Alice.”

My father emerged from the stairwell.

He looked at her.

“You survived.”

Alice smiled.

“Unlike the rest of us.”

I felt like I had walked into a family nightmare with no exit.

Alice explained the truth.

Our family had not started the replacement program.

They had inherited it.

A private organization had used wealthy families for decades.

The Vales had been one branch.

My father tried to end it.

Then he realized the organization had leverage over everyone.

Children.

Money.

Political connections.

Identity records.

They could erase a person.

Replace them.

Create another.

The program was called R-17.

Not because of a room.

Because seventeen people had originally been selected.

Only one family survived intact.

Ours.

I looked at Lily.

“Why her?”

Alice answered.

“Because she was the first child born outside the program.”

Elena held Lily tighter.

“She is free.”

Alice shook her head.

“She is evidence.”

Lily looked at Alice.

Then said:

“I remember.”

Alice went still.

“Remember what?”

Lily pointed toward her.

“You opened the door.”

Alice's face changed.

“When?”

“Mom's car.”

Lily's voice trembled.

“You told the man to take Mom.”

Elena looked at Alice.

“You were there.”

Alice raised her gun.

“Enough.”

I stepped in front of my family.

“What happened at 9:17?”

Alice's smile disappeared.

“Three years ago, Elena discovered that Lily could identify every person she saw during the operation.”

“And?”

“She had to be silenced.”

“By killing Elena?”

“By killing everyone.”

Claire suddenly shouted:

“Adrian!”

I turned.

Marco stood behind her.

He fired.

Claire collapsed.

Sophie screamed.

But the bullet had not hit Claire.

It struck the wall.

Marco had aimed at Alice.

Alice fell.

The warehouse doors burst open.

Police stormed inside.

Samuel led them.

He lowered his weapon.

“It’s over.”

I looked at him.

“You're police.”

“Yes.”

“Then why were you working with them?”

He looked at Elena.

“Because the only way to bring this organization down was to make them think I was theirs.”

A horrible realization settled in.

Samuel had been undercover.

Marco had been undercover too.

My mother had been undercover.

Maybe everyone had been lying.

And then Lily whispered:

“Dad.”

I knelt.

“What?”

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