Chapter 15 - The countdown reached fifty seconds.Dad looked at me.
"We need to leave."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Emily."
"If I run, they win."
Luca stepped closer.
"He's right."
"No."
I looked at the device.
"If the truth is inside me, then I'm done running."
Ryan stared at me.
"You don't know what will happen."
I looked at him.
"Neither did you."
He lowered his eyes.
I placed my hand over my stomach.
My baby moved.
One small kick.
Then another.
The device lit up.
00:41.
A biometric message appeared.
UNAUTHORIZED DNA SOURCE.
Luca frowned.
"It's not recognizing you."
My mother looked at the screen.
"Because you're not the final key."
I stared at her.
"Then who is?"
She looked at the baby.
"The child."
Dad shook his head.
"She's unborn."
My mother nodded.
"The family designed it that way."
The countdown reached thirty seconds.
Police sirens surrounded the estate.
Helicopters circled overhead.
Luca opened the device.
There was a second port.
He looked at me.
"DNA."
I stared.
"How?"
He looked at Ryan.
Ryan immediately understood.
"No."
Luca said:
"Blood."
Ryan shook his head.
"You don't know what this system will do."
"We have no time."
I took the small needle.
Dad tried to stop me.
"Emily."
I looked at him.
"You spent your whole life trying to protect me."
He nodded.
"I'm your daughter."
"Yes."
"Then trust me."
Dad stepped back.
I pricked my finger.
One drop of blood hit the sensor.
Nothing happened.
Then my stomach tightened.
Pain shot through me.
I gasped.
Dad caught me.
"Emily!"
The screen changed.
GENETIC LINE VERIFIED.
The upload began.
1%.
5%.
12%.
20%.
My breathing became harder.
Lily held my hand.
"Mommy?"
"I'm okay."
30%.
40%.
Suddenly every phone in the room began ringing.
News alerts appeared.
Documents were being released.
Bank accounts.
Secret recordings.
Hospital records.
Names.
Photographs.
The blackmail network.
The kidnapping operation.
The doctors.
The judges.
The people who had protected Ryan.
The people who had attacked me.
Everything.
The world was seeing it.
The upload reached 75%.
Then the lights went out.
Someone screamed.
A gunshot.
Then another.
When the emergency lights came back...
Ryan was standing between me and the attackers.
He had been shot in the chest.
I screamed.
"RYAN!"
He fell.
I ran to him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
His eyes found mine.
"I'm sorry."
I cried.
"Don't."
"I should have told you."
"Don't talk."
He smiled faintly.
"You're going to hate me."
I shook my head.
"I already did."
He laughed weakly.
"Fair."
The upload reached 91%.
A masked man raised his weapon.
Luca shot him.
Dad's men fought back.
The old house shook with gunfire.
Then the screen changed.
99%.
99.9%.
100%.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
The entire room went silent.
The device displayed one final message.
TRUTH RELEASED.
Outside, police vehicles stopped.
Reporters gathered.
Helicopters hovered.
Every secret my family had buried for decades had just become public.
Dad looked at me.
"You did it."
I shook my head.
"No."
I looked at Lily.
Then Nora.
Then my unborn daughter.
"We did."
My mother began crying.
Nora stood beside her.
Luca walked toward me.
He looked at my stomach.
"How are you feeling?"
"Tired."
He smiled.
Then the device beeped again.
Everyone froze.
One final file appeared.
No title.
Only a name.
EMILY_MORETTI_FINAL_RECORDING.mp4
I stared.
"I didn't create that."
Luca pressed play.
A recording appeared.
It showed me.
But older.
Maybe forty.
Maybe fifty.
I was sitting in a dark room.
My face was bruised.
My hair gray.
And I was speaking directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this..."
The future version of me paused.
"...then everything went exactly the way they planned."
I couldn't breathe.
The recording continued.
"Ryan is not your enemy."
I looked at Ryan's body.
Then back to the screen.
My future self whispered:
"The man who is going to betray you has not entered the room yet."
Everyone looked toward the door.
It slowly opened.
A man stepped inside.
Dark suit.
Calm face.
A small smile.
Dad raised his weapon.
I didn't know him.
Luca did.
His face went white.
"No..."
I whispered:
"Who is he?"
Luca stared at the man.
Then said:
"The president."
The man smiled.
And behind him stood twenty armed men.
He looked directly at me.
"Emily Moretti."
He glanced at my stomach.
"Congratulations."
Then he closed the door.
May you like
"Your child just inherited the country."
THE END.
