Chapter 12 - The Marriage That Was PlannedRachel felt the world tilt beneath her.
“My marriage?”
Emma nodded.
“The system predicted that you would eventually meet.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if someone arranged the conditions.”
Rachel thought about St. Catherine.
The suspicious shipment.
The moment she met Daniel.
The investigation.
Every coincidence.
Every door opening at exactly the right time.
Emma continued.
“The shipment that brought you together wasn't random.”
Rachel stared.
“What?”
“The machine you stopped.”
Emma pointed to the file.
“It was sent to St. Catherine specifically because you were the one assigned to inspect it.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Someone wanted her there.”
“Yes.”
Rachel whispered:
“Then they wanted me to meet Daniel.”
Emma nodded.
“And marry him.”
Daniel looked sick.
“But why?”
“Because together, their DNA signatures activate the full archive.”
Rachel stared.
“So our marriage was a key.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped away.
He paced across the room.
“Who designed this?”
Emma looked at him.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Daniel stopped.
“No.”
Emma nodded.
“She was the architect behind the second phase.”
Rachel whispered:
“Then my mother was trying to stop her.”
“Yes.”
Daniel clenched his fists.
“And my father?”
“He tried to destroy the program.”
“So my mother killed him?”
Emma nodded.
“Because he planned to expose everything.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
She remembered her mother saying:
I had to disappear.
She hadn't been running from the Moretti family.
She had been hiding from Isabella.
A new message appeared on Daniel's phone.
An address.
And one sentence.
Bring Rachel if you want your mother alive.
Daniel showed it to Emma.
“No.”
Emma sat up.
“She wants Rachel.”
“I know.”
“Then don't take her.”
Rachel shook her head.
“I'll go.”
Daniel turned.
“No.”
“They're already coming for me.”
“I won't let you.”
Rachel met his eyes.
“This started because of me.”
“No.”
“It started before we met.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“This isn't your fault.”
Rachel whispered:
“Then let me finish it.”
They went to the address.
An abandoned estate.
Daniel entered first.
Isabella Moretti waited inside.
Older.
Elegant.
Composed.
Very much alive.
Daniel stared at her.
“Mother.”
Isabella smiled.
“My son.”
Rachel stood behind him.
Isabella looked at her.
“The key.”
Rachel felt her stomach tighten.
“You killed my father.”
“I saved this family.”
“You destroyed my life.”
“No.”
Isabella's expression was calm.
“I created it.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Where is Rachel's mother?”
Isabella nodded toward another room.
Elise was there.
Alive.
Wounded.
Rachel ran to her.
“Mom.”
Elise grabbed her hand.
“Don't trust her.”
Isabella laughed softly.
“You still don't understand.”
She looked at Daniel.
“I didn't arrange your marriage to hurt either of you.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Then why?”
“Because Project Mercy needed two bloodlines.”
Rachel asked:
“And now?”
Isabella smiled.
“Now it needs one final thing.”
“What?”
Isabella looked at her.
“Your consent.”
Rachel frowned.
“To what?”
Isabella pressed a remote.
A wall opened.
Behind it was a massive machine.
Medical.
Mechanical.
Unknown.
A chair sat at the center.
Rachel stared.
“What is that?”
Isabella answered quietly.
“The system that will decide who controls the Moretti empire.”
Daniel stepped forward.
His eyes hardened.
“You're going to use her.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
She smiled.
“I'm going to use both of you.”
