Chapter 8 - The Door Only She Could OpenDaniel didn't sleep.
Neither did Rachel.
The laboratory had become a crime scene.
Elise was gone.
Victor refused to say exactly what had happened.
And Rachel now knew her entire life had been tied to Project Mercy before she could even speak.
At sunrise, Daniel took her to a secure property outside the city.
There was no staff.
No cameras.
Only silence.
Rachel stood by the window.
“Why me?”
Daniel answered from behind her.
“Because your mother made sure you survived.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“It's the only answer we have.”
Victor arrived two hours later with a metal case.
He placed it on the table.
Inside was an old access card.
A medical data key.
And a small handwritten notebook.
Rachel opened the notebook.
It belonged to Elise.
The first page contained one sentence.
If Rachel is reading this, I failed to keep her out of it.
Rachel's fingers tightened around the paper.
She kept reading.
Elise described Project Mercy.
But not as Daniel expected.
The project had originally been designed to protect high-value patients.
Then someone changed the purpose.
They began collecting DNA.
Not only to identify patients.
To predict them.
Health risks.
Family relationships.
Potential heirs.
People who could destabilize companies.
People who could expose hidden assets.
Rachel looked up.
“They were building a map of powerful families.”
Victor nodded.
“Exactly.”
“And my mother found out.”
“She discovered something else.”
“What?”
Victor looked at Daniel.
“Your father planned to destroy the project.”
Rachel frowned.
“Then why did he continue it?”
“He didn't.”
Victor's voice dropped.
“He was killed.”
Daniel stiffened.
“My father died in an accident.”
Victor shook his head.
“That was the official story.”
Rachel looked between them.
“What really happened?”
Victor opened the notebook.
“Your father discovered Lucian had taken control of the project's private network.”
Daniel's face changed.
“Lucian?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father ordered me not to.”
“Why?”
“He believed exposing Lucian would destroy the family.”
Rachel frowned.
“So why was my mother involved?”
Victor looked at her.
“Because your mother discovered the only way to shut Project Mercy down.”
Rachel opened the notebook to the final pages.
There was a diagram.
A biometric lock.
Two access signatures.
One belonging to Daniel's father.
One belonging to Rachel.
Rachel stared.
“My DNA?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Victor.
“What happens when she unlocks it?”
Victor hesitated.
“We don't know.”
That was the first answer Daniel truly hated.
They followed the diagram to an underground archive beneath an old Moretti medical facility.
The elevator required three keys.
Victor had one.
Daniel had one.
The third was Rachel's.
The doors opened.
A corridor stretched into darkness.
At the end was a steel door.
Rachel placed her hand against the scanner.
Red light.
Then green.
The door unlocked.
Inside was a room filled with servers.
Old ones.
New ones.
Thousands of files.
Rachel approached the central terminal.
A single message appeared.
WELCOME BACK, SUBJECT R-M6.
Rachel recoiled.
Daniel stepped forward.
“What does that mean?”
The screen displayed a photograph of Rachel as a baby.
Below it:
Project Mercy Trial Participant 06.
Rachel covered her mouth.
“No.”
More text appeared.
Primary genetic line confirmed.
Then another:
Secondary line: Daniel Moretti.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Rachel turned toward him.
“Secondary line?”
A final message appeared.
Marriage between subjects was anticipated.
Daniel went completely still.
Rachel whispered:
“They expected us to marry.”
Neither spoke.
Someone had predicted their relationship before they ever met.
Not just predicted it.
Planned for it.
A hidden file opened automatically.
It contained video.
A younger Elise sat in front of the camera.
She looked directly at the lens.
“If you're watching this, Rachel, then they failed to stop you.”
She paused.
“And if Daniel is with you, then there is one thing you must know.”
Daniel leaned toward the screen.
Elise's expression changed.
“Your marriage was never an accident.”
The recording suddenly froze.
Then the system rebooted.
A red alert flashed.
REMOTE ACCESS DETECTED.
Someone was trying to erase the archive.
Daniel shouted:
“Disconnect it!”
Rachel grabbed the emergency switch.
Too late.
One file remained.
The title:
THE REAL FATHER
Rachel opened it.
The screen showed a photograph.
A man beside Elise.
Rachel stared.
Daniel stared.
The man in the photograph was neither Daniel's father nor Lucian.
It was someone neither of them expected.
May you like
A Moretti enemy.
A man who had supposedly died twenty years earlier.
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