Chapter 9 - The Third ChildNobody moved.

I looked at Vincent.

Daniel smiled.

My heart pounded so hard it hurt.

"That's not true."

Daniel shrugged.

"Ask him."

I looked at Vincent.

He said nothing.

"Tell him."

Daniel laughed.

"You see?"

"You know he's lying."

"Do you?"

Vincent finally spoke.

"Lena, biological family isn't the whole story."

"What does that mean?"

"Your mother and I raised you."

"That's not what I asked."

He looked at Daniel.

"You're wasting time."

Daniel leaned forward.

"She deserves the truth."

"The truth gets children killed."

"So does lying."

I stared at them.

Then I noticed something.

Daniel's hands were bruised.

Not from the beating.

From restraints.

He hadn't been tied there for long.

Someone had captured him.

And Vincent had not expected to find him.

"Who brought you here?" I asked.

Daniel looked at me.

"I came."

"Why?"

"Because your mother asked me."

Vincent's expression hardened.

"She's not talking to you."

Daniel laughed.

"She's talking to all of us."

He looked at me.

"Your mother is alive."

"I know."

"No."

He leaned closer.

"Your mother is here."

"What?"

Daniel pointed at the ceiling.

"Under this house."

My skin prickled.

Vincent's guards searched the floor.

No hidden room.

Daniel laughed.

"The old family house had a rule."

"What rule?"

"Three children. Three doors."

He looked at me.

"One for the heir."

"One for the witness."

"And one for the weapon."

I swallowed.

"Who are they?"

Daniel looked at Luca.

"The heir."

Then Maya.

"The witness."

Then me.

"The weapon."

Vincent snapped.

"Enough."

Daniel ignored him.

"Your mother wasn't hiding you from the Ravens."

"Then what was she hiding?"

"The fact that you were the only child who survived the program."

"What program?"

Vincent stepped forward.

Daniel's smile vanished.

"The Moretti Project."

I looked at Vincent.

He closed his eyes.

"What was it?"

"Your grandfather wanted to create a network of loyal operatives who could never be traced."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Children?"

Daniel nodded.

"Children were easier to control."

Maya wasn't listening.

Luca was asleep.

I felt sick.

"My mother was part of this?"

"She helped destroy it."

"And my father?"

"He helped build it."

I looked at Vincent.

His face was unreadable.

"Is that true?"

"I was young."

"But you knew."

"Yes."

The room seemed colder.

Daniel continued.

"Your mother found out what they were doing and tried to expose them."

"What did she steal?"

"The records."

I looked at the red notebook.

"Those?"

"No."

He smiled.

"The notebook is bait."

I froze.

"Where are the real records?"

Daniel looked at me.

"Inside you."

I didn't understand.

He reached toward my wrist.

Vincent stopped him.

"Don't."

Daniel laughed.

"She has the mark."

I looked down.

There was a faint scar beneath my wrist.

A tiny circle crossed by three lines.

I'd had it for as long as I remembered.

"What is this?"

Daniel said quietly:

"The third key."

I stared.

"How?"

"Your mother hid the access code in your memory."

I almost laughed.

"I don't remember anything."

"Exactly."

Vincent suddenly grabbed Daniel by the collar.

"Who else knows?"

Daniel's smile disappeared.

"Everyone who needs to."

A gunshot exploded upstairs.

Then another.

Guards shouted.

Vincent released him.

"Take the children."

The alarms grew louder.

Maya woke.

Luca started crying.

I grabbed Maya's hand.

Vincent took Luca.

We ran.

A gunman appeared at the end of the corridor.

Vincent fired first.

The man fell.

I froze.

He wasn't wearing a mask.

I knew him.

He was one of the guards who had been protecting us since we arrived.

Vincent looked at me.

"Keep moving."

We reached a steel door.

Locked.

Vincent pulled out the key.

The old key from the case.

MERCY.

He inserted it.

The door opened.

Inside was a narrow staircase descending into darkness.

Daniel shouted from behind us.

"Don't go down there!"

Vincent turned.

"Why?"

Daniel stared at me.

"Because that's where they kept the children."

Then the lights beneath the staircase turned on.

One by one.

Revealing hundreds of names written on the walls.

Most had been crossed out.

Some were marked:

FAILED.

Some:

TRANSFERRED.

Some:

DECEASED.

And at the very bottom of the wall was one name.

LENA MORETTI.

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Under it:

STATUS: RETURNED.