Chapter 12: The Woman Who Started It All
The machine stopped.
Silence swallowed the warehouse.
I opened my eyes.
For several seconds, I didn't know where I was.
Then everything returned.
The clinic.
The white walls.
The screaming.
My father's voice.
The two newborn babies.
And her face.
A woman with dark hair and cold eyes.
My father's first wife.
I knew her.
Not from memory.
From a name I had heard once as a child.
A name my mother had forbidden me to ask about.
Vivian Cross.
I tore the machine door open.
Marcus stepped backward.
For the first time, he looked frightened.
“What did you remember?”
I climbed out.
“Vivian.”
His face went pale.
My mother began crying.
Adrian whispered:
“You remember her.”
I looked at him.
“She's alive.”
Nobody spoke.
Nathan suddenly appeared from beneath the warehouse floor.
He was bleeding from his forehead.
“She's not just alive.”
I turned.
“What do you mean?”
Nathan staggered toward us.
“She owns the company.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Your father never owned it.”
I stared at him.
Nathan wiped blood from his face.
“Vivian did.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Nathan looked at him.
“You knew.”
Marcus raised his gun.
Nathan didn't move.
“You knew she survived.”
Marcus's jaw tightened.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand everything now.”
Nathan pointed toward me.
“Daniel remembers.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Not everything.”
I smiled.
“Enough.”
I walked toward him.
“You used my father.”
Marcus said nothing.
“You used my mother.”
Nothing.
“You used Claire.”
His face hardened.
“And you used my brother.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Which one?”
I stopped.
Adrian.
Eli.
Lucas.
So many lies.
So many identities.
I looked at the two boys.
Then I realized something.
There were supposed to be two.
But the memory showed three bassinets.
Three babies.
I turned toward my mother.
“There were three.”
Her face collapsed.
“Yes.”
Marcus whispered,
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“Who was the third baby?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at Adrian.
“Was it you?”
He shook his head.
“Lucas?”
“No.”
“Eli?”
“No.”
Then who?
My mother whispered:
“Vivian's child.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“She had another baby.”
“Why was it there?”
My mother looked at Marcus.
“Because that child was the reason Project Echo existed.”
Marcus's expression became cold.
“Stop.”
I stepped toward him.
“Who was the baby?”
He raised his gun.
“Enough.”
I didn't stop.
“Who?”
Marcus aimed at me.
Then someone shot him.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Marcus fell.
Everyone turned.
A woman stood in the warehouse doorway.
Dark hair.
Gray coat.
Cold eyes.
I knew her instantly.
Vivian.
My father's first wife.
She looked at me.
“Hello, Daniel.”
My mother began trembling.
“Vivian.”
Vivian smiled.
“You kept him alive all these years.”
My mother whispered:
“I tried.”
“You failed.”
Vivian walked inside.
Two men followed her.
They took Marcus's weapon.
Marcus glared at her.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Vivian smiled.
“So was your father.”
I stared at her.
“Who are you?”
She looked at me.
“You already know.”
“You were married to my father.”
“Before your mother.”
“You had a child.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Vivian smiled.
“Closer than you think.”
I felt a chill.
“Who?”
She looked at Adrian.
Then Nathan.
Then the two boys.
Finally, she looked at me.
“Your father believed he could create a perfect child.”
She stepped closer.
“He was wrong.”
“About what?”
“Perfection doesn't come from DNA.”
She pointed toward Lucas.
“It comes from memory.”
I looked at Lucas.
He was crying.
Vivian crouched beside him.
“Tell him.”
Lucas shook his head.
“Tell him who your father is.”
Lucas looked at me.
Then whispered:
“Daniel.”
Vivian smiled.
“Correct.”
She stood.
“Lucas is your biological son.”
I stared.
“Then what is Eli?”
Vivian looked at the other boy.
“A copy.”
“Of me.”
“Yes.”
“Then Adrian?”
She looked at my twin.
“A failed version.”
Adrian flinched.
I stepped toward Vivian.
“And the third baby?”
Her expression changed.
For the first time, she looked emotional.
“My son.”
“Where is he?”
She looked at Marcus.
“Ask him.”
Marcus laughed despite the blood on his shirt.
“You still haven't told him.”
Vivian's eyes narrowed.
“Tell him.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your brother is alive.”
I frowned.
“Which brother?”
Marcus smiled.
“The one you never knew existed.”
My stomach dropped.
“Another brother?”
“Yes.”
Vivian looked toward the darkness behind her.
A man stepped forward.
He was about thirty.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
His face looked familiar.
Not like Adrian.
Not like me.
But like my father.
I stared at him.
“Who are you?”
He looked at Vivian.
Then at me.
“My name is Ethan.”
I felt a strange pull in my chest.
Vivian said quietly:
“He is the first child your father ever tried to erase.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“I remember everything.”
I looked at him.
“Everything?”
He nodded.
“The clinic.”
“Project Echo.”
“The night your father died.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“You know who killed him?”
Ethan looked directly at me.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
He pointed toward Vivian.
I froze.
Vivian smiled.
“I killed him.”
My mother screamed.
“No!”
Vivian didn't react.
“Your father betrayed me.”
“So you killed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he tried to take my children.”
“Which children?”
Vivian looked at me.
“All of them.”
The warehouse fell silent.
I stared at her.
“You killed my father because of us?”
“I killed him because he believed he could control us.”
“Who is 'us'?”
Vivian smiled.
“The children of Project Echo.”
I looked around.
Adrian.
Eli.
Lucas.
Ethan.
Four people.
Four pieces of a nightmare.
But something still didn't make sense.
“Why did you want me dead?”
Vivian looked at me.
“I didn't.”
“Then who did?”
She glanced at Marcus.
“He did.”
Marcus spat blood.
“You know nothing.”
Vivian smiled.
“Tell him.”
Marcus remained silent.
Vivian turned back to me.
“Marcus wanted you dead because you were the only person who could expose him.”
“Expose what?”
She stepped closer.
“The truth about Project Echo.”
I waited.
She whispered:
“It was never about memory.”
I frowned.
“Then what was it about?”
Vivian looked toward the two boys.
“It was about control.”
My skin prickled.
“Control over what?”
“Human behavior.”
I stared at her.
“Your father discovered that traumatic memories could be manipulated.”
“And?”
“Marcus wanted to use that knowledge to control people.”
“For what?”
Vivian's eyes became cold.
“For political power.”
The room went silent.
My entire body stiffened.
She continued.
“Business leaders.”
“Politicians.”
“Judges.”
“Executives.”
“People with power.”
“They wanted to manipulate decisions by manipulating memories.”
I looked at Marcus.
“You were using people.”
“Yes.”
“Your father helped.”
“Yes.”
“My father tried to stop you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he continue?”
Vivian's expression softened.
“Because he realized the only way to destroy Project Echo was from inside.”
I looked at the cassette.
“That's why he faked his death.”
Vivian nodded.
“He hid the research.”
“Where?”
She smiled.
“You already have it.”
I frowned.
“What?”
She pointed at my head.
“You.”
I felt a chill.
“The memories.”
“Yes.”
My father hadn't erased my memories to hide them from me.
He had hidden the final Project Echo sequence inside my subconscious.
Marcus couldn't access it.
But Lucas could.
Because Lucas carried my genetic material.
I suddenly understood.
“That’s why you wanted Lucas.”
Marcus looked at me.
“And that's why you wanted me.”
He said nothing.
Vivian stepped closer.
“Marcus needed both of you.”
“Why?”
“Because together, you can reconstruct Project Echo.”
I looked at Lucas.
Then at myself.
Then at Marcus.
“No.”
Vivian smiled.
“That is exactly what he wants you to believe.”
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out a folder.
And handed it to me.
I opened it.
The first page was a birth certificate.
My name.
Daniel Parker.
Mother: Evelyn Parker.
Father:
I stared at the final line.
It wasn't my father's name.
It was Marcus Vale.
My heart stopped.
I looked at my mother.
She broke down.
“I was going to tell you.”
I couldn't speak.
The man I had spent the entire night fearing might actually be my biological father.
Marcus smiled.
“Now you know.”
But Vivian shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“That certificate is fake.”
Marcus's smile disappeared.
Vivian turned to me.
“Your real father is not Marcus.”
She opened the folder to the final page.
There was a DNA test.
Three names.
Daniel Parker.
Ethan Cross.
Vivian Cross.
And beneath them:
PATERNAL MATCH: 99.99%
I stared at Ethan.
He looked at me.
Then he whispered:
“Daniel...”
“You and I have the same father.”
I shook my head.
“Who?”
Ethan's face became pale.
He pointed toward the coffin in the corner.
Inside was a body covered by a white sheet.
Vivian slowly pulled it away.
The face underneath was old.
But unmistakable.
My father's face.
My mother screamed.
Marcus stumbled backward.
And Ethan whispered:
“He never died.”
The corpse opened its eyes.
And my father's voice came from the coffin:
“I'm sorry, Daniel.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“It's time you remembered what you did to me.”
