Chapter 10 - THE TIME OF HER DEATHThey reached the basement chapel.
Helen was waiting.
Rose sat tied to a chair.
Evelyn stood beside her.
Mara walked in alone.
Luca watched from the shadows.
Helen smiled.
“You came.”
“Untie her.”
“First, you need to hear the truth.”
Mara looked at Rose.
“Mom?”
Rose's eyes filled with tears.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“But you didn't.”
“I was afraid.”
Helen laughed.
“Fear kept you alive.”
Mara turned.
“Tell me about my father.”
Helen looked at Rose.
Rose whispered:
“His name was Gabriel Ellis.”
Mara blinked.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why have I never heard of him?”
“He died before you were born.”
“How?”
“Anthony killed him.”
Helen shook her head.
“That's not what happened.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Gabriel wasn't innocent.”
Rose glared.
“Don't.”
“He worked with Anthony.”
“He left.”
“He tried to steal the research.”
Mara looked between them.
“What research?”
“The Mirror project.”
Mara felt cold.
“My father was part of it?”
“Yes.”
Helen walked toward her.
“Gabriel wanted to destroy it.”
“What happened?”
“He copied himself.”
Mara stared.
“Copied himself?”
Helen nodded.
“One version escaped.”
Mara's voice was barely audible.
“Where?”
Helen pointed toward the door.
Luca stepped into the light.
Mara's heart stopped.
Helen said:
“Ask him.”
Luca looked horrified.
“No.”
Helen smiled.
“You're Gabriel's clone.”
Mara stared at Luca.
“That's impossible.”
“Your father died.”
“Yes.”
“But his memory survived.”
Luca shook his head.
“I wasn't a clone.”
“You were fourteen when they activated you.”
“I remember my childhood.”
“No,” Helen said.
“You remember someone else's childhood.”
Luca looked at Mara.
Then he whispered:
“She was four.”
The memories came back.
A little girl.
A young boy.
Holding hands inside an elevator.
He was telling her:
“Don't be scared.”
Mara stared at him.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You protected me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did the recording sound like you?”
Luca looked broken.
“Because it was me.”
Mara stepped back.
“You told them I wouldn't remember.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they told me you'd be killed otherwise.”
Mara's eyes filled.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill my mother?”
“No.”
Helen spoke.
“I did.”
Everyone turned.
Helen's face was calm.
“I fired the shot.”
Rose shouted:
“You monster!”
Helen looked at her.
“You were going to expose the project.”
“I would have exposed Anthony.”
“You would have exposed me too.”
Mara whispered:
“You killed my mother.”
“I thought I did.”
Mara froze.
“What?”
Helen smiled.
“Rose survived.”
“But the funeral…”
“A substitute body.”
Mara couldn't breathe.
Everything had been fake.
The closed coffin.
The crash.
The grave.
All of it.
Rose looked at her daughter.
“I was alive the whole time.”
Mara rushed to her.
Helen stepped back.
“Now you know.”
“No.”
Mara stared at her.
“I know what you want.”
Helen smiled.
“Then say it.”
“You want my memories.”
Helen nodded.
“Because they're the missing piece.”
“What missing piece?”
“The memories that tell us where Gabriel Ellis hid the original Mirror file.”
Mara froze.
“I don't know.”
Helen's expression changed.
“You do.”
“How?”
“Because your father put the location inside you.”
Mara stared.
A strange pressure started building behind her eyes.
Then a memory appeared.
An elevator.
A brass key.
Room 2047.
And a voice.
Gabriel's voice.
“When you remember the third floor, you'll know where I buried it.”
Mara looked up.
“What third floor?”
Helen smiled.
“The one Bellweather says never existed.”
Suddenly every light in the chapel turned red.
A voice came over the speaker.
“Memory extraction beginning.”
May you like
Mara screamed.
And the last thing she saw was Luca running toward her.
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