Chapter 7 - THE MAN IN THE RECORDINGThe screen went black.
Mara stood frozen.
Anthony Moretti.
Alive.
After all these years.
Luca was barely conscious.
Damian picked him up.
“We have to move.”
Mara grabbed his arm.
“Where?”
“Underground.”
“No.”
“If we stay here, they'll kill all of us.”
“Who are they?”
Damian looked at Helen's body.
“The people who have protected Anthony's secret.”
Rose stepped forward.
“There's still one way to stop him.”
Damian frowned.
“You said the key was destroyed.”
“I lied.”
Rose reached into her coat.
She pulled out a small metal cylinder.
Inside was a key card.
Black.
No markings.
Mara stared.
“What is it?”
“Access to the original archive.”
“Where?”
Rose looked at Bellweather Hotel.
“Under the old chapel.”
They returned to Bellweather before dawn.
The hotel had been evacuated.
No guests.
No employees.
Only emergency lights remained.
Mara walked through the lobby.
Everything looked familiar.
But now she knew the hotel had been watching her for years.
A man from security stopped them.
Damian stepped forward.
The guard immediately moved aside.
Mara noticed.
“You know him.”
The guard looked down.
“He was my employer.”
“You worked for Anthony?”
“Yes.”
“Does he have a daughter?”
The guard hesitated.
Then:
“Yes.”
Mara's stomach dropped.
“Who?”
The guard looked at Rose.
Rose whispered:
“His first wife.”
Mara frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Rose said:
“Anthony had another family.”
They reached the chapel.
Damian opened a hidden panel beneath the altar.
A staircase appeared.
Mara descended.
The archive was enormous.
Thousands of files.
Photographs.
Medical charts.
Financial records.
Video tapes.
Rose found one labeled 2047.
She placed it into an old monitor.
The footage began.
Mara at age four sat in a chair.
Anthony stood behind her.
A younger Luca and Damian stood nearby.
Anthony spoke to someone off camera.
“Subject has begun distinguishing the twins.”
The unseen person asked:
“How?”
“She knows which one is safe.”
Anthony leaned toward little Mara.
“Which brother do you trust?”
The child pointed.
Luca.
Mara covered her mouth.
The footage continued.
Anthony turned to Damian.
“You know what happens if she identifies you.”
Damian looked terrified.
Then the recording changed.
A second clip.
Rose stood in the same room.
Anthony held a gun.
“If you tell Mara the truth, she dies.”
Rose cried.
“You're insane.”
Anthony smiled.
“No. I'm organized.”
The footage ended.
Mara looked at Damian.
“You were afraid of him.”
“I was eleven.”
“You knew.”
“I knew enough.”
“Why didn't you save me?”
Damian's eyes hardened.
“I tried.”
Luca stirred.
He whispered:
“Mara.”
She ran to him.
He held out a small envelope.
“I stole this from my father.”
Inside was a birth certificate.
Mara looked at it.
Her name.
Mara Grace Ellis.
Mother: Rose Ellis.
Father:
Anthony Moretti.
But beneath it was something handwritten.
SECOND PATERNITY RECORD: LUCA MORETTI.
Mara stared.
“There are two records.”
Rose stepped closer.
“The second one was hidden.”
“Why?”
A voice answered from behind them.
“Because the first one is fake.”
Everyone turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
White coat.
The same woman Daniel had feared.
She removed her gloves.
“My name is Dr. Evelyn Shaw.”
Mara stared.
“You knew my mother.”
“I helped keep her alive.”
“And you work for Anthony.”
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“I used to.”
“Used to?”
Evelyn looked at Luca.
“Your father died eleven years ago.”
Mara frowned.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
She placed a photograph on the table.
Anthony Moretti's corpse.
Timestamped eleven years earlier.
Mara stared.
Then another photograph.
The man from the surveillance footage.
Same face.
Same voice.
But different fingerprints.
Evelyn whispered:
“Anthony Moretti is dead.”
Mara's heart raced.
“Then who is on the screen?”
Evelyn answered:
“His clone.”
Silence.
Luca stared at her.
Damian stepped forward.
“You're insane.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Look at the file.”
Mara opened it.
A line appeared.
PROJECT MIRROR: MEMORY REPLICATION SUCCESSFUL.
She turned the page.
The final line was circled in red.
ORIGINAL SUBJECT: MARA ELLIS.
Mara looked up.
“Why me?”
Evelyn's expression changed.
May you like
“Because your mother wasn't protecting you from Anthony.”
“She was protecting Anthony from you.”
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