Chapter 9 - THE BROTHER WHO FIRED THE SHOTLuca didn't move.
Mara stared at him.
“Did you kill my mother?”
“No.”
Anthony smiled.
“He always says that.”
Luca raised his gun.
“You're a copy.”
“Yes.”
“You stole his memories.”
“Some.”
“Then you don't know everything.”
Anthony's eyes moved to Mara.
“But she does.”
Mara stepped forward.
“What happened the night my mother died?”
Anthony's expression softened.
“Your mother discovered the second archive.”
“What was in it?”
“Proof that your father wasn't Anthony Moretti.”
Mara frowned.
“You just said he was.”
“I said what the records say.”
“Who was my father?”
Anthony smiled.
“Ask Luca.”
Luca looked at the floor.
Mara's voice rose.
“Tell me.”
He closed his eyes.
“I don't remember.”
Anthony laughed.
“That is why you were chosen.”
Mara turned.
“Chosen for what?”
“To inherit the archive.”
Damian suddenly grabbed Anthony from behind.
The two men crashed into the elevator.
Luca pulled Mara back.
Gunfire exploded.
Anthony disappeared into the elevator.
Damian was hit.
He fell.
The doors closed.
Mara ran to him.
“Damian!”
Blood covered his shirt.
He smiled weakly.
“Not dead.”
Luca knelt.
“Where's Evelyn?”
Gone.
Mara looked around.
“She betrayed us.”
Damian shook his head.
“No.”
He handed Mara a key.
“She was taken.”
“By who?”
“Your aunt.”
Mara stared.
“Helen?”
Damian nodded.
“She isn't dead.”
Mara looked toward the security monitors.
A live image appeared.
Helen stood in another room.
Beside her was Evelyn.
And between them sat Rose.
Helen looked directly into the camera.
“Mara.”
Her voice was calm.
“You have ten minutes.”
Mara stepped closer.
“Let my mother go.”
Helen smiled.
“I will.”
“When?”
“When you come alone.”
Luca immediately said:
“No.”
Helen laughed.
“That was expected.”
She leaned toward the camera.
“You want the truth about your father?”
Mara's hands tightened.
“Yes.”
“Come to the basement chapel.”
The screen went black.
Luca shook his head.
“Trap.”
Mara looked at him.
“Everything is a trap.”
“We don't go.”
“My mother is there.”
“And we don't know if she's actually there.”
Mara stared at him.
“You're afraid.”
“I'm cautious.”
“You're afraid.”
Luca's voice softened.
“Yes.”
It surprised her.
“Of what?”
He looked at the elevator.
“Of remembering.”
Mara didn't understand.
Then he whispered:
“When I was sixteen, my father took me into that elevator.”
“What happened?”
“I saw your mother.”
“And?”
“She was holding a baby.”
Mara's heart stopped.
“What baby?”
He looked at her.
“You.”
Silence.
“I remember my father telling me that the baby was mine.”
Mara stared.
“I was a baby.”
“I know.”
“You're saying…”
“I don't know what he meant.”
Anthony's voice echoed from the dark elevator.
“He meant exactly what you think.”
The doors opened.
Anthony held a small black case.
Inside was a blood-stained teddy bear.
Mara recognized it immediately.
Her childhood bear.
The one she had been told was lost during the accident.
Anthony smiled.
“You want your memories?”
He lifted the bear.
“Come get them.”
Then the elevator doors closed again.
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This time, the display showed:
11:47.
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