Chapter 14 - “What?”
My voice cracked.
The woman kept driving.
“One baby is still inside you.”
I couldn't breathe.
“The other?”
She looked at me through the mirror.
“Gone.”
“No.”
Alessandro grabbed my hand.
“Stop the car.”
She didn't.
“Stop!”
She finally braked.
He turned to me.
“Look at me.”
I couldn't.
“Emma.”
“I would know.”
“You didn't know you were pregnant until this morning.”
“I would know if…”
My voice broke.
The woman handed me a medical report.
Ultrasound.
Six weeks.
Two embryos.
One had stopped developing.
But the second page showed something different.
At nine weeks?
The dates didn't make sense.
“This was taken yesterday.”
I stared.
There were two heartbeats.
Then another scan.
Only one.
One heartbeat had vanished.
My hands shook.
“Who took it?”
“The Eden doctors.”
“When?”
“The night you were at the Obsidian.”
My blood froze.
I looked at Alessandro.
“That night?”
He nodded slowly.
“I was unconscious for hours after we…”
He stopped.
I whispered:
“They took one.”
The woman nodded.
“While you slept.”
Alessandro's face became murderous.
“Where is it?”
“We don't know.”
“Who has it?”
“Lucia.”
I closed my eyes.
The pieces fit.
Lucia didn't just want my baby.
She already had part of it.
“She'll use it against us.”
“Yes.”
“Then we find it.”
The woman shook her head.
“You need to understand something.”
“What?”
“She didn't take the child to raise it.”
“Then why?”
The woman's voice dropped.
“To complete Eden.”
We arrived at an old farmhouse outside the city.
Eleanor Mercer was waiting.
She was sitting beside a fireplace.
Older.
Thin.
But sharp-eyed.
When she saw me, tears filled her eyes.
“My God.”
I stepped inside.
“You know me.”
“I created you.”
The words hit me like a wall.
“You were part of Eden.”
“I was the first.”
She looked at Alessandro.
“And you.”
He stayed silent.
“Your father never told you.”
“Told me what?”
“That your parents were never in control.”
She looked at me.
“Lucia wanted a child with the strongest possible genetic resistance.”
“Why?”
“To create a human access key.”
“A key for what?”
“The Eden network.”
She pointed at Alessandro.
“His DNA activates the system.”
Then at me.
“My DNA stabilized it.”
“And the baby?”
She smiled sadly.
“The baby can inherit both.”
I felt sick.
Eleanor continued.
“But there was something Lucia never predicted.”
“What?”
“You would love him.”
She looked at Alessandro.
“And he would love you.”
Silence.
“She built the entire system assuming humans could be controlled.”
Eleanor laughed softly.
“That was her mistake.”
A siren sounded outside.
Eleanor stood.
“They found us.”
Alessandro moved toward the window.
“Cars.”
“How many?”
“Six.”
Eleanor handed me a small metal drive.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“The master key.”
“To Eden?”
“To everything.”
I held it.
“What do I do with it?”
“Upload it to the central network.”
“Where?”
“Vitali Tower.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“My company headquarters?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucia keeps the master server beneath the building.”
I stared.
“She hid it in the center of her son's company?”
“She didn't hide it.”
Eleanor's expression hardened.
“She built the company around it.”
Gunfire shattered the windows.
Alessandro pulled me down.
Liam returned fire.
Rachel grabbed Eleanor.
“Back entrance!”
We ran.
Outside, headlights flooded the field.
Guards surrounded the house.
Then a voice came from the loudspeaker.
Lucia.
“Elizabeth!”
I stopped.
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“I do.”
“You cannot control Eden.”
“Maybe not.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“But I can destroy it.”
Lucia laughed.
“Then your surviving child dies.”
I froze.
“Where is my baby?”
“The first one?”
“Yes.”
“You'll see him soon.”
“Her?”
Lucia paused.
“Your son.”
My heart shattered.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
A screen appeared on the side of an SUV.
A newborn baby.
Tiny.
Alive.
A hospital bracelet marked E-17B.
I screamed.
“My baby!”
Alessandro grabbed my shoulders.
“Don't go.”
Lucia smiled from the screen.
“One hour.”
“One hour for what?”
“To bring me the master key.”
“And if I don't?”
The screen changed.
Another image appeared.
A room.
A medical table.
A second infant.
Strapped beneath bright lights.
The baby began crying.
My baby.
Lucia whispered:
“Choose which one survives.”
The screen went black.
I looked at Alessandro.
Tears filled my eyes.
“We're getting them both.”
He nodded.
“How?”
I looked down at the master key.
Then I realized something.
Lucia had made one mistake.
She had shown me where the babies were.
And now I knew exactly where to go.
“Vitali Tower.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“You sure?”
I wiped my tears.
“Yes.”
“We're walking into her trap.”
I stared at the tower in the distance.
“No.”
May you like
I tightened my grip on the key.
“We're walking into mine.”
