Chapter 15 - Vitali Tower rose above Chicago like a blade.
Every floor was lit.
Every entrance guarded.
Every camera active.
Lucia was waiting.
She expected us to come frightened.
Broken.
Desperate.
She was about to learn something else.
I looked at Alessandro.
“You ready?”
He nodded.
“For the record?”
“Yes?”
“I hate every part of this.”
I almost smiled.
“Good.”
We entered through the front doors.
Security guards surrounded us.
Nobody fired.
A message appeared on every screen.
WELCOME HOME, ELIZABETH.
The elevator opened.
We stepped inside.
The doors closed.
Alessandro looked at me.
“Whatever happens…”
“I know.”
“No.”
He took my face in his hands.
“Whatever happens, none of this changes what I feel for you.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“You're my brother.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I don't care what Lucia created.”
He pressed his forehead against mine.
“You are the woman I chose.”
I closed my eyes.
“Then let's end this.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened beneath the tower.
A hidden laboratory stretched beneath the building.
Rows of servers.
Medical equipment.
Glass rooms.
And in the center…
two incubators.
Two babies.
Alive.
My legs almost collapsed.
“My children.”
Lucia stood behind the glass.
“You came.”
I stepped toward her.
“Release them.”
“Give me the key.”
I held up the metal drive.
“What happens if I hand it over?”
“Everyone lives.”
“You're lying.”
“Yes.”
Her honesty stunned me.
She smiled.
“Everyone lies in Eden.”
I looked at the babies.
One was crying.
The other sleeping.
Alessandro stepped beside me.
“How do we know they're ours?”
Lucia looked at him.
“Because they are both carrying your DNA.”
She touched the glass.
“And hers.”
I felt something snap inside me.
“You stole them.”
“I protected them.”
“You kidnapped them.”
“I preserved Eden.”
“You turned my children into experiments.”
Her expression hardened.
“They are not merely children.”
I stared at her.
“They are the future.”
“No.”
I looked at the servers.
“They are the proof.”
Lucia frowned.
“What?”
I smiled.
“The master key doesn't open Eden.”
Her face changed.
“It activates the shutdown.”
Silence.
Samuel appeared behind us.
Then Liam.
Then Rachel.
Eleanor entered last.
Lucia stared at them.
“You.”
Eleanor smiled.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance.”
Lucia's face became pale.
Alessandro stepped toward the main terminal.
He connected the key.
The system activated.
A warning appeared.
AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
DNA CONFIRMATION.
Lucia laughed.
“You need Alessandro.”
He stepped forward.
A scanner activated.
Then another.
DNA MATCH CONFIRMED.
MASTER ACCESS GRANTED.
Lucia lunged toward him.
I blocked her.
She shoved me.
I fell.
My stomach hit the floor.
Pain exploded through my body.
“Emma!”
Alessandro grabbed me.
Lucia ran toward the terminal.
Eleanor tackled her.
They crashed into the glass wall.
The laboratory erupted into chaos.
Servers flashed.
Alarms screamed.
I struggled to stand.
Blood.
There was blood.
“No.”
Alessandro saw it.
“Emma.”
“I’m okay.”
“You're bleeding.”
“I don't care.”
I crawled toward the incubators.
The doors were locked.
Rachel shot the mechanism.
Glass shattered.
She reached inside.
One baby.
Then the second.
She brought them to me.
Two tiny cries.
Two tiny lives.
I held them both.
My children.
Both alive.
Alessandro knelt beside me.
His eyes filled with tears.
“We have them.”
I looked at him.
“We have them.”
Behind us, Lucia screamed.
The entire system began shutting down.
Eden was collapsing.
Every server.
Every file.
Every hidden identity.
Every secret.
Deleted.
Lucia looked at the screen.
“No.”
She ran toward the terminal.
Alessandro stopped her.
“It's over.”
She looked at him.
“You don't understand what you've done.”
He stared.
“I understand exactly.”
She whispered:
“Without Eden, people will die.”
Eleanor answered:
“People will finally be free.”
Lucia looked at me.
Her expression changed.
“You.”
I stood, holding both babies.
“You created me.”
She nodded.
“And I ended you.”
Security doors slammed shut.
Sirens filled the building.
Police stormed the laboratory.
Rachel stepped forward.
“Lucia Vitali, you're under arrest.”
Lucia smiled.
“You think this is the end?”
I stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
She looked at the babies.
“One system.”
She smiled.
“Eden had seven.”
My blood ran cold.
Alessandro's expression hardened.
Lucia was taken away.
Nobody spoke.
Then the main screen flickered one last time.
A message appeared.
PROJECT EDEN: SHUTDOWN FAILURE.
SECONDARY NETWORKS ACTIVE.
LOCATION:
LONDON.
NEW YORK.
ROME.
BUENOS AIRES.
TOKYO.
I looked at Alessandro.
He looked at me.
“This isn't over.”
I held the babies closer.
“No.”
He reached for my hand.
“And now they know who we are.”
I looked at the screen.
At the cities.
At the names.
At the endless web Lucia had built.
Then another message appeared.
Not from Lucia.
Not from Victor.
Not from Eden.
A single sentence.
WELCOME, ELIZABETH MERCER.
WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU.
The room went silent.
I looked down at my children.
Then at Alessandro.
And for the first time in four years, I stopped running.
Because whoever was waiting for me had made one terrible mistake.
They had given me something I never had before.
A reason to fight back.
May you like
And this time, I wasn't alone.
::
