Chapter 6 - I couldn't breathe.
The man in the doorway had my father's eyes.
Same gray eyes.
Same scar near his chin.
Same crooked left shoulder.
Every detail was wrong and right at the same time.
“Dad?”
His expression cracked.
For one second, he looked like the man who had taught me how to ride a bicycle.
Then his face went cold.
“Elizabeth.”
I stumbled backward.
Liam raised his weapon.
Alessandro stepped in front of me.
“Who are you?”
The man looked at Alessandro.
“You're Victor Vitali's son.”
“I asked who you are.”
The man smiled.
“That depends on which version of the truth you believe.”
I whispered, “Are you my father?”
He looked at me.
“No.”
The word destroyed me.
“Then who are you?”
“Someone who knew him.”
“Why do you look like him?”
“Because Victor was very good at creating problems.”
Alessandro's gun rose.
“Start talking.”
The man glanced at the USB.
“Your father discovered Project Eden.”
“What is Project Eden?”
“The reason you're alive.”
A noise came from upstairs.
The man's face changed.
“They're here.”
Alessandro turned.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Gunshots exploded outside.
The front windows shattered.
Alessandro shoved me behind the desk.
Liam fired toward the hallway.
The stranger grabbed the black box.
“Come.”
“I'm not going anywhere.”
“You want answers?”
“Yes.”
“Then live long enough to hear them.”
We ran through a hidden doorway behind the bookshelves.
I had lived in that house for eighteen years.
I never knew the passage existed.
It led beneath the house.
The stranger pulled a chain.
A steel door closed behind us.
Gunfire thundered overhead.
We descended into darkness.
“Where does this go?”
“Under the river.”
“What?”
“The original Mercer property connected to an old service tunnel.”
I stared at him.
“How do you know my house?”
“Because I helped build it.”
“And you knew my father?”
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
He stopped.
“My name is Samuel Reed.”
“Why do you look like him?”
He looked at me.
“Because I was born his twin.”
Silence.
Liam cursed.
“You're saying…”
“Your father was my brother.”
I felt dizzy.
“My father had a twin?”
“He wasn't supposed to exist.”
I shook my head.
“This is insane.”
Samuel's voice was quiet.
“Four years ago, your father discovered that Victor Sloane was laundering money through a network called Eden.”
“What was Eden?”
“Children.”
My stomach turned.
Samuel continued.
“Not kidnapped children.”
“Then what?”
“Children created, monitored, and raised under false identities.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“Why?”
“To make people disappear.”
Samuel looked at me.
“Elizabeth was one of them.”
The tunnel seemed to tilt.
“No.”
“Your real parents were not Thomas and Margaret Mercer.”
I swallowed.
“Then who?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Your mother was Margaret.”
“Then my father?”
“Not Thomas.”
He looked at Alessandro.
“Victor Vitali.”
My blood froze.
Alessandro went completely still.
“No.”
Samuel nodded.
“Your father had an affair with Margaret Mercer before he married his wife.”
I looked at Alessandro.
He looked horrified.
“My father…”
Samuel continued.
“Victor Sloane found out.”
“He used me?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To control both families.”
I looked down at my stomach.
“What does that make my baby?”
Samuel's eyes narrowed.
“The heir to two bloodlines.”
Alessandro's face hardened.
“No one touches her.”
Samuel shook his head.
“You still don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“Project Eden wasn't about Elizabeth.”
Samuel looked directly at me.
“It was about the child she would eventually have.”
Silence.
My heart stopped.
“But how could they know?”
“They didn't.”
He took a breath.
“They predicted it.”
Liam laughed bitterly.
“That's impossible.”
Samuel pulled a file from his coat.
Inside were pages of medical reports.
My name.
My DNA.
A projected family tree.
And a date.
I stared at the final page.
The date was the day my baby was due.
“What is this?”
Samuel's face had gone pale.
“Your father believed the child would expose Eden.”
“How?”
“Because one person designed Eden.”
“Who?”
Samuel looked at Alessandro.
Then back at me.
“Your mother.”
I couldn't move.
“That woman we saw…”
“She's not your mother.”
“What?”
“Your real mother died four years ago.”
I felt something cold crawl up my spine.
“Then who was the woman at the hotel?”
Samuel opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, a voice came through the tunnel speakers.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Familiar.
“Elizabeth?”
I froze.
The voice continued.
“You've been looking for me.”
Samuel whispered:
“That's her.”
“Who?”
“The woman who started Eden.”
The speaker crackled.
Then the woman said:
“My daughter.”
I dropped the file.
Because I knew the voice.
It was the same voice that had called me earlier.
And then Alessandro whispered the name.
May you like
“Lucia Vitali.”
My mother-in-law.
