Chapter 9 - The explosion threw everyone to the ground.
I felt Alessandro grab me.
Then darkness.
When I opened my eyes, I was lying inside an abandoned warehouse.
Rain tapped against the broken windows.
My head throbbed.
“Alessandro?”
No answer.
“Liam?”
Nothing.
I tried to sit up.
My wrists were tied.
Panic surged through me.
Then I heard a voice.
“Don't move.”
A flashlight clicked on.
Samuel.
He was sitting against a concrete pillar.
Blood covered one side of his face.
“Where's Alessandro?”
Samuel looked away.
My stomach dropped.
“Where is he?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at him.
“What happened?”
“During the explosion, Lucia took him.”
“No.”
“She had a second team waiting.”
I tried to untie myself.
Samuel moved closer.
“Stop.”
“Why?”
“You'll hurt the baby.”
I froze.
The baby.
My hand went to my stomach.
Then I remembered Lucia's words.
You were created.
They arranged my meeting with Alessandro.
They wanted the child.
“Samuel.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me everything.”
He looked tired.
“Eden began twenty-seven years ago.”
He explained.
A network of wealthy families funded illegal genetic research.
They collected biological data from powerful bloodlines.
They created children whose identities could be erased, rewritten, and inserted into society.
I was one of those children.
My mother had tried to expose them.
Thomas Mercer helped her.
They escaped with me.
For years, they stayed hidden.
Until someone found them.
“Victor?”
“No.”
“Lucia?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Both.”
I swallowed.
“Then why did my parents die?”
“Because Thomas had the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“A ledger.”
“Where is it?”
“Inside the house.”
“The black box?”
Samuel nodded.
“The key you found opens it.”
I pulled against the rope.
“Then let's get it.”
Samuel shook his head.
“It's gone.”
“What?”
“Someone got there before us.”
“Who?”
He looked at the floor.
“Liam.”
I stared at him.
“Liam?”
“He disappeared during the explosion.”
My heart sank.
“No.”
“I'm afraid so.”
I remembered Liam's face.
His jokes.
His loyalty.
Four years of secrets.
Could he really have betrayed me?
Before I could speak, a door opened.
A woman entered.
I knew her.
Detective Rachel Cole.
She had been the officer assigned to my parents' accident four years ago.
My breath caught.
“You.”
She smiled.
“Hello, Elizabeth.”
Samuel reached for his weapon.
Rachel raised hers first.
“Don't.”
She looked at me.
“You've been difficult to find.”
“You worked my parents' case.”
“Yes.”
“You knew they were murdered.”
“Yes.”
My voice cracked.
“Why did you lie?”
“Because Victor paid me.”
I felt numb.
“Then why are you here?”
“To fix one mistake.”
“What mistake?”
She walked toward me.
“I helped cover up your parents' murder.”
She put a photograph on the table.
A hospital record.
My name was on it.
Elizabeth Mercer.
Date of birth.
But the signature beneath it wasn't my father's.
It belonged to Lucia Vitali.
I stared.
“This isn't possible.”
Rachel leaned closer.
“You were born in a Vitali clinic.”
Samuel whispered:
“Rachel…”
She ignored him.
Then she pulled another photograph from her coat.
A newborn baby.
Wrapped in a white blanket.
A hospital bracelet around its wrist.
I stared at the tiny face.
Then at the bracelet.
E-17.
My breath stopped.
“That baby…”
Rachel nodded.
“You.”
I looked up.
“Where was Alessandro born?”
Rachel's eyes hardened.
“Same clinic.”
The warehouse went silent.
I stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
She placed one last photograph on the table.
Two newborn babies.
Side by side.
One bracelet marked E-17.
The other marked V-01.
Rachel whispered:
“You and Alessandro were part of the same experiment.”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
Rachel looked at me.
“That's why Lucia wants the baby.”
“Why?”
“Because if the two bloodlines produce a child…”
She paused.
“It becomes the first successful Eden descendant.”
My blood ran cold.
Then the warehouse lights turned on.
Alessandro was standing at the far end.
Blood on his shirt.
A gun pointed at his head.
Behind him stood Lucia.
She smiled.
“Now you understand.”
May you like
And then she looked directly at my stomach.
“It's time to bring my grandchild home.”
