CHAPTER 15 The Last Lie
The video continued playing.
No one spoke.
Not Laura.
Not Eduardo.
Not even the man on the screen.
Everyone watched the same image.
Silvana.
Standing in the old Nova Genesis laboratory.
One year before Laura ever met Eduardo.
One year before Daniel was supposed to enter her life.
One year before everything began.
She looked younger.
Confident.
Not the frightened woman Laura had seen in the hospital.
Not the woman who begged for help.
This Silvana looked like someone who knew exactly what she was doing.
She stood beside a table covered with documents.
Then she spoke.
"I know exactly how to make Elena disappear."
Laura felt Eduardo stiffen beside her.
He whispered:
"No..."
She turned toward him.
"You knew?"
His face was pale.
"No."
But his voice betrayed him.
He was surprised.
Terrified.
Not acting.
The video continued.
Silvana looked into the camera.
"Elena is too dangerous."
"She knows the truth."
"She knows about the project."
"She knows about Daniel."
A pause.
Then she smiled.
"But she has one weakness."
The video showed a picture.
Laura.
Not Laura Mendoza.
Elena Vargas.
And a newborn Daniel.
Silvana continued:
"She loves him."
"That's why she will sacrifice everything."
Laura felt tears forming.
Because that part was true.
She had.
She had sacrificed everything.
Her identity.
Her memories.
Her entire life.
The video changed.
Another person entered the room.
A man.
Young.
Laura immediately recognized him.
Eduardo.
But this Eduardo wasn't the man she knew.
This Eduardo looked cold.
Focused.
A professional.
Silvana turned toward him.
"Are you ready?"
Young Eduardo nodded.
"Yes."
Laura stepped backward.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"No..."
Present Eduardo closed his eyes.
"I was supposed to be her handler."
The words were almost impossible to hear.
Laura looked at him.
"Explain."
He didn't.
The video did.
Silvana handed Eduardo a folder.
"Your mission is simple."
"Stay close to her."
"Gain her trust."
"Make her believe she is safe."
Young Eduardo asked:
"And Daniel?"
Silvana smiled.
"The child will lead us to everything."
Laura's stomach twisted.
Everything.
The entire marriage.
The entire relationship.
The entire family.
Started as a mission.
Then the video showed something unexpected.
Young Eduardo hesitated.
He looked at Elena's picture.
"She doesn't know anything."
Silvana nodded.
"That's the point."
"She'll be easier to control without memories."
Eduardo looked uncomfortable.
"And if she remembers?"
Silvana's expression changed.
"Then we erase her again."
The screen froze.
Laura couldn't breathe.
Erase her again.
Not kill her.
Not silence her.
Erase her.
Turn her into someone else.
Again.
She looked at Daniel.
Her son stood quietly beside her.
Too quietly.
"Daniel..."
He looked up.
"Yes, Mom?"
"How long have you known?"
The boy looked at the floor.
"Since I was five."
Everyone went silent.
Laura's heart broke.
"Five?"
Daniel nodded.
"I found Grandpa's files."
"You found them?"
"In the old house."
"What old house?"
Daniel looked at Eduardo.
"The house where you lived before you forgot."
Laura looked at Eduardo.
"What?"
He looked away.
Another secret.
Another hidden room.
Another missing piece.
Suddenly, the main screen changed.
A warning appeared.
SECURITY BREACH DETECTED.
The lights flickered.
Eduardo immediately moved.
"We need to leave."
Laura didn't move.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Laura."
"No."
She pointed at the screen.
"I spent seven years being protected from the truth."
Her voice hardened.
"Not anymore."
A sound echoed through the facility.
Doors locking.
One after another.
They were trapped.
The speakers activated.
A voice filled the room.
Silvana.
"Congratulations, Elena."
Everyone froze.
Laura looked at the screen.
Silvana appeared live.
Not a recording.
She was alive.
And calm.
"You finally found the truth."
Laura stepped closer.
"Where are you?"
Silvana smiled.
"Somewhere you can't reach."
"Why?"
"Because I was tired of waiting."
Laura clenched her fists.
"You destroyed my life."
Silvana looked almost sad.
"No."
"I saved it."
Laura laughed bitterly.
"Saved?"
"You stole my identity."
"You used my son."
Silvana shook her head.
"Your son was never yours alone."
The words cut deep.
Daniel grabbed Laura's hand.
Silvana continued:
"Do you know why Daniel remembers everything?"
Laura frowned.
"What?"
"Because he inherited it."
"Inherited what?"
"Your memory."
Silence.
Even Eduardo looked confused.
Silvana smiled.
"Daniel wasn't just created to survive."
"He was created to remember."
The screen showed another file.
A genetic report.
Daniel's DNA.
Then Laura's.
A connection.
A pattern.
Laura stared.
"What is that?"
Silvana answered:
"The reason everyone has been fighting over him."
Eduardo stepped forward.
"Silvana, stop."
She ignored him.
"Daniel carries the complete genetic map of the Nova Genesis project."
Laura shook her head.
"No."
"Yes."
"He is the only person who can reproduce the research."
"And the only person who can destroy it."
Then Silvana looked directly at Laura.
"But there's something you don't know."
"What?"
Silvana smiled.
"The final stage was never about Daniel."
A pause.
"It was about you."
Laura froze.
"What?"
"You were never the guardian."
"You were the key."
The screen displayed a final document.
PROJECT FINAL SUBJECT: ELENA VARGAS
ACTIVATION REQUIRED
Laura stared.
"What activation?"
Nobody answered.
Then Daniel spoke.
Quietly.
"Mom..."
She looked down.
The boy was crying.
"Don't let them turn you back."
Laura knelt.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel whispered:
"Because the last time you remembered everything..."
A tear rolled down his face.
"...you tried to kill yourself."
The room went silent.
Laura felt the world disappear.
"No."
Daniel looked at her.
"I saw it."
"The night you left me."
A memory exploded inside her mind.
A rooftop.
Rain.
A gun.
Her own voice:
"I can't live with what I did."
Then a small child's voice.
"Mommy!"
Daniel.
Running toward her.
Saving her.
Not the other way around.
Laura collapsed.
Because suddenly she remembered.
Everything.
The reason she erased herself.
The reason Daniel knew.
The reason Eduardo stayed.
The reason everyone was afraid.
She remembered what she had discovered seven years ago.
And why she almost ended her own life.
Because the truth wasn't that she had been used.
The truth was worse.
She had helped create the thing that destroyed them all.
The screen went black.
One final message appeared.
MEMORY RESTORATION COMPLETE.
Then another line:
WELCOME BACK, ELENA.
Laura slowly stood.
Her tears stopped.
Her fear disappeared.
Eduardo looked at her.
He knew.
She had changed.
Not into someone else.
Into herself.
She looked at the screen.
At the hidden facility.
At the secrets.
At the people who had stolen her life.
And whispered:
"Now I remember."
A pause.
May you like
"And now they should be afraid."
END OF CHAPTER 15
