Chapter 7: The Truth Hidden Inside My Memory
The voice on the phone belonged to a ghost.
A man who had been dead for twenty years.
A man who somehow knew everything about me.
My hands tightened around the phone.
Everyone in the room watched me.
Detective Hayes.
Rachel.
Even Vince.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody wanted to interrupt.
Because they knew.
This was the moment we had been chasing.
The moment when the person hiding behind every secret finally stepped into the light.
"Where are you?" I asked.
A quiet laugh came through the speaker.
"You still think location matters."
My eyes narrowed.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you are still thinking like your father."
I felt anger rising.
"Don't talk about my father."
"Why?"
His voice remained calm.
"Because he failed you?"
The words struck harder than I expected.
William continued.
"Richard was a weak man."
"He loved his family more than his purpose."
"That was his mistake."
I looked at the phone.
"You destroyed my life."
"No."
His answer came instantly.
"I revealed your true nature."
I hated how calm he sounded.
Like everything was logical.
Like destroying someone was just another business decision.
"You experimented on me."
"Yes."
The honesty shocked me.
No denial.
No excuses.
Just acceptance.
"Why?"
A pause.
Then he answered.
"Because I wanted to know if pain could create something stronger."
My jaw tightened.
"I'm not your experiment."
"Everyone is an experiment, Ethan."
"Every person is shaped by pressure."
"Every person becomes something because of what they survive."
I looked at my wheelchair.
For three years, I had wondered why me.
Why did this happen?
Why did my life become this nightmare?
Now I had the answer.
Because someone wanted to see what would happen if they broke me.
But there was one thing William didn't understand.
He broke my body.
He broke my trust.
He broke my world.
But he didn't break my need for the truth.
"What do you want?"
The line went silent.
Then William said:
"I want to finish the experiment."
Everyone in the room froze.
"What experiment?"
"The final stage."
My heart started beating faster.
"What final stage?"
"You have recovered."
I looked at my legs.
My secret.
The movement I had hidden.
William knew.
"You knew?"
"I always knew."
The answer terrified me.
"Then why let me pretend?"
"Because pretending taught me more than walking."
"What?"
"Your mind."
His voice became almost curious.
"You spent years believing you were powerless."
"But you adapted."
"You created strategies."
"You manipulated the people around you."
"You became patient."
A pause.
"You became exactly what I wanted."
I felt sick.
"You wanted me to become like you."
"No."
His voice became colder.
"I wanted to know if someone could become powerful without becoming cruel."
The room went silent.
For a moment...
Just a moment...
I wondered.
Was he trying to justify himself?
Was he trying to convince me he was not a monster?
Then I remembered.
A monster who explains itself is still a monster.
"You don't get to talk about morality."
William laughed softly.
"Still emotional."
"Still human."
"That's your greatest weakness."
"No."
I looked at the phone.
"That's your mistake."
A pause.
"Explain."
"You're so obsessed with controlling people that you forgot something."
"What?"
"People aren't machines."
"Pain doesn't always create obedience."
"Sometimes it creates resistance."
For the first time, William didn't respond immediately.
That silence told me something.
I had finally said something he didn't expect.
Then he spoke.
"You sound like your father."
I felt my expression change.
"What does that mean?"
"Richard said the same thing."
A pause.
"He believed love was stronger than control."
"Was he right?"
I didn't answer.
Because I knew where this was going.
William continued.
"Your father tried to expose me."
"He discovered what Novacore really was."
"He discovered Project Phoenix."
"And he tried to destroy everything."
"Then why did you let him live?"
A strange silence followed.
Then William said:
"I didn't."
My blood turned cold.
"What?"
"Your father did not die in an accident."
Nobody moved.
Not even Vince.
William continued.
"Richard tried to take evidence."
"He tried to disappear."
"So I helped him disappear."
I closed my eyes.
Another lie.
Another fake story.
Another "accident."
"My mother..."
"Your mother chose survival."
I looked at Rachel.
She looked away.
"She made a deal."
"What deal?"
"Her life."
My chest tightened.
"And mine?"
"No."
William's voice became quiet.
"Your mother saved you."
That surprised me.
"She did?"
"Yes."
"Then why did she work with you?"
"Because she believed she could control the monster she created."
A bitter laugh.
"She was wrong."
I looked at Vince.
For years, I thought my family was a collection of enemies.
But maybe they were all trapped in the same nightmare.
The difference was...
Some of them chose to stay.
Others tried to escape.
"Where is my mother?"
William didn't answer.
That was the first time.
The first time he hesitated.
"Ethan."
His voice changed.
Slightly.
"Some truths are dangerous."
"Answer me."
A long pause.
"She is closer than you think."
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Then immediately it rang again.
Not William this time.
Another number.
Detective Hayes answered his own phone.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then looked at me.
"Ethan."
"What?"
"We found Evelyn Carter."
My heart stopped.
"Where?"
Hayes hesitated.
"At the hospital."
"What hospital?"
"The same hospital where you woke up after the crash."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Why is she there?"
Hayes looked at the report.
"Because she was admitted three years ago."
I frowned.
"Three years ago?"
He nodded.
"Same day as your accident."
I felt confused.
"My mother was there?"
"No."
He looked at Rachel.
"She was brought in after the crash."
"Then why didn't anyone tell me?"
Nobody answered.
Because the answer was obvious.
Someone had hidden it.
"Where is she now?"
Hayes looked down.
"She died."
The room went silent.
"What?"
"She died three days ago."
My mind struggled to understand.
My mother had been alive.
She had been watching.
She had been involved.
And now she was dead.
"How?"
Hayes handed me the report.
I read the words.
Cause of death:
Unknown.
But beneath that...
There was one handwritten note.
A note from the doctor.
My hands trembled.
Because I recognized the handwriting.
It was my grandfather's.
Only one sentence was written:
"Tell Ethan the truth before he finds it himself."
I looked up.
"Why would William leave this?"
Rachel suddenly stood up.
Her face was filled with fear.
"Because he wants you to go there."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"This isn't a message."
"It's a trap."
The lights in the warehouse suddenly flickered.
Everyone turned.
A small sound came from the hallway.
A phone vibrating.
Detective Hayes moved toward it.
He picked it up.
Then his face changed.
"What?"
I watched him.
"Who is it?"
He slowly turned the screen toward me.
A video was playing.
A live video.
From inside the hospital.
The camera showed a room.
A hospital bed.
A woman lying there.
My mother.
But she wasn't dead.
She opened her eyes.
Looked directly into the camera.
And whispered:
"Ethan..."
The video distorted.
Then her voice came through the speaker.
"Don't trust William."
A pause.
"Don't trust Vince."
Another pause.
Then she said the words that destroyed everything I thought I knew.
"Your accident was not the beginning of the experiment."
"It was the second one."
The screen went black.
And beneath the darkness appeared a message:
PROJECT PHOENIX: SUBJECT ZERO
My name was underneath.
Not Ethan Carter.
Something else.
Something I had never seen before.
A designation.
Subject Zero.
And suddenly...
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I realized the biggest secret wasn't what they had done to me.
It was why they had chosen me.
