CHAPTER 12 THE NIGHT I WAS BORN
The smell of smoke reached us before we heard the fire.
At first, it was faint.
Then the ceiling above us began to glow orange.
My childhood home was burning.
“Mom?”
My mother was still on her knees.
She looked at me as if she had been waiting twenty years to say the next words.
“I didn't give birth to you.”
I couldn't move.
“What does that mean?”
She wiped her tears.
“It means you're not my biological daughter.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
I backed away.
“You're my mother.”
“I raised you.”
“You held me.”
“Yes.”
“You sang to me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me I was born here.”
“I lied.”
The word cut deeper than any blade.
I looked toward Gabriel.
He was staring at the floor.
“Dad?”
He didn't answer.
“Tell me she's lying.”
He remained silent.
I stepped toward him.
“Tell me.”
Finally, Gabriel looked up.
“She isn't.”
My entire world collapsed.
I looked down at Amelia.
Then at the second baby.
Then at myself.
“Who am I?”
Nobody answered.
The screens flickered.
The mysterious man appeared again.
He was sitting behind a desk.
Calm.
Almost amused.
“That's the question I've been waiting for.”
I stared at him.
“Who are you?”
He smiled.
“My name is Adrian Moretti.”
Gabriel's face turned white.
“You're dead.”
Adrian laughed.
“So was everyone in this room.”
Luka stepped forward.
“Where are you?”
“You don't need to know.”
“Then why are you talking to us?”
“Because Emma deserves the truth.”
My mother whispered,
“No.”
Adrian looked directly at the camera.
“Your mother has lied to you since the day you were born.”
I turned toward her.
“Tell me.”
She shook her head.
“I was afraid.”
“Of him?”
“Of all of them.”
“Then tell me.”
She looked at Gabriel.
Then finally at me.
“You weren't born in this house.”
I frowned.
“Where?”
“At St. Catherine's.”
My stomach dropped.
“The hospital?”
“Yes.”
“The same hospital?”
She nodded.
“The night you were born, there were three babies.”
I looked at the second baby.
“And the third?”
My mother closed her eyes.
“There was no third baby.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“The third wasn't a baby.”
I felt a chill.
“What was it?”
She pointed toward me.
“Your consciousness.”
I stared at her.
“I don't understand.”
“You were born without a consciousness.”
I laughed.
“No.”
“It sounds impossible.”
“It was.”
“What happened?”
My mother looked toward Gabriel.
“He created you.”
My father finally spoke.
“She was designed.”
I turned on him.
“Designed?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
He hesitated.
“To be the perfect host.”
My stomach twisted.
“For your consciousness?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“For yours.”
I didn't understand.
“Whose?”
Gabriel's voice became barely audible.
“Adrian's.”
The screen flickered.
Adrian smiled.
“Finally.”
I stared at the screen.
“You put him inside me?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what?”
“Your father tried.”
Gabriel lowered his head.
“He failed.”
Adrian laughed.
“He always failed.”
Gabriel looked at the screen.
“You were supposed to die.”
“And yet here I am.”
My mother suddenly shouted,
“Adrian, enough!”
He ignored her.
“Emma, you need to know what happened on the night of your birth.”
The screen changed.
A security recording appeared.
A hospital corridor.
Twenty years earlier.
A young Sarah rushed through the hallway.
She was pregnant.
Gabriel followed her.
Then a younger Adrian appeared.
My mother stopped.
The video continued.
A doctor entered the room.
Then screaming.
Then silence.
The screen showed a nurse carrying a newborn.
Me.
But something was wrong.
The baby wasn't crying.
I stared.
“Why wasn't I crying?”
My mother whispered,
“Because you weren't breathing.”
The recording continued.
Doctors tried to revive the baby.
Nothing.
Then Adrian walked into the room.
He held a small metal case.
Gabriel looked horrified.
“No.”
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a device.
The screen went black.
My mother began crying.
“What did he do?”
She whispered,
“He transferred a consciousness into you.”
I stared at her.
“Whose?”
She didn't answer.
Adrian did.
“Mine.”
My blood froze.
The room suddenly became silent.
I looked at myself.
At my hands.
My body.
My reflection in the black screen.
“You're inside me?”
“No.”
Adrian smiled.
“I was.”
“What happened?”
“Your father tried to remove me.”
Gabriel interrupted.
“I succeeded.”
Adrian laughed.
“You removed most of me.”
I felt another headache.
A sharp pulse behind my eyes.
I grabbed my head.
Images appeared.
A man standing in a laboratory.
Adrian.
He was younger.
He placed his hand on my forehead.
Then he whispered:
“Remember me.”
I screamed.
Luka caught me.
“Emma!”
“I remember him.”
My mother stared.
“What?”
“I remember Adrian.”
“How?”
“I was five.”
Another memory appeared.
Adrian sitting beside my bed.
Reading a book.
Telling me stories.
Calling me his little girl.
I looked at my mother.
“He raised me.”
She nodded.
“For five years.”
My heart broke.
“Then why did I forget?”
“Because Gabriel erased him.”
I turned toward my father.
“You erased my memories.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was dangerous.”
Adrian smiled on the screen.
“He was jealous.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“You were manipulating her.”
“I loved her.”
“You used her.”
“I protected her.”
My mother suddenly stepped between them.
“You both used her.”
Silence.
Then she looked at me.
“And I failed her.”
I stared at her.
“Why did you let them?”
“Because I thought I could save you.”
“You didn't.”
“I know.”
The house shook.
A beam crashed somewhere above us.
Smoke poured down the corridor.
Luka looked around.
“We have to leave.”
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“Not yet.”
He looked at me.
“Emma.”
“I need the truth.”
“You'll die if we stay.”
“I've spent my entire life dying in pieces.”
My voice shook.
“I want the whole truth.”
Luka went silent.
My mother nodded.
“You deserve it.”
She looked at the screen.
“Adrian, show her.”
The screen changed.
A video appeared.
A laboratory.
Three chambers.
Inside the first was a newborn.
Me.
Inside the second was another newborn.
Amelia.
Inside the third was a glass chamber containing nothing.
A doctor stood beside it.
He spoke:
“Subject One: biological host.”
“Subject Two: genetic duplicate.”
“Subject Three: consciousness reservoir.”
My stomach twisted.
Then the doctor continued.
“Subject Three cannot be contained in an external body.”
I stared.
“Why?”
My mother answered.
“Because the third consciousness had to live inside the original host.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
The video continued.
The doctor spoke:
“Once Subject One reaches reproductive maturity, Subject Two will trigger the dormant consciousness.”
I looked at Amelia.
“She triggered it.”
My mother nodded.
“But something went wrong.”
“What?”
“Your daughter wasn't supposed to inherit the consciousness.”
I looked toward the second baby.
“Then who was?”
My mother pointed toward her.
“The second child.”
I froze.
“But Amelia has it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
My mother looked at me.
“Because Amelia chose you.”
I didn't understand.
“She chose me?”
“She rejected the consciousness.”
My mother looked toward the second baby.
“And transferred it into her twin.”
The room went silent.
I stared at the second newborn.
Her eyes opened.
She looked directly at me.
Then she smiled.
The black mark behind her ear began glowing.
17.
Adrian's voice came through the speakers.
“She is the vessel.”
Gabriel whispered,
“No.”
Adrian continued.
“And Emma is the key.”
I looked at him.
“Key to what?”
He smiled.
“To opening the original archive.”
“What archive?”
“The part of your mind your father could never erase.”
My mother suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Emma, we have to go.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian isn't trying to kill you.”
I stared at the screen.
“Then what does he want?”
She looked terrified.
“He wants you to remember everything.”
“Why?”
“Because once you remember…”
She swallowed.
“…you'll remember where you hid the archive.”
I stared at her.
“I hid it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She looked at my daughter.
“Inside Amelia.”
My blood froze.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“The memories are inside her?”
“Not memories.”
My mother whispered:
“A message.”
“What message?”
She looked at the burning ceiling.
“A message from you…”
“…to yourself.”
Suddenly Amelia lifted her head.
Her eyes became completely still.
She looked directly at me.
Then she spoke.
Not in a baby's voice.
Not in my father's.
In my own voice.
“Mommy, I remember.”
I stepped closer.
“What do you remember?”
She smiled.
“The night you killed Adrian.”
The room went silent.
I stared at the screen.
Adrian was no longer smiling.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
My mother whispered,
“That's impossible.”
Amelia continued.
“You didn't kill him, Mommy.”
She looked toward Gabriel.
“Daddy did.”
Gabriel stumbled backward.
“No.”
Amelia smiled.
“And then Daddy killed himself.”
I stared at my father.
He was trembling.
“That isn't true.”
Amelia turned toward him.
“You remember.”
Gabriel's face went blank.
Then he dropped to his knees.
Because suddenly he remembered too.
He looked at me.
And whispered:
“Emma…”
“What?”
“I wasn't your father.”
I froze.
He raised his head.
“I was your first victim.”
The floor beneath us suddenly cracked.
The house groaned.
And from beneath the basement came a deep mechanical sound.
Adrian's voice returned.
“Time to open the archive.”
The wall behind us split apart.
A hidden elevator rose from the darkness.
Its doors opened.
Inside stood three people.
Luka.
Daniel.
And a third man.
A man with my face.
But this time, he wasn't smiling.
He was holding a gun.
And he pointed it directly at Amelia.
May you like
“Give me the baby,” he said.
“Or I'll tell her who you really are.”
