CHAPTER 15 THE LAST DNA ENVELOPE
The countdown reached zero.
Nothing happened.
For one terrible second, I thought the machine had failed.
Then every light in the underground facility turned white.
A sound like a thousand heartbeats filled the room.
And every person around me collapsed.
Luka dropped first.
Then Daniel.
Then Gabriel.
Then my mother.
Even Victor fell to his knees, gripping his head.
Only I remained standing.
And Amelia.
She was smiling.
The screens flickered.
ARCHIVE RELEASED.
I heard screaming.
Not from the people around me.
From inside my own head.
Memories poured into me.
Not one.
Not ten.
Thousands.
I saw my childhood.
My first birthday.
My mother's hands.
My father's laboratory.
Luka standing outside my bedroom.
Daniel watching me from across a crowded room.
Victoria following me.
Adrian holding me as a baby.
Then everything changed.
I saw myself at seventeen.
I wasn't innocent.
I knew.
I remembered.
I had discovered the archive.
I had discovered what M-17 really was.
It wasn't an immortality project.
It wasn't a cloning program.
It wasn't even about consciousness transfer.
It was a prison.
A prison for memories.
Every person involved in M-17 had placed part of themselves inside the network.
And I had been the only one capable of controlling it.
I remembered the night I confronted Adrian.
We stood inside the original laboratory.
“You lied to me,” I told him.
He smiled.
“I protected you.”
“You turned me into a weapon.”
“You were born as one.”
“I never asked for this.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“But you were the only one who could stop it.”
I remembered picking up a gun.
Adrian didn't move.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
I raised the gun.
But I couldn't pull the trigger.
Instead, I placed the weapon on the floor.
“You're going to help me.”
He laughed.
“You think I have a choice?”
“No.”
I touched the M-17 console.
“I do.”
The memory changed.
I saw myself entering a command.
ARCHIVE LOCK.
Then another:
PRIMARY CONSCIOUSNESS: EMMA HALE.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“What did you do?”
I looked at him.
“I made myself the key.”
Then another memory.
I was pregnant.
Daniel stood beside me.
I showed him the ultrasound.
“Twins.”
He stared.
“They're both healthy?”
“Yes.”
I touched the screen.
“But they're not just babies.”
Daniel looked afraid.
“What are they?”
“The first is the trigger.”
“And the second?”
“The lock.”
“What about you?”
I smiled.
“The archive.”
Daniel grabbed my hand.
“Emma, we can leave.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I run, they'll follow me.”
“And if you stay?”
“They'll follow the babies.”
He stared at me.
“What are you planning?”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“To make them believe they won.”
The memory shifted.
I saw myself talking to Victoria.
“You have to take the second baby.”
Victoria cried.
“What if she dies?”
“She won't.”
“How can you know?”
“Because she isn't supposed to stay with me.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You're asking me to steal your child.”
“I'm asking you to save her.”
Then I remembered Daniel.
I gave him the reset key.
“Tell Luka everything.”
He stared at it.
“And you?”
“I'll forget.”
His face collapsed.
“You can't.”
“I have to.”
“Why?”
“Because they'll search my memories.”
“And if you forget?”
I smiled sadly.
“Then they can't find the plan.”
The final memory appeared.
The hospital.
The moment I gave birth.
Amelia was placed in my arms.
The second baby was taken away.
I looked at Daniel.
He whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
I answered:
“Don't be.”
Then I looked directly at the hidden camera.
And smiled.
Because I knew exactly what would happen next.
The memory ended.
I opened my eyes.
The underground chamber returned.
Everyone was still on the floor.
Luka slowly lifted his head.
“Emma?”
I looked at him.
“I remember.”
He stared.
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
My mother began crying.
“What did you remember?”
I looked at her.
“You saved me.”
She froze.
“You tried.”
“But I failed.”
“No.”
I walked toward her.
“You helped me hide the archive.”
She covered her mouth.
“I thought you forgot.”
“I did.”
“Then how…”
I touched my temple.
“The archive remembered for me.”
My mother started crying harder.
Then I looked at Daniel.
He was kneeling against the wall.
His eyes were full of tears.
“You didn't abandon me.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“You were following the plan.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Victoria was taking the second baby.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Amelia carried the trigger.”
“Yes.”
“And you still left.”
His voice broke.
“I had to.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“I never stopped loving you.”
I didn't answer.
Because there was one question left.
“Why did you sign the father line?”
Daniel looked confused.
“What?”
“The birth certificate.”
He stared at me.
“I didn't.”
I turned toward Luka.
He slowly looked away.
My heart stopped.
“You did.”
Luka said nothing.
“You signed the father line.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the hospital wouldn't release Amelia without a legal father.”
“You could have used Daniel.”
“Daniel was already under investigation.”
I stared at him.
“So you signed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Luka finally looked at me.
“Because I knew the DNA.”
“What DNA?”
He reached into his jacket.
And pulled out an envelope.
Black.
Sealed.
The same envelope I had seen in my memory.
My hands started shaking.
“What is that?”
“The real DNA test.”
“From when?”
“The day Amelia was born.”
I took it.
“Why didn't you show me?”
“Because you weren't ready.”
I opened the envelope.
My eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
MOTHER: EMMA HALE
FATHER: ADRIAN MORETTI
I couldn't breathe.
Daniel closed his eyes.
My mother whispered,
“I'm sorry.”
I looked at the result again.
“Adrian is her biological father.”
“Yes.”
“But how?”
Luka stared at the floor.
“You remember the memory.”
“The one where Adrian was holding my stomach.”
“Yes.”
“That wasn't a memory.”
“No.”
“It really happened.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Daniel.
He nodded.
“You weren't the father.”
“No.”
“Then why did you marry me?”
He looked devastated.
“Because Adrian told me to.”
I stared at him.
“He told you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Because he wanted Amelia born inside the Moretti bloodline.”
I looked at Amelia.
She was asleep in my mother's arms.
Peaceful.
Completely unaware of the nightmare surrounding her.
Then I noticed something.
Her little hand was closed around something.
I gently opened her fingers.
A tiny black key.
My heart stopped.
I looked at Luka.
“Where did she get this?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
I looked toward Adrian's image on the screen.
His face was smiling.
“You do.”
The screen flickered.
Adrian appeared.
“Yes.”
“What is the key?”
“The last piece.”
“Of what?”
“The archive.”
I held it up.
Adrian smiled.
“Open it.”
“Where?”
He looked directly at Amelia.
“Inside her.”
My mother screamed.
“No!”
Adrian continued.
“The archive isn't stored in her memories.”
“Then where?”
“In her DNA.”
I stared at the DNA report.
My blood ran cold.
“The DNA itself is encrypted.”
“Yes.”
“And the key…”
“Unlocks it.”
Luka stepped forward.
“Don't do it.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because once you unlock it, there is no going back.”
“What will happen?”
“Every memory ever stored in M-17 will be released.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone.”
I looked at the hundreds of people around us.
“What happens to them?”
“They remember who they were.”
“And if they remember?”
Luka's voice dropped.
“They'll remember who ordered the experiments.”
I stared at Adrian.
He smiled.
“Exactly.”
Suddenly the underground doors began opening.
Hundreds of people rose.
Their eyes changed.
Their memories were returning.
A woman looked at Gabriel.
“You killed my daughter.”
A man pointed at Nora.
“You experimented on me.”
Another screamed at Victor.
“You erased my family.”
Chaos erupted.
Gabriel tried to escape.
Luka stopped him.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“We have to go.”
“No.”
I looked at the DNA envelope.
“I have one thing left to do.”
“What?”
I looked at Amelia.
“I need to know the truth about her father.”
I opened the encrypted file.
The screen loaded.
Then one final line appeared.
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: ADRIAN MORETTI
GENETIC MATCH: 99.9998%
I stared.
Then another line appeared beneath it.
SECONDARY PATERNITY MATCH: 99.9997%
I frowned.
“What's that?”
Luka looked at the screen.
His face went pale.
“Emma…”
“What?”
He pointed at the second result.
The name beside it wasn't Adrian.
It was:
LUKA MORETTI.
I couldn't breathe.
Luka stepped backward.
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You're Amelia's father too?”
He shook his head.
“I don't understand.”
The system beeped.
Then a third result appeared.
PATERNITY: MULTIPLE MATCHES DETECTED.
I looked at Amelia.
Then Luka.
Then Adrian's face on the screen.
My mother whispered:
“That's impossible.”
Adrian smiled.
“Not impossible.”
The screen changed.
AMELIA MORETTI: GENETIC ORIGIN UNKNOWN.
Then:
WARNING: SUBJECT DOES NOT HAVE A SINGLE BIOLOGICAL FATHER.
My heart stopped.
Adrian spoke one final sentence:
“Emma…”
I looked at the screen.
“You didn't give birth to Amelia.”
“What?”
“You created her.”
The facility shook.
The ceiling began collapsing.
Luka grabbed me.
“RUN!”
I held Amelia against my chest.
Behind us, the M-17 archive began exploding.
May you like
And as we ran toward the surface, every screen in the underground facility displayed the same final message:
THE REAL STORY BEGINS NOW.
