Chapter 11 - The Mother Who Never DiedFor a moment, I thought I had misunderstood.
“My mother?”
Isabella nodded.
“She has been here for years.”
Marcus unlocked the door.
I stepped inside.
A woman sat beside a window.
Older.
Thinner.
Her hair was streaked with gray.
But I knew her face.
My mother.
Her eyes met mine.
“Khloe.”
I couldn't move.
The room disappeared around me.
Every birthday.
Every funeral.
Every night I had cried for the woman I believed was dead.
She stood slowly.
“I wanted to come home.”
I whispered,
“Why didn't you?”
“Because they threatened you.”
“Who?”
She looked toward Evelyn.
Then Adrian stepped from the shadows.
“You don't need to ask.”
Marcus raised his gun.
Adrian smiled.
“Lower it.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies first.”
I screamed.
Marcus hesitated.
Adrian placed a hand on a control panel.
The doors behind us locked.
“The seven children are alive because of me.”
My mother shouted,
“Don't believe him!”
Adrian turned toward her.
“You still refuse to understand.”
She spat,
“You stole my research.”
“And saved thousands.”
“You stole embryos.”
“They were experiments.”
“They were babies.”
Silence.
Adrian's expression hardened.
“You think I'm the monster because I did what your family was too afraid to do.”
I stepped forward.
“What do you want from me?”
“The child.”
“No.”
He looked at Marcus.
“Then I take the records.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Adrian.”
Adrian laughed.
“You never learn.”
He pressed a button.
An alarm sounded.
The entire estate began locking down.
Steel shutters dropped over windows.
Marcus grabbed my hand.
“Stay behind me.”
My mother suddenly shouted,
“Khloe, listen!”
I looked at her.
“Your child was never created here.”
Adrian's face changed.
For the first time, he looked worried.
My mother continued.
“The embryo was natural.”
Adrian moved toward her.
She smiled.
“You thought Daniel created it.”
Daniel looked shocked.
My mother stared at him.
“You only donated material.”
“What?”
She turned to me.
“I carried you.”
I froze.
She pointed toward my stomach.
“And the baby's original embryo came from your own body.”
Adrian suddenly lunged.
Marcus tackled him.
They crashed into the floor.
The gun slid away.
Daniel grabbed Adrian.
Security alarms screamed.
Then the locked nursery door opened.
Police stormed inside.
Adrian was arrested.
But as officers pulled him away, he looked at me.
He smiled.
“You still don't know the worst part.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He laughed.
“The baby you're protecting isn't the reason I chose you.”
Then he looked directly at my mother.
“She is.”
My mother went pale.
Adrian was dragged away.
The room became quiet.
I turned toward my mother.
“What does that mean?”
She couldn't answer.
May you like
Instead, she whispered,
“Because I didn't give birth to you.”
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