Chapter 15 - THE LAST SECRETI stared at the flash drive.
My name was engraved on it.
Not typed.
Engraved.
“Mabel…”
Flynn looked at me.
I couldn't speak.
Jonathan connected the drive.
The screen turned black.
Then a recording appeared.
My mother.
Young.
Healthy.
Alive.
She was sitting in my father's study.
Behind her stood Marcus.
And beside him was a man I had never seen.
My father.
The date appeared.
Twenty years earlier.
My mother looked directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, Mabel, then the program has failed.”
My blood ran cold.
“What program?”
Her voice continued.
“You were never the subject.”
I stopped breathing.
“You were the creator.”
I stared at the screen.
“That isn't possible.”
The recording continued.
“Your genetic marker was stronger than ours. Your immune response was unlike anything we had seen.”
I shook my head.
“I was six years old.”
My mother spoke softly.
“You survived an experiment no child should have survived.”
Flynn stared at me.
“I didn't know.”
The recording showed another file.
A child's photograph.
Me.
At six years old.
Connected to medical machines.
My mother continued.
“Your father wanted to use you to create a new generation.”
“Your father” meant mine.
Not Flynn's.
I felt sick.
“He believed your blood could cure diseases.”
The screen changed.
A genetic sequence appeared.
“The twins were never the beginning.”
My mother's voice became softer.
“They were the final test.”
I looked at Flynn.
His face was shattered.
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
Then came the final file.
A medical report.
My DNA.
Selina's DNA.
Richard's DNA.
And Flynn's.
The report contained one sentence.
The Vance-Cole bloodline experiment remains viable.
I whispered:
“They're still trying.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Marcus wasn't the mastermind.”
“Then who?”
The video continued.
My father's voice appeared.
“We only need one generation.”
The screen went black.
Then another image appeared.
A hospital nursery.
Two incubators.
And a timestamp.
Today.
My heart stopped.
The twins weren't just alive.
Someone had access to them.
Right now.
We rushed back to the laboratory.
The incubators were empty.
My babies were gone.
Again.
No alarms.
No broken doors.
Nothing.
Only two white blankets remained.
Flynn fell to his knees.
“No…”
I felt something inside me snap.
“Find them.”
Mason looked at the security footage.
“There.”
A woman appeared on screen.
She was walking through the corridor.
Holding one baby in each arm.
The face was blurred.
Jonathan stared.
“No.”
“What?”
“That can't be.”
I looked closer.
The woman turned.
For one second, her face became visible.
My entire body went cold.
It was my mother.
The woman who had supposedly died when I was fifteen.
My mother looked directly into the camera.
Then smiled.
The screen went black.
Flynn turned toward me.
“Mabel…”
I couldn't hear him.
All I could think about were the two babies.
My children.
The only innocent people in this nightmare.
I looked at Jonathan.
“Can you find her?”
“Yes.”
“Then find her.”
He nodded.
And for the first time since Flynn stabbed me, I felt something stronger than grief.
I felt fury.
The kind that doesn't burn out.
The kind that survives.
I looked at Flynn.
He had blood on his shirt.
Tears on his face.
And fear in his eyes.
“We're getting them back,” I said.
He nodded.
“Together?”
I looked at him for a long moment.
“No.”
He froze.
“I'll get them back with or without you.”
Then I walked toward the exit.
Behind me, Flynn whispered my name.
I didn't turn around.
Because I finally understood the truth.
He wasn't the man who had saved me.
He wasn't the man who had destroyed me.
He was simply one piece of the story.
The real monster had been hiding in my family.
And my mother had just taken my children.
I pushed open the doors.
Outside, the rain had started.
My phone vibrated.
One new message.
A photograph.
My twins sleeping peacefully.
And beneath them, twelve words:
YOUR HUSBAND CHOSE SELINA. NOW CHOOSE WHAT YOU'RE WILLING TO BECOME.
I stared at the photograph.
Then typed one sentence.
I'M COMING FOR MY CHILDREN.
The message was sent.
Seconds later, another reply appeared.
GOOD.
Then:
BRING FLYNN.
And finally:
HE HASN'T TOLD YOU WHO HE REALLY IS.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Because somewhere deep inside me, I already knew.
The stabbing.
The twins.
Selina.
Marcus.
My father.
My mother.
None of it had been the end.
It had only been the first layer.
And now I had one question left.
What had Flynn Vance been hiding from me for three years?
I turned back toward the hospital.
The answer was waiting.
May you like
And this time, I wasn't afraid of what I would find.
I was afraid of what I would do when I found it.
