Chapter 14 - The woman called herself Dr. Victoria Vale.Grace recognized the name immediately.
“My grandmother.”
I stared at Grace.
“What?”
Victoria smiled.
“She was never told the truth.”
Victoria had founded Project Lazarus alongside my grandfather.
Her goal was not immortality.
It was control.
She believed a perfect bloodline could dominate governments.
Money.
Weapons.
Everything.
My mother had eventually rebelled against her.
My father tried to destroy the project.
Adrian wanted revenge.
And Grace had unknowingly inherited the missing genetic sequence.
Victoria wanted our son because he completed the project.
But there was one thing she didn't know.
The baby wasn't simply a genetic carrier.
He was the first child born naturally with the complete sequence.
No laboratory.
No implantation.
No modification.
Natural inheritance.
He represented proof that the experiment could continue without them.
Victoria extended her hand.
“Give me the child.”
I stepped in front of Grace.
“No.”
“You don't understand what you're protecting.”
“I understand enough.”
“You were created to lead.”
“I choose not to.”
She smiled.
“That choice is why you're dangerous.”
Her soldiers raised their weapons.
Adrian stepped forward.
“So did you come for us?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I came because of him.”
She pointed at me.
“Luca is the only subject who survived long-term without degeneration.”
My blood ran cold.
That explained why my health records had been so carefully monitored.
Why doctors had always asked strange questions.
Why my father had watched me as though every heartbeat mattered.
Victoria continued.
“Your body stabilized the mutation naturally.”
She looked at the baby.
“Your son inherited that stability.”
Grace stepped closer.
“What happens if she takes him?”
Victoria didn't answer.
That silence was enough.
I drew my gun.
“Everyone lower your weapons.”
Nobody listened.
Victoria raised one hand.
A sniper laser appeared on my chest.
Then another.
Then another.
Adrian whispered:
“We can't fight this.”
I looked at him.
“Then we don't.”
He stared.
I lowered my weapon.
Victoria smiled.
“Good.”
I handed the baby to Grace.
Then I walked forward.
“Take me.”
Grace grabbed my arm.
“No.”
I whispered:
“Trust me.”
Victoria watched.
“You're surrendering?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I smiled.
“Because you came for the last Lazarus subject.”
She nodded.
I pointed toward Adrian.
“You forgot the other one.”
Victoria looked at him.
Adrian suddenly raised his hands.
The symbol on his wrist began glowing under the moonlight.
Victoria's expression changed.
“What did you do?”
Adrian smiled.
“I stopped taking your medication.”
His veins had turned completely black.
Victoria stepped backward.
“What did you inject?”
“Nothing.”
He looked at me.
“Luca was right.”
I frowned.
“About what?”
Adrian smiled.
“We aren't weapons.”
Then the soldiers started collapsing.
One by one.
Their nervous systems shut down.
Victoria stared in horror.
“How?”
Adrian pointed at the mark on his wrist.
“The mutation.”
I understood.
His condition wasn't failure.
It was adaptation.
He could disrupt the same neural pathway used in the experiments.
And I had inherited the stable version.
Together, we could neutralize the project.
Victoria reached for a weapon.
Grace fired first.
Victoria fell.
The remaining soldiers fled.
Silence returned.
For the first time, nobody was chasing us.
Nobody was ordering us.
Nobody was trying to take the baby.
The sun began rising.
Grace leaned against me.
“We're free.”
I looked toward the ruins of the estate.
“No.”
She frowned.
I pulled a small device from my pocket.
A tracking signal flashed.
Victoria had been too easy to defeat.
I looked at the coordinates.
They were coming from underneath us.
From the collapsed estate.
A buried transmitter was still active.
Adrian checked the signal.
His face went pale.
“What?”
He pointed to the screen.
“There's another subject.”
“Who?”
Adrian whispered:
“Subject L-18.”
I stared.
“Where?”
He looked at Grace.
May you like
Then at the baby.
“Inside the nursery.”
