Chapter 15 - THE SECRET PLACEThe boy stepped forward.
Lily stared at him.
I did too.
He was perhaps eight years old.
Same eyes.
Same dark hair.
Same scar.
“Who is he?” I asked.
Anthony smiled.
“The first.”
My heart stopped.
“No.”
“The original genetic template.”
David, bleeding but alive, leaned against the doorway.
“Daniel…”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Don't trust him.”
Anthony laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
The boy looked at me.
Then smiled.
He knew me.
Not as a stranger.
As a father.
I felt something inside me break.
“Lily,” I whispered.
She grabbed my hand.
“Don't listen.”
The boy spoke.
“You promised me.”
His voice was exactly like Noah's had been.
Exactly like Lily's.
A memory slammed into my mind.
A hospital.
A newborn.
A woman screaming.
My father holding the baby.
And me standing there.
I had been there.
Not once.
But twice.
The machine hadn't erased my memories.
It had buried them beneath other lives.
The boy looked at Lily.
“You forgot me.”
She began crying.
“I remember now.”
Anthony smiled.
“That is the beauty of Lucent.”
Sarah suddenly pulled a hidden blade from her sleeve.
She stabbed the guard beside her.
Then grabbed Anthony's gun.
She fired.
Anthony fell.
Victoria lunged at Sarah.
They crashed into the wall.
I grabbed Lily and ran toward the emergency exit.
“NOAH!”
Noah followed.
David limped behind us.
The facility shook.
Alarms screamed.
A fire had started somewhere below.
We reached the surface as dawn broke over the mountains.
For several seconds, none of us spoke.
Then Lily asked:
“Is it over?”
I looked back at the mountain.
Smoke rose from the entrance.
“I don't know.”
David pulled out his phone.
The internet was exploding.
News reports were appearing everywhere.
Vespera executives arrested.
Government officials missing.
Secret laboratories discovered.
Financial records leaked.
The Lucent network had collapsed.
But there was one problem.
David looked at me.
“Some servers are still online.”
“Where?”
He stared at the screen.
“Greenwich.”
My heart dropped.
“My house.”
We returned that afternoon.
The mansion looked untouched.
The staff had fled.
The police were everywhere.
But Lily kept staring toward the kitchen.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“The secret place is still there.”
We opened the basement door.
Under the kitchen was the hidden room.
Everything was gone.
Except one thing.
A small wooden box.
Inside was a photograph.
Me.
Sarah.
Lily.
Noah.
David.
And another child.
The same boy from the mountain.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
ONE FAMILY. EIGHT LIVES. ONE SECRET PLACE.
I turned the photograph over.
There was another message.
This one was written in Lily's handwriting.
Daddy, there are still seven places left.
I stared at her.
“Lily…”
She looked frightened.
“I don't know why I wrote that.”
A phone began ringing.
Not mine.
Not Sarah's.
An old landline in the basement.
I picked it up.
Silence.
Then a child's voice.
“Daddy?”
My blood froze.
It was Lily.
But Lily was standing beside me.
The voice on the phone continued.
“Don't trust the little boy.”
I looked at the photograph.
My hands started shaking.
The voice whispered:
“He isn't your son.”
I turned toward the basement stairs.
Someone was standing there.
The boy.
Smiling.
He lifted one hand.
And said:
“Welcome back, Daddy.”
The lights went out.
When they came back on, he was gone.
So was Lily.
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And on the basement wall, written in fresh red paint, were five words:
THE REAL SECRET PLACE BEGINS.
