Chapter 13 - The Last Varric SecretMatteo forced open the basement door.
His guards were already moving.
The estate had been breached.
Again.
This time, the attackers were not strangers.
They wore Varric security uniforms.
Liana stared.
“Your men.”
Matteo's face hardened.
“They're not mine.”
The gunfire moved closer.
He pulled Liana behind a concrete pillar.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“You have Nico.”
“You have Samuel.”
Matteo looked at her.
For the first time, they fought on the same side for the same reason.
They moved through the basement.
Samuel was found inside a medical storage room.
He was hiding beneath a table.
Liana ran toward him.
He clung to her.
“Don't let them take me.”
“I won't.”
He looked at Matteo.
“They're coming.”
“Who?”
Samuel pointed upward.
“Your uncle.”
Matteo froze.
“My uncle died fifteen years ago.”
Samuel shook his head.
“He came yesterday.”
Matteo's face changed.
The family tree he had buried for years suddenly opened like a trapdoor.
His uncle, Roman Varric, had not died.
He had disappeared.
Everyone believed he had been killed overseas.
Instead, he had built the network behind Project Seventeen.
The attacks.
The hospital.
The stolen identities.
The money.
All of it.
Matteo stared at Samuel.
“Where is he?”
Samuel pointed toward the old service elevator.
“Upstairs.”
They moved.
Roman was waiting in the ballroom.
He stood beneath the chandelier.
Older.
Silver-haired.
Smiling.
Matteo entered with his gun raised.
“Roman.”
The older man smiled.
“Matteo.”
Liana stepped beside him.
Roman looked at her.
“So you're the mother.”
Liana's voice was cold.
“You stole my children.”
Roman laughed softly.
“Steal?”
He shook his head.
“That's such an emotional word.”
Matteo tightened his grip.
“Where is Bell?”
“Gone.”
“And the hospital?”
“Closed.”
“And the others?”
Roman's smile disappeared.
“Dead.”
Liana stared.
“How many?”
Roman looked at her.
“Twenty-three.”
The answer was almost casual.
Liana felt sick.
Matteo stepped forward.
“You killed children.”
“No.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“We created identities.”
“You murdered them.”
“We prevented chaos.”
Matteo's voice rose.
“You ruined my family.”
Roman looked at Nico.
“No.”
He smiled.
“I gave you a family.”
Liana held Nico closer.
“You gave him a lie.”
Roman looked directly at her.
“Didn't anyone tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Roman's eyes moved between Liana and Matteo.
“Nico wasn't supposed to survive.”
Silence.
“He was the third sample.”
Liana frowned.
“Sample?”
Roman continued.
“The children weren't valuable because of their genes alone.”
“Then why?”
Roman smiled.
“Because their genetic pattern was inherited from someone in your family.”
Matteo's face changed.
“Who?”
Roman looked at Liana.
“Your mother.”
Liana froze.
“My mother?”
Roman nodded.
“Your mother was one of the first test subjects.”
Liana felt her blood run cold.
“That is impossible.”
Roman pulled a photograph from his pocket.
A young woman.
Liana recognized her.
Her mother.
Standing in the same hospital.
Thirty years earlier.
Roman whispered,
“She wasn't your biological mother.”
Liana stared at him.
The world went silent.
“What did you say?”
Roman smiled.
“Your mother was another stolen child.”
Matteo stepped forward.
Roman didn't move.
“You were never supposed to find that out.”
Liana felt tears run down her face.
Then Nico began crying.
Roman looked at the baby.
“That's why he recognized you.”
Liana looked at Nico.
“What?”
“He carries your mother's blood.”
Roman smiled again.
“But there is one thing you still don't know.”
“What?”
Roman leaned forward.
“The baby you buried twenty-two days ago…”
He paused.
“…wasn't Gabriel.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Roman shook his head.
“You still don't understand.”
Liana's face went white.
May you like
Roman whispered,
“It was Nico.”
