Chapter 14 - The Grave Opens at DawnLiana couldn't breathe.
“What?”
Roman's expression never changed.
“The child you buried was genetically identical.”
Matteo stared.
“Impossible.”
“Not impossible.”
Roman smiled.
“Useful.”
The body had been created through a medical identity program.
A child from the same genetic line.
Same age.
Similar facial structure.
Matching blood type.
The hospital had created enough confusion to fool a grieving mother.
But not enough to survive modern testing.
That was why Roman had panicked.
That was why Bell had disappeared.
That was why the coffin mattered.
Liana looked at Matteo.
“We need to open the grave.”
He nodded.
They returned to the cemetery before sunrise.
Rain fell softly.
The grave was opened.
The coffin was removed.
Liana stood beside it, shaking.
She did not want to see another dead child.
But she needed the truth.
The funeral director had lied.
The hospital had lied.
Roman had lied.
Everyone had lied.
Only the dead could tell them what remained.
The coffin was opened.
Inside was the infant.
The blue shirt.
The bandaged hands.
The tiny face.
Liana covered her mouth.
Matteo examined the remains.
The investigator took tissue samples.
Hours later, the laboratory called.
The answer changed everything.
The child in the coffin was not genetically related to Liana.
Not Matteo.
Not Nico.
Not Samuel.
A stranger.
But there was something else.
A tiny metallic implant had been found beneath the child's skin.
The investigator sent the serial number.
It matched Project Seventeen.
Then they traced it.
One destination.
A private research center.
Northstar.
The same company that had transported Samuel.
Matteo looked at the documents.
“They kept the records.”
Liana nodded.
“And now they know we're coming.”
The phone rang.
Unknown number.
Matteo answered.
“Who is this?”
A man's voice replied.
“Your uncle lied to you.”
“Bell.”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“With the last person you expected.”
“Who?”
A child laughed in the background.
Liana's heart froze.
“Samuel?”
Bell spoke again.
“You want your children.”
“Yes.”
“Then come alone.”
“Where?”
“The hospital.”
Matteo's face darkened.
“St. Vincent?”
“No.”
Bell paused.
“The hospital where your mother was born.”
Liana looked at Matteo.
“What hospital?”
Bell gave the address.
It was an abandoned psychiatric hospital on the opposite side of the city.
A place closed thirty years earlier.
Liana suddenly remembered something.
Her mother had once told her never to go there.
The line went dead.
Matteo looked at her.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“You are not going.”
“They have my children.”
“And I won't let them use you as bait.”
Liana stepped closer.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“I already lost Gabriel once.”
She wiped her tears.
“I'm not losing him again.”
Matteo stared at her.
Then he nodded.
They drove to the abandoned hospital.
The building was empty.
Doors hanging from broken hinges.
Windows shattered.
Dust covering the floors.
The elevator didn't work.
They took the stairs.
On the third floor, they found Bell.
He stood inside a room filled with old medical files.
Samuel was beside him.
Alive.
A terrified child.
Liana ran toward him.
Bell raised a gun.
“Stop.”
She stopped.
Bell looked at Nico.
“Put him down.”
“No.”
“Then Samuel dies.”
Liana's face went white.
Matteo raised his weapon.
Bell smiled.
“You won't shoot.”
“Why?”
“Because behind me are the records you've been looking for.”
He stepped aside.
A wall of files.
Thirty years.
Hundreds of names.
Thousands of pages.
And one file at the center.
Liana's name.
She stepped forward.
The cover read:
LIANA GRAVES
Underneath was a handwritten note.
MOTHER OF THREE.
Liana stared.
Her hands shook.
Then she opened the file.
Inside was a photograph taken before she was born.
Her mother.
Pregnant.
Standing beside Roman.
And Dr. Bell.
Liana turned the page.
A birth record.
Three children.
But the mother's name wasn't Liana's mother.
It was someone else.
The final line read:
CHILDREN TRANSFERRED AT BIRTH.
Liana looked up.
“Bell…”
“Yes?”
“Who am I?”
Bell lowered the gun.
“You're the daughter of the woman who started this.”
Then every light in the hospital came on.
Hundreds of monitors flickered to life.
And a recording began playing.
May you like
Sofia's voice.
“Liana, if you found this file, then I am already dead.”
