Chapter 11 - Adrian fired before anyone else could move.Alex vanished behind a steel column.

The bullet struck concrete.

"Alex!"

Adrian's voice contained something I had never heard from him before.

Not anger.

Not fear.

Hatred.

Pure, personal hatred.

Alex laughed.

"You always were emotional."

"Come out."

"Why?"

"I want to see your face."

Alex stepped into the light.

He looked exactly like the man in my memory.

Same scar.

Same eyes.

Older now, but unmistakable.

Leo stared at him.

"Papa."

Adrian moved in front of his son.

"Don't look at him."

Alex smiled.

"Still playing the hero?"

"You died."

"No."

Alex touched his chest.

"I became useful."

Maya whispered,

"Alex built Echo."

Alex looked at her.

"Correction."

He smiled.

"Elena improved it."

My mother.

Again.

Always my mother.

Every path somehow returned to her.

I stepped forward.

"Why me?"

Alex studied me.

"Because your mother trusted you."

"I was twenty-one."

"You were perfect."

"For what?"

"To carry something no machine could steal."

He pointed to my head.

"The final archive."

I shook my head.

"I don't remember anything."

"You remember everything."

"No."

"Your mind simply doesn't know it remembers."

He stepped closer.

"That's why we waited."

Adrian raised his weapon.

"Take another step and I'll kill you."

Alex laughed.

"You've been trying for years."

Adrian fired.

Alex moved.

Bullets struck the wall.

Maya pulled Leo behind a desk.

I ducked.

Then the lights went out.

When they returned, Alex was gone.

So was Hale.

But Chloe was still alive.

Barely.

I ran to her.

She grabbed my wrist.

"Nora."

"I'm here."

"I'm sorry."

"Who hired you?"

"Hale."

"Why?"

She coughed.

"He said your mother had hidden something in the restaurant."

"What?"

"A drive."

My heart raced.

"Where?"

She pointed weakly toward the ceiling.

"The VIP booth."

Adrian heard her.

"The booth?"

She nodded.

"The floor beneath the table."

We returned to Lumina under heavy guard.

The restaurant had been evacuated.

The VIP area looked exactly as it had the night I saved Leo.

Adrian removed the carpet.

Underneath, hidden inside the marble, was a small compartment.

Inside was a black drive.

And a note.

I unfolded it.

My mother's handwriting.

NORA, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, TRUST ADRIAN.

I stared.

The note continued.

I KNOW WHAT I TOLD YOU BEFORE. I HAD TO MAKE YOU DOUBT HIM.

I looked at Adrian.

He said nothing.

I kept reading.

He didn't betray us. He was the one person who tried to stop Echo.

My eyes filled with tears.

Then I reached the final line.

But there is one thing Adrian does not know.

I stopped.

"What?"

Adrian stepped closer.

I read the last sentence.

Leo is not Adrian's biological son.

Silence.

Leo was standing in the doorway.

He heard me.

His dinosaur slipped from his hand.

"Papa?"

Adrian looked like someone had ripped the floor from beneath him.

Maya closed her eyes.

And somewhere inside the building, a phone began ringing.

A voice answered from the other end.

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Alex.

"Now you know the truth."