Chapter 7 - THE WRONG CHILDThe DNA File That Changed EverythingThe steel door opened.
Behind it was a laboratory.
Not an old room.
A fully equipped medical facility.
Monitors.
Refrigerated storage.
Genetic testing equipment.
Folders stacked along the walls.
Sylvester walked slowly inside.
His wife recognized the place.
"I thought it was destroyed."
"What is this?"
"The original research center."
"Whose research?"
She looked toward the children.
"Their research."
Noah backed away.
"My research?"
"The twins."
Anna whispered:
"What did they do to us?"
A monitor suddenly activated.
A message appeared.
GENETIC VERIFICATION REQUIRED.
Two handprints appeared on the screen.
Noah hesitated.
Anna looked at him.
Then both placed their hands against the scanner.
The system processed their fingerprints.
Then their DNA samples.
A red warning appeared.
IDENTITY CONFLICT.
Sylvester frowned.
"What's that?"
His wife stared.
"Run it again."
They did.
Same result.
Then the system printed two reports.
Sylvester opened Noah's.
Biological father:
SYLVESTER STALLONE.
Biological mother:
UNCONFIRMED.
Anna's report was different.
Biological father:
UNCONFIRMED.
Biological mother:
UNCONFIRMED.
Sylvester's expression changed.
"Someone altered the database."
His wife shook her head.
"No."
"Then?"
She whispered:
"One of the twins was genetically modified."
Noah looked terrified.
"What does that mean?"
Before she could answer, another screen activated.
A video began playing.
Victor Kane appeared.
"Congratulations."
Sylvester stepped toward the monitor.
"You've reached the truth."
Victor smiled.
"You always believed the twins were identical because that is what you were told."
He paused.
"They were not."
Images appeared.
Embryonic records.
Hospital scans.
Medical diagrams.
A research file.
The title:
PROJECT MIRROR.
Victor continued.
"One child was born naturally."
The screen displayed Noah.
"The other was altered using experimental genetic procedures."
Anna stared at her own image.
Sylvester looked at his wife.
"You allowed this?"
"No."
"I didn't know."
"I was unconscious after childbirth."
Victor laughed.
"Exactly."
A folder appeared.
"Your wife gave birth to twins."
"Victor's people took the second child immediately."
Sylvester clenched his fists.
"Why?"
"Because they needed a biological match."
"For what?"
Victor leaned closer to the camera.
"To create a replacement heir."
Silence.
Victor continued.
"The trust required biological descendants to activate certain rights."
"The altered child was created to confuse the inheritance process."
Sylvester stared.
"You're saying Anna was a decoy?"
"No."
Victor smiled.
"Anna was the key."
The laboratory door suddenly locked.
Red lights flashed.
A countdown appeared.
10:00
Anna looked around.
"What's happening?"
The voice system announced:
"Sterilization sequence initiated."
Sylvester slammed his hands against the door.
"Open this!"
The clock dropped.
09:34
His wife ran to a control panel.
"I can stop it."
"How?"
"I need the master key."
Sylvester handed her the silver key.
She inserted it.
Nothing.
She tried again.
The system rejected it.
Then Noah noticed a second slot.
"Try this."
He held up the broken photograph.
A tiny metal pin was hidden inside the frame.
His mother stared.
"That's not a frame."
"What?"
"It's a biometric key."
She pressed it against the scanner.
The door opened.
Everyone rushed out.
Behind them, machines activated.
The laboratory began burning.
They reached the main chamber.
A steel cabinet exploded open.
Inside was one final file.
Sylvester grabbed it.
The cover read:
ORIGINAL BIRTH RECORDS.
He opened the first page.
Noah's name.
Then Anna's.
Then a handwritten note.
THE CHILD CALLED ANNA IS NOT THE SECOND TWIN.
Sylvester stopped.
His wife went pale.
"What?"
He turned the page.
There was a photograph.
Three babies.
Not two.
His wife stared.
"I only gave birth to two."
Sylvester's hands shook.
The note continued:
There was a third child.
And beneath it:
The third child was removed before the mother regained consciousness.
Anna whispered:
"Who is the third one?"
A voice answered from the doorway.
Victor.
"That's what you're going to find out."
He stood there with armed men behind him.
May you like
Then he pointed at Noah.
"Because the third child has already found you."
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