Chapter 7 - Jonathan turned toward the crying.Kane didn't move.
The sound came from behind a steel wall.
Jonathan rushed toward it.
"Where is she?"
Kane said nothing.
Jonathan pulled the door open.
Inside was an empty medical chamber.
A tiny crib stood in the center.
It was rocking by itself.
Jonathan approached.
No baby.
Only a blanket.
The same gray blanket Michael had carried.
Jonathan picked it up.
His hands shook.
"Where is Lily?"
Kane watched him.
"Not here."
Jonathan spun around.
"You said she was here."
"I said she was here."
"Don't play games with me."
Kane smiled.
"You're beginning to remember."
Jonathan froze.
"Remember what?"
Kane walked closer.
"The accident."
Jonathan stared at him.
Kane continued.
"You were never supposed to survive."
Jonathan felt his throat tighten.
"Evelyn changed the plan."
"What plan?"
"She used Lily."
"To heal me?"
"To stabilize you."
Jonathan shook his head.
"I didn't know Lily existed."
"You weren't supposed to."
Kane's voice lowered.
"You were the first human trial."
Jonathan stepped backward.
"What?"
"Evelyn believed the regenerative cells could reverse spinal damage."
Jonathan looked at the medical chamber.
"She injected me."
"Yes."
"Then why did I become paralyzed?"
Kane's expression darkened.
"Because someone sabotaged the experiment."
"Who?"
Kane didn't answer.
Jonathan grabbed his coat.
"Who?"
Kane looked directly into his eyes.
"Your brother."
Jonathan released him.
He had no brother.
Not anymore.
His younger brother, Marcus, had died when Jonathan was twenty-six.
Car accident.
Or so he had believed.
"No."
Kane walked past him.
"That's what they wanted you to think."
Jonathan's mind raced.
Marcus.
His wife.
The accident.
Lily.
None of it made sense.
Then Kane said:
"You should ask why your family was so wealthy before anyone else."
Jonathan turned.
"What?"
"Because your father's company wasn't built on shipping."
Jonathan's face went cold.
"What was it built on?"
Kane looked at the wall.
"Biotechnology."
Jonathan stared.
His entire inheritance.
His empire.
His fortune.
Everything had started with his father.
And if Kane was telling the truth...
It had started with Project Echo.
Jonathan returned to the mansion before sunrise.
He found Michael awake.
The boy was sitting beside Lily.
"You found her?"
Jonathan nodded.
"Yes."
"Where?"
Jonathan hesitated.
"Somewhere else."
Michael looked suspicious.
"You're lying."
Jonathan didn't argue.
"You know more than you tell me."
Michael lowered his eyes.
"My mother said never trust rich people."
Jonathan almost smiled.
"She wasn't wrong."
Michael looked at him.
"Did you find Dr. Kane?"
Jonathan nodded.
Michael's face changed.
"He's still alive."
"Apparently."
Michael whispered:
"He's the one."
"The one what?"
"The one who took my mother."
Jonathan froze.
Michael continued.
"He came to our house when I was little."
"He took your mother?"
"And Emma's."
Jonathan looked at Emma.
She was asleep.
"Noah's mother too."
"So all your mothers knew each other."
Michael nodded.
"They were friends."
Jonathan sat down.
"What did Kane want?"
Michael looked toward Lily.
"Her."
The room became silent.
Then a scream came from upstairs.
Emma.
Everyone rushed to her room.
She was sitting on the floor.
Blood covered her palm.
Jonathan knelt beside her.
"What happened?"
Emma pointed toward the mirror.
Written across it in blood were three words.
SHE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING.
Jonathan stared.
"Who wrote that?"
Emma shook her head.
"I didn't."
Michael stepped back.
Lily began crying downstairs.
Jonathan ran.
He found the baby standing inside the crib.
Standing.
Without support.
She looked at him.
Then she lifted one tiny finger toward the wall.
Jonathan followed her gaze.
A photograph hung there.
An old family portrait.
His father.
His mother.
Jonathan.
Marcus.
Evelyn.
And, in the far corner, a woman Jonathan had never seen.
Lily pointed at her.
Jonathan approached.
There was a name written beneath the photograph.
Dr. Elena Vale.
His mother.
Jonathan's face went white.
His mother had died twenty years ago.
Yet Lily was pointing directly at her.
Then the photograph shifted.
Behind it was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a letter.
The handwriting belonged to Jonathan's mother.
He unfolded it.
The first sentence made his heart stop.
Jonathan, if Lily is alive, then Evelyn failed.
May you like
The second sentence was worse.
And if you're reading this, Marcus is not dead.
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