Chapter 14: The Man Inside Alejandro’s Memory
Darkness swallowed the room.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Because the voice coming from the speakers was impossible.
It wasn’t Lorenzo.
It wasn’t Victor.
It wasn’t Marco.
It was Alejandro’s own voice.
A recording.
A memory.
A message from a version of himself he had forgotten.
The man standing in the darkness was not just Alejandro Moretti.
He was the remains of the person Alejandro used to be.
The emergency lights slowly turned on.
Victor Laurent stood beside the old equipment, calm and confident.
For the first time, Alejandro understood something.
Victor was never afraid of him.
Not once.
Because Victor knew something Alejandro didn’t.
He knew the truth.
“What did you do to me?”
Alejandro asked.
Victor looked at him.
“I saved you.”
Alejandro laughed.
The sound contained no humor.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
A pause.
“My father.”
“My wife.”
“Marco.”
“Maria.”
He stepped closer.
“Everyone claims they saved me while destroying my life.”
Victor remained silent.
Then he answered:
“Because your life was already destroyed before we touched it.”
Victor walked toward the old machine.
The same machine Alejandro had discovered beneath his mansion.
The machine that erased memories.
The machine that changed identities.
“The night Isabella disappeared, you discovered the truth.”
Alejandro watched him carefully.
“What truth?”
Victor pressed a button.
A hidden screen appeared.
A video began.
Fifteen years earlier.
The room was different.
Newer.
Cleaner.
And sitting inside the room was Alejandro.
But this Alejandro looked different.
Younger.
Angrier.
Broken.
Beside him was Isabella.
And standing behind them...
Was Victor.
Young Alejandro looked exhausted.
“I can’t do this anymore.”
Isabella held his hand.
“You have to.”
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“I spent my entire life fighting my father’s world.”
A pause.
“And I became worse than him.”
Victor watched silently.
Isabella looked at him.
“You can still change.”
Young Alejandro shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Victor.
“Do it.”
The present Alejandro froze.
“Do what?”
The video continued.
Victor approached the machine.
Isabella looked terrified.
“Alejandro…”
Young Alejandro looked at her.
“I love you.”
A pause.
“But if I remember everything, I’ll destroy everyone.”
Isabella cried.
“Then we’ll face it together.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
His final words before the procedure:
“Make me forget.”
The video stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Alejandro stared at the screen.
Because the truth was finally clear.
Nobody stole his memories.
He gave them away.
Emma looked at him.
“You chose this?”
Alejandro couldn’t answer.
Because he remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
The guilt.
The fear.
The reason.
Fifteen years ago, he discovered something even worse than The Vipers.
A hidden organization controlling them.
A group that didn’t care about money.
Or power.
They wanted something else.
Control over human decisions.
Control over memories.
Control over identity itself.
And Alejandro discovered he was their first successful experiment.
Victor continued.
“You were not created by The Vipers.”
He looked at Alejandro.
“They were created by something older.”
Alejandro narrowed his eyes.
“Who?”
Victor walked to the final file.
A black folder.
The oldest one.
The one nobody had opened.
He placed it on the table.
“Project Origin.”
Inside was one photograph.
A group of scientists.
Politicians.
Business leaders.
And in the center...
A young man.
A young Alejandro.
But behind him was someone else.
A woman.
Alejandro stared.
His face changed.
“No…”
Isabella looked at the photograph.
“What?”
Alejandro whispered:
“My mother.”
The truth was finally revealed.
Alejandro’s mother was not a victim.
She was one of the founders.
She created the original project.
Not to control people.
But to cure trauma.
To help people survive impossible experiences.
But powerful people corrupted it.
They turned healing into control.
They turned memories into weapons.
And Alejandro’s mother tried to stop them.
That was why she disappeared.
That was why Lorenzo rose to power.
That was why Alejandro was manipulated.
Emma looked at the documents.
“There’s something else.”
Everyone turned.
She held a file.
Her hands were shaking.
“What?”
She looked at Alejandro.
“Your mother wasn’t only studying memory.”
A pause.
“She was studying inherited memories.”
Silence.
Victor nodded.
“Exactly.”
Emma looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Victor answered:
“It means some memories are not created by experience.”
A pause.
“They are carried.”
Alejandro stared.
“Impossible.”
Victor smiled.
“You hate that word.”
Then Emma opened the final page.
A DNA report.
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
Isabella moved closer.
“What is it?”
Emma looked at Alejandro.
“The reason Lorenzo needed me.”
She swallowed.
“We aren’t just siblings.”
Everyone froze.
Alejandro stared.
“What?”
Emma looked terrified.
“The report says…”
A long pause.
“Our DNA was modified.”
Victor finished the sentence.
“You and Emma were created as a pair.”
Alejandro felt cold.
“A pair?”
“One remembers.”
Victor looked at Emma.
“One forgets.”
He looked at Alejandro.
“Together, you create a complete memory system.”
Suddenly, alarms began screaming.
Victor looked toward the entrance.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
A guard’s voice came through the radio.
“Sir…”
Static.
Then:
“They’re here.”
Alejandro immediately grabbed his weapon.
“Who?”
The answer came through the radio.
A voice.
A voice that made everyone freeze.
“Everyone you thought was dead.”
The doors opened.
Dozens of armed people entered.
But they were not wearing Viper symbols.
They wore a different mark.
The same mark from the old photograph.
Project Origin.
Victor whispered:
“They finally came.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“Who?”
Victor looked terrified for the first time.
“The people who created us.”
The leader stepped forward.
Everyone waited.
Then the person removed their mask.
Alejandro’s heart stopped.
Because the face underneath was impossible.
Older.
Scarred.
But recognizable.
A man Alejandro knew.
A man who had died fifteen years ago.
His older brother.
A brother nobody knew existed.
The man smiled.
“Hello, Alejandro.”
A pause.
“I’m the reason you survived.”
He looked at Emma.
“And I’m the reason you were born.”
The room went silent.
Because after fifteen years of lies...
Alejandro finally discovered the final enemy.
Not his father.
Not The Vipers.
Not Marco.
May you like
His own blood.
To be continued...
