CHAPTER 14 THE NIGHT EVERYTHING WAS REVEALED
The room went silent.
Harper and Emily stood side by side.
Their faces were still those of four-year-old children.
But their eyes were different.
Older.
Sharper.
As though something ancient had awakened behind them.
Dominic knelt in front of Harper.
“Who killed Grandma?”
Harper stared at him.
Then she looked toward Alexander's empty chair.
“Grandpa.”
Dominic's breathing stopped.
“Which grandpa?”
Harper's lips trembled.
“Victor.”
The real Victor lowered his head.
Dominic turned toward him.
“You killed her?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Harper screamed:
“Yes!”
Every monitor in the Archive suddenly flickered.
The same scene appeared on all of them.
Twenty years earlier.
A young Eleanor stood inside the underground chamber.
She was holding a newborn baby.
Dominic.
Victor stood across from her.
But there was another man in the room.
Alexander.
And a young Rebecca.
Dominic watched in silence.
Eleanor was crying.
“You promised me.”
Victor looked broken.
“I had no choice.”
“You always say that.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“The boy belongs to the family.”
Eleanor held Dominic tighter.
“He is my son.”
“And he will become the heir.”
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I won't let you turn him into one of your experiments.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“You already gave birth to three.”
Eleanor's face changed.
“You lied to me.”
“No.”
Alexander smiled.
“We told you what you needed to know.”
Eleanor looked at Victor.
“You knew?”
Victor couldn't meet her eyes.
She began crying.
“You knew.”
Victor whispered:
“I was trying to protect you.”
Eleanor screamed:
“By giving them my children?”
The recording suddenly changed.
Another room.
Another night.
Eleanor was running.
She carried a small baby.
Behind her, footsteps echoed.
She reached a door.
Victor appeared.
He raised a gun.
Eleanor stopped.
“Please.”
Victor's hand shook.
“Give me the child.”
“No.”
“Eleanor.”
“No!”
She turned.
Victor fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside her.
Eleanor screamed.
The baby began crying.
Then someone appeared behind Victor.
Alexander.
He took the baby from Eleanor.
Dominic watched in horror.
“That's Isabella.”
Eleanor collapsed.
Alexander looked at Victor.
“You failed.”
Victor lowered his weapon.
“I couldn't kill her.”
Alexander nodded.
“I know.”
The recording changed again.
Another night.
Another child.
Eleanor was holding a little girl.
Harper.
But Harper wasn't four.
She was a baby.
Mia stood beside Eleanor.
Dominic stared.
“Mia.”
Mia began crying.
“I was there.”
Eleanor whispered:
“Take her.”
Mia shook her head.
“I can't.”
“You have to.”
“They'll kill you.”
Eleanor smiled.
“They're already going to.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
Then he understood.
Harper hadn't been created recently.
She had been hidden.
Protected.
Raised under a false identity.
Mia had spent years protecting her.
But there was more.
The recording continued.
Eleanor turned toward the camera.
“If you're seeing this, then Harper survived.”
Dominic's eyes filled with tears.
“She is the last chance.”
The video changed.
A younger Dominic appeared.
Six years old.
He was standing outside the hospital.
Eleanor watched him through a window.
She was holding another baby.
Emily.
Dominic's face went pale.
“Emily.”
Eleanor whispered:
“The second vessel.”
Then a shadow entered the room.
Rebecca.
She took Emily.
Eleanor fought her.
“Don't!”
Rebecca pulled the baby away.
Eleanor screamed.
“Please!”
Rebecca looked at her coldly.
“You should have obeyed.”
Then the screen went black.
Dominic stood completely still.
He looked at Mia.
“You knew.”
Mia was crying.
“I was trying to save them.”
“You let them take Emily.”
“I didn't know where they took her.”
“Then how did she end up here?”
Mia looked at Isabella.
Isabella answered:
“I found her.”
Dominic stared.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“You brought her back.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Alexander was watching you.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
“How?”
Isabella pointed to a tiny camera hidden inside the wall.
“He's been watching you since you were a child.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
Then Harper suddenly spoke.
“Daddy.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“I remember the night Grandma died.”
Everyone went silent.
Harper looked toward Victor.
“He came into the room.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“You were holding a gun.”
“No.”
“You were crying.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Harper continued:
“You said you were sorry.”
Victor began shaking.
“You shot her.”
Dominic stared at his father.
“Did you?”
Victor whispered:
“Yes.”
Dominic's face went cold.
“But…”
Victor looked at him.
“I didn't kill her.”
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
“I shot her because Alexander told me she was already dead.”
Silence.
“I thought the gun was loaded with a sedative.”
Dominic stared.
“It wasn't.”
Victor's voice broke.
“I realized too late.”
Eleanor looked toward Victor.
“He didn't know.”
Dominic looked at the screen.
“What happened after?”
Harper answered.
“Alexander came.”
The screen changed.
Alexander entered the room.
Eleanor was lying on the floor.
Victor was beside her.
Alexander looked at her.
Then he smiled.
“You failed.”
He picked up Eleanor's body.
Victor grabbed him.
“What are you doing?”
“Finishing it.”
“No.”
Victor tried to stop him.
Alexander shot Victor.
Then he took Eleanor away.
Dominic stared.
“She survived.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Barely.”
Victor whispered:
“Alexander kept you alive.”
“For twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Eleanor looked at Harper.
“Because he needed my memories.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Your memories?”
“I knew the Archive's original access code.”
“And he couldn't extract it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it was stored in my blood.”
Dominic stared.
Then he looked at Harper.
“So that's why she needs my blood.”
Eleanor nodded.
“But there's another problem.”
“What?”
“The code isn't complete.”
Dominic frowned.
“What completes it?”
Eleanor looked at Isabella.
“My three children.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Me, Isabella, and Elias?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Dominic, Isabella…”
Then she looked at Harper.
“And Harper.”
Dominic's face changed.
“Elias isn't part of it?”
“No.”
Elias stepped backward.
“Then why did Alexander keep me alive?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Because you were the decoy.”
Elias froze.
“You were meant to make everyone believe there were three heirs.”
“So I wasn't…”
“No.”
“You were never part of the bloodline.”
Elias stared at her.
“Then who am I?”
Eleanor hesitated.
Victor answered.
“You're my son.”
Elias looked at him.
“But not Eleanor's.”
Victor nodded.
“Your mother was someone else.”
Elias's face hardened.
“Who?”
Victor looked toward Alexander.
“Alexander's wife.”
Silence.
Elias turned toward Alexander.
“You killed my mother.”
Alexander didn't answer.
Elias raised his gun.
Dominic grabbed him.
“Not yet.”
Elias shook with rage.
“Let me go.”
“Not yet.”
Then every light in the Archive suddenly turned red.
A mechanical voice announced:
“FINAL PURGE INITIATED.”
Dominic looked at the monitors.
10:00
A countdown.
“What now?”
Isabella looked terrified.
“The Archive is going to erase itself.”
“Can we stop it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Someone must remain inside the central chamber.”
Dominic stared at the machine.
“Who?”
Isabella looked at Harper.
“No.”
Dominic stepped in front of his daughter.
“She isn't doing it.”
“I know.”
“Then who?”
Isabella took a deep breath.
“Me.”
Dominic stared.
“No.”
“I can survive the memory transfer.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
Isabella smiled sadly.
“Because I've already done it once.”
Dominic froze.
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
She pointed toward the Archive.
“That's why I remember everything.”
Dominic looked at his sister.
“What happens if you stay?”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“I won't come back.”
Harper suddenly grabbed Isabella's hand.
“No.”
Isabella looked down.
Harper whispered:
“Don't go.”
Isabella knelt.
“You're brave.”
“I don't want to be brave.”
Isabella smiled.
“I know.”
Then the Archive doors opened.
A gunshot echoed.
Isabella jerked backward.
Blood spread across her chest.
Dominic caught her.
“Isabella!”
She looked over his shoulder.
Alexander stood at the doorway.
Holding the gun.
He smiled.
“Now there are only two heirs left.”
Dominic lowered Isabella carefully.
Then stood.
His eyes became completely cold.
“You just made the biggest mistake of your life.”
Alexander smiled.
“Why?”
Dominic raised his weapon.
“Because now I have nothing left to lose.”
And behind him…
Harper and Emily began speaking in perfect unison.
May you like
“We remember where you hid the bodies.”
Alexander's smile vanished.
