Chapter 10 - The Other EmmaThe woman entered.
My face.
My eyes.
My hair.
Everything.
For a second I thought I was looking at myself through glass.
Maya screamed.
The woman stopped.
Her expression softened.
“It's okay.”
I stepped backward.
“Who are you?”
She looked at me.
“Your sister.”
I felt the room tilt.
“I don't have a sister.”
“You were told you didn't.”
Victor suddenly looked furious.
“What are you doing here?”
The woman ignored him.
She walked toward Maya.
“She's beautiful.”
Alessandro raised his weapon.
“Stay away.”
The woman looked at him.
“You really don't remember me.”
“No.”
“You met me eleven years ago.”
He froze.
She smiled.
“Not as Alessandro Moretti.”
“Who?”
“As a boy.”
I looked at Victor.
His face was blank.
The woman continued.
“We were all part of the same program.”
I whispered:
“What program?”
She turned to me.
“Children born with certain genetic markers were identified before birth.”
I shook my head.
“This is insane.”
“It sounds insane.”
She pointed to the files.
“That's why they hid it.”
She looked at Luca.
“He carries one marker.”
Then Maya.
“She carries another.”
I stared.
“What's the difference?”
“Luca can survive.”
“Maya can heal.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
The woman smiled.
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
Alessandro stepped between us.
“This is enough.”
The woman looked at him.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She did.
“Years ago, a medical consortium funded illegal neonatal research.”
I felt sick.
“Children were monitored.”
“Tested.”
“Moved.”
“Sometimes switched.”
I looked at Maya.
“No.”
The woman nodded.
“You were one of the caregivers.”
I remembered flashes.
White walls.
A crying infant.
Someone whispering my name.
A bracelet.
A door.
Then darkness.
“I was there.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“You saved two babies.”
The room fell silent.
“You refused to follow orders.”
“You switched their files.”
“You created false records.”
“And then you disappeared.”
I looked at Victor.
“So you hunted me.”
“For six years.”
“Why?”
He answered.
“Because you took something from me.”
“What?”
He pointed toward Maya.
“My daughter.”
I stopped breathing.
“She's yours?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“She was supposed to be.”
Maya stirred.
Victor's expression changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“Get them out.”
The guards turned.
Victor whispered:
“Now.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“Because the people who created the program just arrived.”
May you like
The lights went out.
And from somewhere beneath us came the sound of dozens of doors unlocking simultaneously.
