Chapter 16 - The Daughter I Never HadThe tunnel went dark.
Maya stood in my arms.
I could barely breathe.
“What did you mean?”
She didn't answer.
Her eyes looked different.
Older.
Not because she was suddenly someone else.
Because something inside her had awakened.
She touched my cheek.
“I was scared.”
I began crying.
“Of what?”
“Of forgetting you.”
My heart broke.
The other Emma knelt beside her.
“Maya.”
Maya looked at her.
“Eve.”
The other Emma froze.
“You know me.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Maya smiled.
“Because you were there.”
I stared.
“Where?”
Maya pointed downward.
“Under the hospital.”
The others exchanged looks.
“There's another level?”
Maya nodded.
“Three.”
My blood went cold.
Dr. Vale had hidden an entire facility beneath St. Catherine's.
And Maya remembered it.
We followed her instructions.
Left.
Right.
Down another stairwell.
Through a sealed door.
Behind it was a laboratory.
Empty.
Except for one monitor.
It activated when Maya entered.
A woman's face appeared.
My face.
Older.
Tired.
Terrified.
It was a recording.
“If you're watching this, Maya remembered.”
I stared.
The recording continued.
“Emma, I'm sorry.”
My breath stopped.
“I know you don't remember me.”
“But I remember you.”
The woman looked directly into the camera.
“You are not Maya's biological mother.”
I closed my eyes.
“But you are her mother.”
The distinction tore through me.
“Because when they created her, you were the first person to hold her.”
The video showed a newborn.
Maya.
Tiny.
Fragile.
Alone.
I saw myself in the footage.
Holding her.
Crying.
Then signing the consent form.
I remembered.
Everything.
I had volunteered.
Because Luca was dying.
Because the original Maya's mother had died.
Because I couldn't bear to let another infant disappear.
Then I saw myself making a deal.
“Give me the baby,” I had said.
“Erase me.”
Dr. Vale had agreed.
The recording ended.
I collapsed against the wall.
Alessandro crouched beside me.
“You did it to save her.”
I nodded.
“And I forgot.”
He took my hand.
“You remembered enough.”
I looked at him.
“What happens now?”
Before he could answer, gunfire echoed through the corridor.
Dr. Vale.
My husband.
They had followed us.
The other Emma stood.
“We need to leave.”
Maya shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
She pointed toward the laboratory.
“Baby.”
I stared.
A cry came from behind the wall.
A real baby.
Alessandro tore open a hidden panel.
Inside was a neonatal chamber.
A tiny infant lay beneath a blanket.
I looked at the label.
PROJECT M-2.
Dr. Vale's voice came from the doorway.
“You weren't supposed to find her.”
I turned.
“Who is that?”
Dr. Vale smiled.
“My replacement.”
She looked at Maya.
“And the next generation.”
Then I realized the truth.
May you like
Maya wasn't the end of the experiment.
She was the beginning.
