Chapter 11 - The Burning MansionFire exploded through the lower floor.
Smoke swallowed the hallway.
Guards shouted.
Alarms screamed.
Ricardo grabbed Leo and pulled him close.
“Clara, stay with me!”
I followed.
Isabella disappeared into the smoke.
“Isabella!”
No answer.
We reached the main staircase.
Flames climbed the walls.
Ricardo kicked open a side door.
“Basement.”
“What?”
“Fire can't reach the old tunnel.”
We ran.
Leo was coughing.
I carried him.
Ricardo led us through the hidden passage.
Behind us, the mansion burned.
Then Isabella appeared.
Her face was bleeding.
“You left without me.”
Ricardo stared.
“You're alive.”
“Unfortunately.”
She handed him something.
A metal drive.
“The original ledger.”
My heart stopped.
“Then what was in my ring?”
“Instructions.”
“For what?”
“To find this.”
Ricardo opened the drive.
Thousands of files.
Names.
Payments.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Police officers.
Judges.
Doctors.
Business owners.
Everything.
Then Isabella looked at me.
“There is one more file.”
“Which?”
“Your birth.”
I opened it.
A hospital video.
Sofia was in labor.
Three babies.
The nurse carried them away.
Then something strange happened.
A fourth infant appeared.
I stared.
“Four?”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
Another woman stepped into frame.
She was carrying a baby.
The baby looked exactly like me.
Sofia screamed.
“That isn't mine!”
The video ended.
Ricardo stared at the screen.
“What the hell?”
Isabella whispered.
“There were never three daughters.”
“Then how many?”
“Four.”
I looked at her.
“Who was the fourth?”
She swallowed.
“You.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.”
“You weren't one of the original three.”
“What are you saying?”
Isabella stared at me.
“Sofia had triplets.”
Then she pointed at the fourth baby.
“That child was stolen.”
“Why?”
“Because she wasn't supposed to exist.”
Ricardo looked at the file.
A name appeared.
PROJECT VESPER.
“What is Vesper?” he asked.
Isabella looked frightened.
“The organization behind our family.”
“Our family?”
“They created identities.”
“They changed records.”
“They moved children.”
“They controlled politicians.”
“They weren't protecting the Moretti family.”
She looked at me.
“They were using it.”
“For what?”
Isabella opened another file.
Photographs of children.
Hundreds.
All with similar markings.
All with identification numbers.
I recognized something in the corner.
A crescent-shaped scar.
My scar.
My blood ran cold.
“Why do they have that?”
Isabella whispered.
“Because every child in the program was marked.”
Ricardo stared at me.
“Vesper wasn't a criminal organization.”
“What was it?”
Isabella's voice cracked.
“It was a child trafficking network.”
Silence.
“And Sofia tried to destroy it.”
A loud crash shook the tunnel.
Someone was coming.
Ricardo raised his gun.
Footsteps approached.
Then a voice echoed through the darkness.
“Clara.”
My heart stopped.
It was Daniel Vance.
My father.
The man everyone told me was dead.
He stepped into the light.
He looked older.
Tired.
But alive.
I couldn't speak.
He looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
I ran toward him.
He caught me.
I hit his chest.
“You lied to me!”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead!”
“I had no choice.”
“You stole my memories!”
“I saved your life.”
I stepped back.
“Then tell me the truth.”
He looked at Leo.
Then at Ricardo.
Then Isabella.
“We don't have much time.”
“Tell me.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Sofia was never the real target.”
“Then who was?”
He pointed at me.
“Vesper wanted Clara.”
“Why?”
Daniel took a breath.
“Because you're not just one of the girls they stole.”
He looked at my scar.
“You are the original.”
And before I could ask what that meant, a sniper bullet tore through Daniel's chest.
He collapsed in my arms.
May you like
The last thing he whispered was:
“Your mother is still alive.”
