Chapter 13 - The False SisterThe room became a trap.
The woman claiming to be Isabella aimed her gun at Sofia.
Ricardo stood between them.
“Drop it.”
She smiled.
“You still think you can protect everyone.”
Elena stared at her.
“Who are you?”
The woman laughed.
“You should know.”
She pulled out an old photograph.
It showed four girls.
But the faces had been scratched out.
“Vesper created four identities.”
She looked at me.
“One was the original.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“One was the replacement.”
“Elena.”
She pointed at the woman beside us.
“That one.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
The false Isabella continued.
“One was the decoy.”
She pointed at herself.
“And the fourth?”
Sofia answered.
“Still missing.”
Ricardo looked confused.
“There were only three daughters.”
Sofia whispered.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“There were four.”
My heart stopped.
“You said triplets.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because the fourth child was never mine.”
The room went silent.
Sofia continued.
“Vesper stole a baby from another family and implanted false records.”
I stared at her.
“The baby was me?”
“No.”
My head spun.
“Then who?”
Sofia pointed at the woman pretending to be Isabella.
“She was the stolen child.”
The woman smiled.
“Finally.”
Elena stepped backward.
“So who am I?”
Sofia looked at her.
“You're my daughter.”
“And Clara?”
“My daughter.”
“Then Isabella?”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“My daughter.”
Three daughters.
Then the fourth girl was not a daughter.
The false Isabella laughed.
“I spent my whole life believing Sofia was my mother.”
She looked at me.
“But she wasn't.”
“Who were your parents?”
“People Vesper erased.”
She raised the gun.
“They made me believe Clara was the key.”
“Key to what?”
The woman pointed at me.
“To the original Vesper archive.”
Ricardo's expression changed.
“The archive doesn't exist.”
“It does.”
She looked at Sofia.
“And she knows where it is.”
Sofia shook her head.
“I destroyed it.”
“No.”
The woman smiled.
“You hid it inside Clara's memory.”
I froze.
“The memory I lost.”
“Yes.”
She walked closer.
“Your father's hypnosis didn't erase your memories.”
“What did it do?”
“It locked them.”
“How do I unlock them?”
The woman smiled.
“By remembering the first night.”
“The night Sofia was shot?”
“No.”
“The night you were born.”
My stomach twisted.
I looked at Sofia.
She was crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“You were the only child who remembered everything.”
“What did I remember?”
Vittorio's voice came from the doorway.
“The archive.”
Everyone turned.
He was wounded.
Blood soaked his shirt.
But he was smiling.
“You finally found it.”
Ricardo raised his gun.
Vittorio ignored him.
He looked at me.
“The reason Vesper never killed you is simple.”
“Why?”
“Because you know the password.”
“What password?”
He pointed at Leo.
“The boy knows too.”
Everyone stared at Leo.
The child was trembling.
Sofia reached for him.
But Leo suddenly spoke.
Not like a three-year-old.
His voice was strangely calm.
“The password is Mommy.”
Silence.
Vittorio smiled.
“That isn't the password.”
Leo looked at him.
“You're wrong.”
Then the boy turned toward me.
“Clara knows.”
I stared at him.
He whispered:
“Mommy taught you when you were little.”
A memory slammed into my head.
A room.
Sofia singing.
Three babies.
A fourth child.
A locked computer.
And a sentence.
When the blue lights turn on, say your real name.
The lights in the station suddenly turned blue.
My heart stopped.
May you like
Then every monitor came alive.
The Vesper archive had just been unlocked.
