Chapter 6: The Woman Who Never Died
Dominic didn't sleep.
He couldn't.
The whisper from the fractured memory echoed through his mind again and again.
"Promise me... if they find us... she'll die..."
It wasn't just a voice.
It carried fear.
Desperation.
And something else.
Love.
The kind of love that made people disappear to protect a child.
Dominic stood alone in his office before dawn, replaying the recovered security footage frame by frame.
The hooded woman was careful.
Too careful.
She never looked toward the cameras.
She kept her face lowered.
But as she handed the baby to Dominic, something slipped from beneath her sleeve.
A bracelet.
Silver.
Thin.
Decorated with a tiny falcon.
Not the emblem of Project Falcon.
A broken falcon.
One wing had been deliberately snapped off.
Marcus entered carrying two cups of black coffee.
"You've been staring at that video for four hours."
Dominic pointed at the bracelet.
"Zoom in."
Daniel enhanced the image as much as the damaged footage allowed.
The bracelet wasn't jewelry.
It was a message.
Etched into the inside were three tiny letters:
E.V.A.
Marcus frowned.
"A name?"
Dominic shook his head.
"Or initials."
Meanwhile, Mia sat beside Harper's bed.
The little girl had finally fallen asleep.
She still clutched the stuffed rabbit against her chest.
Mia gently brushed hair away from Harper's forehead.
A nurse entered quietly.
"She's exhausted."
"I know."
The nurse hesitated.
"Mr. Vale asked us to increase security."
Mia smiled faintly.
"He doesn't even know why he's protecting her."
The nurse looked confused.
"You do?"
Mia's smile disappeared.
"No."
"But someone once told me..."
She remembered the words spoken five years earlier by the mysterious woman who had placed Harper into her arms.
"If Dominic Vale ever remembers... everything changes."
At the time, Mia hadn't understood.
Now...
Neither did she.
Across town...
Nathan Cross remained handcuffed inside the estate's secure holding room.
Dominic entered alone.
No guards.
No Marcus.
Just the two men.
Nathan looked up.
"I wondered when you'd come."
Dominic sat opposite him.
"You have one chance."
Nathan laughed softly.
"You've said that before."
"This time I mean it."
Silence stretched between them.
Finally Dominic slid the recovered photograph across the table.
Mia.
A newborn baby.
Claire.
Five years ago.
"Explain."
Nathan looked at the picture for a long time.
His expression changed.
Not guilt.
Regret.
"I tried to stop it."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"Stop what?"
Nathan closed his eyes.
"The exchange."
"The exchange of what?"
Nathan whispered,
"The babies."
Dominic's heartbeat slowed.
"What babies?"
Nathan opened his eyes.
"There were supposed to be two girls."
"I know about the twins."
Nathan looked surprised.
"So you've reached that part already."
Dominic remained silent.
Nathan continued.
"One child belonged to an ordinary family."
"The other..."
He stopped.
Dominic leaned forward.
"The other what?"
Nathan looked directly into his eyes.
"...belonged to you."
The room became painfully still.
Nathan spoke slowly.
"As soon as Harper was born..."
"Project Falcon received orders."
"Replace the infants."
"Erase every record."
"Make sure no one could ever prove who was who."
Dominic frowned.
"Why?"
Nathan shook his head.
"I never knew."
"I was only told one thing."
"What?"
"If your daughter ever grew up knowing her real identity..."
"The organization would lose everything."
Dominic stared at him.
"You're lying."
Nathan smiled sadly.
"I wish I were."
Before Dominic could ask another question...
The room's intercom crackled.
Marcus's voice exploded through the speaker.
"Dominic!"
He stood instantly.
"What happened?"
"You need to come to the archive."
"Now."
Dominic sprinted downstairs.
Marcus waited beside the hidden vault.
His face had gone pale.
Daniel stood frozen in front of one of the filing cabinets.
"What is it?"
Nobody answered.
Marcus simply pointed.
One entire wall of files had disappeared.
Hundreds of folders.
Gone.
The steel cabinet doors hung open.
No signs of forced entry.
No alarms.
Nothing.
Daniel swallowed.
"Someone emptied it..."
"...while we were questioning Nathan."
Dominic looked around the room.
Only one object remained inside the cabinet.
A small wooden box.
He opened it.
Inside lay a single chess piece.
A black king.
Beneath it...
Another handwritten note.
YOU ARE ALWAYS ONE MOVE BEHIND.
Marcus searched the room.
"No footprints."
"No fingerprints."
"No camera footage."
Daniel looked up.
"How is that possible?"
Dominic already knew.
"Because they were never outside the estate."
His eyes slowly moved across everyone in the room.
Marcus.
Daniel.
The guards.
The technicians.
Doctors.
Nurses.
House staff.
One of them had just emptied an entire archive without anyone noticing.
The infiltrator had never left.
He had been protecting the wrong people.
The enemy wasn't breaking in.
The enemy was already living among them.
Just then...
A gunshot echoed from upstairs.
One shot.
Then another.
Marcus reached for his weapon.
"Medical wing!"
Everyone ran.
Dominic reached Harper's room first.
The guards outside were unconscious.
The door stood open.
His heart stopped.
The bed...
Was empty.
"Mia!"
No answer.
"Harper!"
Silence.
Then...
A weak voice came from the bathroom.
Dominic kicked the door open.
Mia lay on the floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound to her shoulder.
Still conscious.
Still fighting to breathe.
She grabbed Dominic's sleeve.
"They..."
He knelt beside her.
"Where's Harper?"
Mia forced out the words.
"I hid her..."
"...before they came."
Dominic's eyes widened.
"Where?"
Mia smiled faintly.
"The only place..."
"...Nathan would never think to look."
At that exact moment...
Nathan's terrified scream echoed from the holding room downstairs.
Marcus's radio crackled violently.
"Sir!"
"Nathan's gone!"
"No..."
The guard's voice shook.
"He's still here..."
May you like
"...but someone just killed him."
End of Chapter 6
