CHAPTER 11 The Woman in the Archive
"Ethan..."
"...I'm not Amelia."
The words hung in the stale air of the underground archive.
No one moved.
No one even breathed.
The woman standing between the rows of filing cabinets looked almost identical to Amelia.
The same green eyes.
The same dark hair.
The same gentle curve of her smile.
But something was different.
Her voice.
It carried a rasp, as though she had spent years screaming in silence.
Ethan stared at her.
"Who are you?"
The woman hesitated.
"My name is..."
She swallowed hard.
"...Elise."
Samuel stepped forward carefully.
"You said Amelia is your sister."
Elise nodded.
"Twin sister."
Silence exploded through the room.
Eleanor slowly closed her eyes.
"I prayed you were dead."
Elise gave a bitter smile.
"I used to pray for the same thing."
Ethan felt the blood drain from his face.
"Twins?"
"No one ever told me Amelia had a sister."
"They erased me."
Elise looked down at her hospital gown.
"They erased my name."
"My records."
"My life."
Arthur leaned heavily against a filing cabinet.
"I remember now..."
"There were two babies."
Eleanor looked at him sharply.
"You remember?"
"I remember Victor changing the files."
"He switched photographs."
"I thought it was paperwork."
"I never imagined..."
His voice trailed off.
Daniel interrupted.
"We don't have time."
He checked his watch.
Victor's deadline had already passed.
Yet...
Nothing had happened.
No explosions.
No alarms.
No executions.
Samuel noticed.
"He's waiting."
Eleanor nodded.
"Because we're exactly where he wants us."
Elise looked toward Lily.
The moment their eyes met...
Lily gasped.
"I know you."
Elise smiled through tears.
"You used to call me..."
"...the singing lady."
Fragments flashed through Lily's mind.
A dark hallway.
Soft lullabies.
Warm hands brushing her hair.
A woman singing quietly while guards weren't listening.
"You gave me the blue rabbit..."
Lily whispered.
Elise nodded.
"You still remember."
Ethan looked between them.
"You knew my daughter."
"For years."
"Why didn't you help her escape?"
Elise's face collapsed.
"I tried."
She slowly lifted the sleeve of her gown.
Deep scars circled both wrists.
"They punished everyone."
"If one child escaped..."
"...ten others disappeared."
Lily burst into tears.
She ran across the room.
Without hesitation...
She wrapped her tiny arms around Elise.
The woman froze.
As though she had forgotten what it felt like to be hugged.
Then...
She quietly began crying.
Arthur searched another cabinet.
"This doesn't make sense."
"If Amelia has a twin..."
"...why hide her?"
Eleanor answered softly.
"Because Victor didn't need two."
"He only needed one genetic line."
Samuel frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Eleanor looked at Lily.
"Victor wasn't studying children."
"He was studying inheritance."
Ethan's patience snapped again.
"Stop speaking in riddles!"
"What inheritance?"
Eleanor hesitated.
Then opened another drawer.
Inside lay a thick black binder.
Across the cover:
BLACKWOOD GENOME INITIATIVE
Samuel's heart pounded.
He flipped through the first pages.
DNA sequencing.
Neurological mapping.
Immune system analysis.
Three generations of the Blackwood family.
Then...
A family tree.
At the very top stood Ethan's grandfather.
Below him...
Victor.
Ethan's father.
Several branches.
Everything looked ordinary.
Until Samuel reached the final page.
There...
Connected by a red line...
Was Lily.
But beneath her name...
Another label appeared.
GENERATION ZERO
Samuel whispered,
"That isn't possible."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
Samuel pointed at the document.
"In genetics..."
"Generation Zero means..."
"...the beginning."
Ethan stared.
"My daughter isn't the beginning."
"She's the fourth generation."
Samuel slowly shook his head.
"Not according to Victor."
Before anyone could ask another question...
The archive lights suddenly dimmed.
A calm voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"Excellent."
Victor.
"You've found Elise."
The walls came alive with dozens of hidden screens.
Victor stood in what appeared to be a circular control room.
Behind him...
Amelia.
Alive.
Awake.
Standing.
Not restrained.
She looked directly into the camera.
"Ethan!"
His heart stopped.
"Amelia!"
She reached toward the screen.
"I've been trying to warn you!"
Victor smiled.
"But you're too late."
Ethan slammed his fist against the nearest monitor.
"What do you want?"
Victor spread his arms.
"You've spent all evening asking the wrong question."
"I don't want money."
"I don't want Blackwood Industries."
"I don't even want revenge."
He slowly turned toward Amelia.
"I want completion."
Samuel stared.
"Completion of what?"
Victor looked directly into the camera.
"Project Eden."
He pressed a button.
The monitor behind him changed.
Instead of medical files...
Old security footage.
A hospital delivery room.
Date:
Seven Years Ago.
The night Lily was born.
Everyone watched in silence.
Amelia screamed as doctors rushed around her.
Then...
The recording froze.
Victor pointed toward one corner of the screen.
"Watch carefully."
The image zoomed in.
Standing beside Amelia's bed...
Was Ethan.
Holding his newborn daughter.
Perfectly normal.
Then...
Another nurse entered the room carrying...
A second baby.
The room froze.
Ethan whispered,
"No..."
Victor smiled.
"You've been searching for one missing child."
He leaned closer.
"You should have been searching for two."
Silence.
No one understood.
Victor pressed another button.
The video continued.
The nurse handed the second infant to Eleanor.
She carried the baby into another room.
Then...
The hospital fire began.
The footage ended.
Samuel looked at his mother.
"What baby?"
Eleanor's face turned white.
She whispered only three words.
"They remember..."
Arthur looked horrified.
"You swore those records were destroyed."
Victor laughed.
"I lied."
Lily suddenly grabbed her head.
Images flooded back.
Another little girl.
The same age.
The same eyes.
Holding her hand.
Running through white corridors.
Laughing.
Then...
Being pulled away by masked guards.
Lily screamed.
"I wasn't alone!"
Tears streamed down her face.
"There was another girl!"
The room fell completely silent.
Ethan slowly turned toward Victor's screen.
Victor smiled.
"Now..."
"...you're finally asking the right questions."
He stepped aside.
The camera turned toward another reinforced glass room.
Inside stood a little girl.
Seven years old.
She looked exactly like Lily.
She stared into the camera with frightened eyes.
Then softly whispered:
"Daddy..."
Ethan felt his entire world shatter.
The child on the screen...
May you like
Had the same crescent-shaped birthmark on her shoulder.
END OF CHAPTER 11
