CHAPTER 13 The Wedding Ring
Silence swept through the archive.
Even Victor stopped smiling.
The little girl on the screen stood perfectly still, her eyes fixed on Ethan.
"Mommy said you'll recognize the real daughter..."
"...because only one of us knows where she hid your wedding ring."
Ethan felt his throat tighten.
The wedding ring.
Five years into their marriage, Ethan had lost his gold wedding band while renovating the estate's greenhouse.
He had searched for two days.
Finally, Amelia had laughed, slipped the ring into her pocket, and hidden it somewhere on the property.
She had refused to tell him where.
"It's our emergency secret," she had teased.
"If we ever get separated, I'll ask you where it is."
Only two people had ever known the answer.
Ethan.
And Amelia.
Not even the servants knew the game existed.
Victor folded his arms.
"Go on."
"I'm curious."
He looked at the girl beside him.
"Tell your father."
The little girl nodded.
Without hesitation she answered.
"In the blue ceramic flowerpot."
Ethan's expression didn't change.
He simply looked at her.
"Which flowerpot?"
She hesitated.
"The..."
Her voice faltered.
"The one beside the roses."
Ethan slowly closed his eyes.
Wrong.
There had never been a blue flowerpot near Amelia's white roses.
Victor noticed.
His confident smile faded just a fraction.
He turned toward the girl.
"Answer him."
She looked confused.
"I..."
"I don't know."
Lily gently squeezed Ethan's hand.
"Daddy?"
He knelt beside her.
"Do you remember?"
She looked frightened.
"I don't know."
"You don't have to guess."
"Just tell me what you remember."
Lily shut her eyes.
The room became completely still.
Fragments drifted through her mind.
Warm sunlight.
Fresh soil.
Amelia laughing.
A robin landing on the garden fence.
Then...
A wooden birdhouse.
Lily's eyes opened.
"The bird."
Ethan stared.
"What bird?"
"The little red bird."
"Mommy said birds never tell secrets."
Tears immediately filled Ethan's eyes.
No one else understood.
But Ethan did.
The ring had never been buried.
Amelia had hidden it inside a cedar birdhouse Ethan had built for her on their first anniversary.
Only after Ethan admitted defeat had she revealed the hiding place.
They had laughed until sunset.
No photographs.
No witnesses.
Only them.
He looked at Lily.
"Anything else?"
She smiled through tears.
"Mommy kissed you..."
"...because you looked inside every flowerpot first."
Ethan couldn't hold back anymore.
He pulled Lily into his arms.
"My little girl..."
Across the monitor, Subject Eight quietly lowered her head.
She wasn't crying.
She looked...
Ashamed.
Victor slowly turned toward her.
"You knew the answer."
The girl whispered,
"I thought I did."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"No."
"You remembered what you were taught."
Samuel stepped closer to the monitor.
"Victor..."
"If Subject Eight is the real daughter..."
"...why couldn't she answer?"
Victor didn't respond.
Samuel continued.
"Because memory isn't something you can implant."
"You can teach facts."
"You can train behavior."
"But you can't recreate a childhood that never happened."
Victor's jaw tightened.
For the first time since Ethan had seen him again...
He looked angry.
"You think love makes a family?"
Samuel answered quietly.
"I think memories do."
Subject Eight slowly lifted her head.
She looked at Lily.
"What was Mommy like?"
The question shattered the room.
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
"She sang."
"She smelled like flowers."
"She held my hand when I had nightmares."
Subject Eight listened silently.
Then whispered,
"I don't remember any of that."
Eleanor quietly wiped away a tear.
"Victor never let Amelia raise her."
Arthur nodded.
"He raised her himself."
Samuel finally understood.
"That's why she feels... empty."
Ethan looked directly into the camera.
"What's your name?"
The little girl hesitated.
"I..."
Victor interrupted.
"Subject Eight."
Ethan shook his head.
"No."
"I'm asking her."
The girl swallowed.
"I don't know."
Ethan's heart broke.
Seven years old.
And she'd never even been given a name.
Lily stepped toward the screen.
"My name is Lily."
The other girl smiled weakly.
"I know."
Lily thought for a moment.
Then said,
"If you don't have a name..."
"...you can borrow mine until Mommy wakes up."
Even Daniel had to look away.
The innocence in Lily's offer pierced everyone in the room.
Except Victor.
He remained expressionless.
Suddenly...
An alarm blared through the underground complex.
Not Victor's voice.
A computerized warning.
"Containment breach."
"Sector Alpha compromised."
Daniel looked around.
"What now?"
Arthur's face turned white.
"No..."
"It can't be."
Every monitor in the archive abruptly switched to security footage.
Hallways.
Laboratories.
Storage rooms.
Guards running in every direction.
Doors unlocking by themselves.
Then...
A familiar figure appeared.
Barefoot.
Wearing a faded hospital gown.
Long dark hair.
Amelia.
She wasn't restrained anymore.
She was running.
Victor spun toward another monitor.
For the first time...
Panic flashed across his face.
"How?"
A technician's voice shouted from off-screen.
"Sir!"
"Someone disabled the internal locks!"
"All security doors are opening!"
Victor slammed his fist onto the console.
"Find her!"
Eleanor stared in disbelief.
"She did it..."
Samuel frowned.
"Did what?"
Eleanor smiled through tears.
"She remembered."
On another camera...
Amelia stopped in the middle of a hallway.
She looked directly into a security camera.
Then...
Very slowly...
She smiled.
Not at Victor.
At Ethan.
As though she somehow knew he was watching.
She reached into the pocket of her hospital gown.
And held up something that glittered under the fluorescent lights.
A gold wedding ring.
Ethan's wedding ring.
She slipped it onto her finger.
Then softly mouthed three words.
"I remember everything."
Before anyone could react...
The lights inside Victor's control room suddenly went out.
One by one.
Emergency systems failed.
Computer screens died.
The cameras filled with static.
Then a single gunshot echoed through the underground facility.
May you like
The feed cut to black.
END OF CHAPTER 13
