Chapter 12 - Emily couldn't move.Lucas stood across the vault like a ghost.
“You're saying your blood carries a disease?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“A mutation.”
“What's the difference?”
“The mutation made me resistant to a virus.”
Emily swallowed.
“What virus?”
“A virus designed to control the mutation.”
Raymond looked furious.
“Lucas, enough.”
“No.”
He looked at Emily.
“She deserves the truth.”
Raymond stepped forward.
“You almost destroyed her mother.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“You kidnapped Margaret.”
“I saved her.”
Emily shouted:
“Stop talking about everyone else!”
Both men turned.
Emily stepped forward.
“I want the truth.”
Lucas nodded.
“Your mother discovered Black Rose.”
“Who created it?”
“Richard Hayes.”
Emily's eyes widened.
“Victoria's father?”
“Yes.”
“He used you?”
“Yes.”
“He altered your genes?”
“Yes.”
“And Mom?”
“She tried to destroy the program.”
“What happened?”
Lucas took a breath.
“Richard poisoned her.”
Emily gasped.
“That's how she survived?”
“No.”
Lucas looked down.
“He killed her publicly.”
Emily froze.
“Publicly?”
“Then replaced her body.”
Emily's face became pale.
“The woman at the hospital…”
“A clone.”
Silence.
Emily whispered:
“So my mother really…”
Lucas nodded.
“The woman you saw in the photograph was a clone.”
“But she's alive somewhere.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Margaret escaped.”
“Where?”
Lucas looked toward Raymond.
“Ask your uncle.”
Emily turned.
Raymond said nothing.
“Uncle?”
Lucas continued.
“He helped Margaret disappear.”
Emily's heart pounded.
“Then why have you two been fighting?”
“Because we disagree about what comes next.”
“What comes next?”
Lucas looked directly at her stomach.
“The birth.”
Emily instinctively protected her abdomen.
“What happens when my baby is born?”
Lucas said:
“The Black Rose sequence becomes complete.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means every person who has hunted you will come after your child.”
Emily's eyes filled.
“So how do I stop them?”
Lucas answered:
“You can't.”
Raymond immediately said:
“She can.”
Lucas turned.
“Not alone.”
Dr. Shaw stepped forward.
“I know how.”
Everyone looked at him.
He held up a USB drive.
“I kept the original research.”
Lucas stared at him.
“You betrayed us.”
“I betrayed nobody.”
Dr. Shaw plugged the drive into a laptop.
A video appeared.
Richard Hayes.
Alive.
Emily stared.
Her biological father looked directly at the camera.
“If Emily is watching this, then Black Rose has reached its final stage.”
Richard smiled.
“Congratulations.”
Emily felt sick.
“I knew you would survive.”
Richard continued.
“Because I created you.”
Emily whispered:
“No.”
“You were never an accident.”
The video showed a laboratory.
A pregnant Margaret.
Scientists surrounding her.
Richard stood beside her.
“You were the first successful human carrier.”
Emily stared in horror.
“And your unborn child is the second.”
Richard smiled.
“We only need one generation to perfect the sequence.”
Emily shut the laptop.
“I won't let you touch my child.”
A slow clap came from behind them.
Everyone turned.
Victoria stood in the doorway.
She was holding a gun.
Beside her stood Margaret.
The real Margaret.
Alive.
Emily cried:
“Mom!”
Margaret looked at her.
“Emily.”
Victoria smiled.
“You have five minutes.”
“For what?”
“To decide which one of them dies.”
She raised the gun.
“One man.”
She pointed at Raymond.
“One man.”
She pointed at Lucas.
“And your mother.”
Emily stared.
“You want me to choose?”
Victoria smiled.
“No.”
She pulled the trigger.
May you like
But instead of shooting anyone else...
she shot herself.
