Chapter 13 - Victoria collapsed.Emily screamed.
The gun hit the floor.
Security rushed inside.
Victoria was bleeding heavily.
Margaret dropped to her knees beside her.
“Why?”
Victoria coughed.
“You don't understand.”
She looked at Emily.
“I was never trying to kill you.”
Emily stared.
“Then what were you doing?”
Victoria smiled weakly.
“Protecting you.”
Raymond was shocked.
“You?”
Victoria nodded.
“Richard threatened my family.”
“What family?”
“My son.”
Emily froze.
“Your son?”
Victoria looked toward her.
“He was born eleven months ago.”
Emily remembered the impossible ultrasound.
“He wasn't eleven months in the womb.”
“No.”
“Then where was he?”
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“In Room 17.”
Everyone went silent.
She continued.
“They kept him alive there.”
“For what?”
“To test the formula.”
Emily knelt beside her.
“Is he alive?”
Victoria nodded.
“For now.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
Raymond whispered:
“We have to get him.”
Victoria handed Emily a key.
“Room 17.”
Emily stared.
“Another room?”
“No.”
“The room under it.”
A hidden compartment.
Emily looked at Raymond.
“Let's go.”
They ran.
The basement opened into an underground laboratory.
Inside were incubators.
Machines.
Dozens of files.
And one small child sleeping behind glass.
Emily stopped.
“That’s him.”
Victoria was carried in behind them.
She looked at the child.
“My son.”
Emily looked at the boy.
He looked normal.
Small.
Peaceful.
No signs of experimentation.
But the monitor beside him displayed:
BLACK ROSE SUBJECT 002
Margaret whispered:
“They're still testing him.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“Then we destroy everything.”
Suddenly, the doors locked.
Richard's voice came over the speaker.
“You won't.”
Emily looked up.
“Dad.”
Richard laughed.
“Not yet.”
Screens around the room turned on.
Richard appeared.
“The child will survive.”
“But not without the formula.”
Emily stepped forward.
“You need my blood.”
“Yes.”
“You need my baby.”
“Yes.”
“And you need Victoria's son.”
“Yes.”
Emily looked toward the incubator.
“What happens if I refuse?”
Richard smiled.
“Nothing.”
Emily frowned.
“You're bluffing.”
“No.”
He paused.
“You'll simply watch your mother die.”
The screen changed.
Margaret appeared inside another room.
A gas chamber.
Emily screamed.
“STOP!”
Richard smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Emily looked at Raymond.
He whispered:
“Don't do it.”
Emily said:
“If I give him what he wants, Mom dies later.”
Lucas nodded.
“He'll kill everyone.”
Emily looked at the monitors.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Emily noticed something.
A small camera above the incubator.
It had a blinking red light.
She remembered the hidden security system from Room 17.
The hospital was still transmitting.
She whispered to Dr. Shaw:
“Can you access the network?”
He nodded.
“How long?”
“Thirty seconds.”
Emily stared at the camera.
Then stepped directly into view.
“Richard.”
His voice came through.
“Yes?”
“You want me to surrender?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
Raymond turned toward her.
Emily continued:
“I'll give you everything.”
Richard smiled.
“Good.”
“But first…”
She raised the stolen birth certificate.
“I want the truth.”
Richard laughed.
“Ask.”
“Who is my biological father?”
Silence.
For the first time, Richard's expression changed.
Emily knew she'd found something.
“You lied about Lucas.”
“No.”
“You lied about yourself.”
Richard's eyes narrowed.
Emily continued.
“You are not my father.”
Richard froze.
“And Lucas isn't either.”
Dr. Shaw's eyes widened.
Emily smiled.
“Because Subject 001 isn't my father.”
She turned toward the incubator.
“It's my mother.”
Margaret's face appeared on the screen.
She was crying.
Richard shouted:
“STOP!”
Emily knew she was right.
The room went silent.
Then Margaret finally whispered:
“Yes.”
“I was Subject 001.”
The truth broke open.
Margaret had been the first successful carrier.
Emily had inherited the mutation from her.
And Black Rose had been built around her blood.
Richard wasn't Emily's father.
He was the man who had used her mother.
But one question remained.
Emily turned toward Margaret.
“Then who is my father?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
And answered:
“The man standing beside you.”
May you like
Emily slowly turned toward Dr. Shaw.
The doctor went completely still.
