CHAPTER 3 – The Memory That Was Never There
Emma's question pierced deeper than any bullet ever could.
"Mama..."
Her tiny fingers tightened around my hand.
"Is that true?"
Every face in the underground chamber turned toward me.
The guards lowered their rifles.
Even the distant sounds of explosions above seemed to disappear.
Only Alessandro continued watching me, his expression unreadable.
I couldn't breathe.
Not because I had been caught in a lie.
Because I suddenly realized something terrifying.
I didn't know the answer myself.
...
"I don't remember anything before the hospital."
The words left my mouth almost as a whisper.
Emma blinked.
"You don't?"
I slowly shook my head.
"I've told you the story I believed was true."
Alessandro took one step closer.
"What do you mean... believed?"
I stared at the concrete floor.
"Everything before Saint Gabriel is a blur."
Luca frowned.
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know."
It was the truth.
Fragments floated through my mind.
Rain.
A woman's voice singing.
A silver necklace.
The smell of smoke.
Then...
Nothing.
The first memory I could clearly recall was waking in a small apartment six days before I started working at Saint Gabriel Hospital.
No family.
No photographs.
No identification except a recently issued driver's license.
No childhood friends.
Nothing.
At the time I assumed I had simply wanted to leave my past behind.
Now...
I wasn't so sure.
Luca spoke carefully.
"Boss..."
Alessandro didn't answer.
Instead, he looked directly into my eyes.
"What is your full name?"
I hesitated.
"Clara Bennett."
"Birth certificate?"
"I've never seen it."
"Parents?"
"I don't know."
His expression hardened.
"Where were you born?"
"I..."
The answer should have been simple.
Instead...
My mind went completely blank.
I couldn't remember.
Not the city.
Not the state.
Not even the country.
A cold shiver crawled down my spine.
How had I never questioned this before?
Emma suddenly wrapped both arms around my leg.
"It's okay, Mama."
Her voice was small.
"You still know me."
I knelt and hugged her tightly.
"Always."
No matter what happened...
That would never change.
...
Luca's phone vibrated.
He answered immediately.
"What?"
His face changed.
"When?"
He listened for several seconds before hanging up.
"The surveillance team reviewed the mansion cameras."
Alessandro folded his arms.
"And?"
"They found someone entering the underground passage forty-eight minutes before the gala."
"Show me."
A tablet was handed over.
The grainy footage revealed a hooded figure walking through the hidden tunnel.
Average height.
Black coat.
Gloves.
The face remained hidden beneath the hood.
The stranger stopped beside the wall of Emma's photographs.
Removed something from a backpack.
Then disappeared through another exit.
Luca rewound the footage.
"There."
The figure briefly raised a hand.
A serpent tattoo curled around the wrist.
The room fell silent.
Dr. Victor Salazar.
Or someone pretending to be him.
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
"I buried that man."
Luca nodded slowly.
"We all believed we did."
...
Another guard hurried into the tunnel.
"Boss."
"What now?"
"We searched the entire passage."
"And?"
"We found another room."
Everyone followed him deeper underground.
The second chamber was much smaller.
Unlike the nursery, it contained no toys.
Only computers.
Dozens of them.
Their screens were still glowing.
Someone had left only minutes earlier.
On one monitor appeared live security footage.
Not of the mansion.
Of Emma's preschool.
Another showed the grocery store near our apartment.
Another...
My apartment building.
I felt sick.
"They've been watching us..."
For years.
Every movement.
Every routine.
Every birthday.
Every doctor's appointment.
Emma pointed toward the largest monitor.
"Mama."
Someone had paused a video.
It showed me sitting on a park bench two weeks earlier while Emma fed pigeons.
Behind us sat an elderly man reading a newspaper.
I had never noticed him.
The footage zoomed closer.
The newspaper lowered slightly.
The old man's neck revealed...
A black serpent tattoo.
He had been less than ten feet away from Emma.
Watching.
Waiting.
Alessandro's fist slammed onto the desk hard enough to crack the wood.
"They were close enough to take her."
Luca looked at the screen.
"But they didn't."
"Why?"
No one answered.
Because there was only one explanation.
They hadn't wanted Emma.
Not yet.
...
One computer remained unlocked.
Luca touched the keyboard.
A password prompt appeared.
Before anyone could stop her, Emma climbed into the chair.
"I know."
"You do?" I asked.
She nodded confidently.
"The funny numbers."
She typed:
0317
The computer unlocked instantly.
Every adult froze.
"Emma..."
"How did you know that?"
She looked confused.
"The man with glasses always says it."
"What man?"
"The doctor."
Silence.
Files flooded the screen.
Hundreds of folders.
Medical reports.
DNA profiles.
Financial transfers.
Photographs.
Then...
One folder titled:
PROJECT EVE
Alessandro opened it.
Inside sat a single document.
CONFIDENTIAL
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
SUBJECT ONE:
EMMA
STATUS:
RECOVERED
SUBJECT TWO:
PENDING
Below that...
A family tree.
The Moretti bloodline stretched across generations.
Near the bottom appeared Alessandro's name.
Beneath it...
Two branches.
Twin Female A
Twin Female B
Neither contained names.
Only birth dates.
Three years ago.
Emma wasn't an only child.
She had been born with a twin sister.
The room erupted in disbelief.
"No..."
Alessandro stared at the screen.
"My wife only delivered one child."
Luca whispered,
"Or that's what someone wanted you to believe."
My knees nearly gave out.
Emma had a sister.
Somewhere.
Alive...
Or missing.
Then another notification flashed across the screen.
Incoming transmission.
The monitor switched automatically.
Static filled the display.
Slowly...
An image appeared.
A little girl.
About Emma's age.
Long dark hair.
Sleeping peacefully.
She looked...
Exactly like Emma.
Except for one detail.
Around her wrist gleamed another silver bracelet.
She opened her eyes.
Looked directly into the camera.
And smiled.
"Hello, Daddy."
The video froze.
A second later, another message appeared.
ONE DAUGHTER GREW UP LOVED.
THE OTHER GREW UP LEARNING TO KILL.
Then the screen went black.
No one spoke.
Not even Emma.
Alessandro's face had become stone.
He reached toward the monitor...
As though he could somehow touch the little girl trapped inside the frozen image.
His voice barely rose above a whisper.
"My daughter..."
Luca suddenly looked toward another monitor.
"Boss."
"What?"
"The transmission is still active."
"What does that mean?"
"It means..."
He swallowed.
"...whoever sent this..."
"...is watching us right now."
At that exact moment, the computer's webcam light blinked green.
Someone on the other end could see every face in the room.
Then, through the speakers, came a calm male voice.
"Good evening, Alessandro."
"I've been waiting three years for this conversation."
The voice paused.
Then added one sentence that drained every trace of color from my face.
"And Clara..."
May you like
"...it's almost time for you to remember who you really are."
End of Chapter 3
