CHAPTER 11: EMMA'S HIDDEN LIFE
The laboratory went silent.
Ethan stared at the screen.
PROJECT EVE: ORIGINAL CREATOR
Beneath those words was a name.
EMMA CARTER.
He looked at his wife.
Emma's face had lost all color.
“That's not true.”
Ethan didn't blink.
“Your name is right there.”
“I know.”
“You created Halcyon?”
“No.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“She did.”
Emma turned toward him.
“You're still lying.”
“Am I?”
Richard pointed toward the screen.
“The archive doesn't lie.”
Daniel stepped toward the computer.
“Actually, archives can be altered.”
Richard shook his head.
“Not this one.”
He looked at Ethan.
“Your wife created the original genetic database.”
Ethan turned toward Emma.
“Is that true?”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
“I never wanted this.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“I didn't know what it would become.”
“What did you create?”
Emma looked at Lily.
Then Claire.
“The original program wasn't designed to create children.”
“Then what was it designed for?”
“To identify them.”
Ethan frowned.
“Identify what?”
“Children carrying rare genetic markers.”
“Why?”
Emma hesitated.
“Because those markers could predict certain inherited diseases.”
“That doesn't sound like Halcyon.”
“It wasn't.”
She looked toward Richard.
“Not at first.”
Richard's expression hardened.
“Continue.”
Emma took a breath.
“My father was a geneticist.”
Ethan stared.
“You never told me that.”
“He worked with hospitals.”
“And?”
“He developed a system that could identify genetic risks before symptoms appeared.”
Ethan looked at the screens.
“And Halcyon?”
“My father created the foundation to fund the research.”
Richard interrupted.
“Then I joined.”
“You stole it,” Emma said.
Richard smiled.
“I improved it.”
“You weaponized it.”
“I made it profitable.”
“You started selling the data.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“To governments.”
Emma shook her head.
“To private corporations.”
Ethan looked horrified.
“People's genetic information?”
“Yes.”
“And children?”
“Yes.”
Emma's voice became quieter.
“That was when I tried to shut it down.”
Richard laughed.
“You created the system.”
“And I destroyed it.”
“No.”
Richard pointed at the archive.
“You hid the original data.”
Emma nodded.
“I encrypted it.”
“With your own DNA.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked confused.
“Why?”
“Because I knew they would eventually find a way around every password.”
“So you made yourself the key.”
Emma nodded.
“But I wasn't the only key.”
Ethan looked at Lily.
“And the girls?”
Emma nodded.
“Their genetic markers complete the encryption.”
Richard stepped forward.
“That's why I needed them.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“You've been hunting children for years.”
“I've been trying to protect the foundation.”
“By kidnapping them?”
“By controlling them.”
“That isn't protection.”
Richard looked at him.
“You're still naïve.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Maybe.”
He pointed toward Lily.
“But at least I'm not a monster.”
Richard's face tightened.
“You think you're better than me?”
“Yes.”
Richard laughed.
“Then ask your wife what happened three years ago.”
Ethan turned toward Emma.
“What happened?”
Emma looked down.
Richard answered for her.
“Your wife didn't disappear.”
Ethan's face changed.
“She was arrested.”
“What?”
“For stealing a child.”
Emma immediately shouted:
“That's a lie!”
Richard continued.
“She was caught leaving the hospital with Claire.”
“I was rescuing her!”
“You kidnapped her.”
“I saved her!”
Ethan stared at Emma.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you were unconscious.”
“After what?”
“You were attacked.”
“By who?”
Emma looked toward Richard.
“His men.”
Richard smiled.
“Then why did you flee?”
“Because you were going to kill us.”
Ethan looked between them.
“What happened to Claire?”
Emma's voice broke.
“I escaped with her.”
“And Lily?”
“I couldn't take both.”
Ethan froze.
“You left Lily?”
Emma nodded.
“I thought Vanessa would protect her.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“I did.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You raised her?”
“No.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I watched her.”
“From where?”
“From inside the foundation.”
Ethan suddenly understood.
“You were working for Richard.”
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“I was pretending to.”
Richard laughed.
“She was always loyal.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Until I wasn't.”
Daniel suddenly pointed his weapon at Richard.
“Enough.”
Richard smiled.
“You won't shoot me.”
“Try me.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You took my sister.”
Richard looked at him.
“I gave you a job.”
“You destroyed our family.”
“I gave you purpose.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“You murdered my father.”
Richard laughed.
“Your father was weak.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
Ethan stepped between them.
“Not yet.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“Because he knows where the children are.”
Richard nodded.
“Exactly.”
Ethan looked at him.
“How many?”
“Forty-two.”
“Where?”
Richard smiled.
“You're assuming they're all alive.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“How many are?”
Richard didn't answer.
“Tell me!”
Richard looked at the screen.
“Seven.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“Seven?”
“Seven survived.”
“And the others?”
Richard remained silent.
Emma closed her eyes.
Ethan turned toward her.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You suspected forty-two children were being experimented on?”
“I didn't know the number.”
“But you knew.”
Emma started crying.
“I was trying to stop it.”
Ethan stepped back.
For the first time, he looked at his wife differently.
Not with hatred.
With confusion.
Because the woman he had loved had apparently spent years hiding an entire life from him.
Then Lily tugged at his sleeve.
“Daddy.”
Ethan looked down.
“What?”
She pointed toward the computer.
“There.”
A small file had appeared.
SUBJECT 43.
Ethan stared.
“Forty-three?”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“That file shouldn't exist.”
Emma rushed toward the computer.
“What?”
Richard's voice became urgent.
“Don't open it.”
Ethan stopped.
“Why?”
“Because you don't know what you're releasing.”
Ethan opened the file.
The screen went black.
Then a video appeared.
A young Emma stood in a laboratory.
She was holding a newborn baby.
But the baby wasn't Lily.
It wasn't Claire.
It was another child.
Emma looked directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, I'm probably dead.”
Ethan stared.
Emma in the recording continued.
“I need you to understand one thing.”
She looked down at the baby.
“This child is not part of Project Eve.”
Richard's face turned pale.
The recording continued.
“She is the reason Project Eve was created.”
Ethan looked at the real Emma.
“What does that mean?”
Emma whispered:
“Turn it off.”
But the video continued.
The young Emma looked toward someone standing outside the frame.
“Take her to Ethan.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
The person stepped into view.
It was Richard.
But he was much younger.
And he was holding another newborn.
The two babies looked almost identical.
Emma continued:
“One of these children is ours.”
Richard looked at her.
“And the other?”
Emma's voice trembled.
“The other is hers.”
Ethan leaned closer to the screen.
“Whose?”
The camera slowly turned.
A woman's face appeared.
Ethan gasped.
It was his mother.
But she was much younger.
She was standing beside a hospital bed.
And in her arms was a newborn baby.
The same baby Emma had been holding.
Ethan's mother looked directly into the camera.
Then she said:
“Her name is Lily.”
Ethan turned toward Lily.
His daughter stared back at him.
The recording suddenly changed.
A second message appeared.
SUBJECT 43 IS STILL ALIVE.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“Where is she?”
Nobody answered.
Then a phone rang.
Everyone froze.
It was coming from Ethan's pocket.
He answered.
A child's voice whispered:
“Daddy?”
Ethan's heart stopped.
“Who is this?”
The girl began crying.
“Please come get me.”
“Where are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“I'm in the hospital.”
Ethan's face went white.
“Which hospital?”
The girl whispered:
“Room 317.”
The line went dead.
Emma grabbed his arm.
“Don't go.”
“Why?”
“Because Room 317 doesn't exist anymore.”
Ethan stared at her.
“What?”
Emma's voice trembled.
“They demolished that hospital three years ago.”
Daniel looked at the screen.
Then toward the ceiling.
“We have a bigger problem.”
“What?”
He pointed at the laboratory monitors.
Every screen had changed.
A single message appeared:
SUBJECT 43 HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.
May you like
Then the entire building shook.
And somewhere beneath their feet, something began screaming.
