PART 4
“Her.”
The word seemed to split the room in half.
I stared at Robert.
Then at Elena.
Then back at Robert.
“No.”
My voice came out smaller than I expected.
“No.”
Elena was crying behind the tape covering her mouth.
She shook her head violently.
Robert stepped toward me.
“Sophia—”
“Don’t call me that.”
He stopped.
I could hear everyone breathing.
Gabriel beside me.
Daniel near Helena.
Victor somewhere in the darkness.
Catherine still smiling like she had been waiting twenty-four years for this moment.
I looked at Elena again.
“You tried to kill me?”
She shook her head.
I ripped the tape from her mouth.
She gasped.
“Tell me.”
“Sophia—”
“Tell me!”
“I didn’t try to kill you.”
Robert shouted:
“Elena.”
She turned on him.
“I didn’t!”
“You signed the consent.”
“I was nineteen!”
“You knew what they were doing.”
“I knew what they told me!”
My heart hammered.
“What consent?”
Nobody answered.
I screamed:
“WHAT CONSENT?”
Helena closed her eyes.
Daniel looked away.
Even Catherine’s smile faded.
That terrified me more than anything.
Robert finally spoke.
“For the procedure.”
“What procedure?”
“The one that left the mark on your shoulder.”
I touched it instinctively.
“What did they do to me?”
Elena whispered:
“They stopped your heart.”
The room tilted.
I grabbed the shelf behind me.
“What?”
“They said it had to be done.”
“Who said?”
Elena looked toward Catherine.
Catherine laughed softly.
“Don’t look at me.”
“You were there,” Elena said.
“I observed.”
“You arranged it.”
“I arranged many things.”
I stared at Elena.
“Why would anyone stop a child’s heart?”
She started crying harder.
“Because you weren’t supposed to remember.”
Silence.
I almost laughed.
It sounded insane.
“I was a child.”
“Yes.”
“What could I possibly remember?”
Elena looked at Robert.
He shook his head.
She ignored him.
“The basement.”
Every person in the room went still.
I stared at her.
“What basement?”
“The first facility.”
“Boston?”
She nodded.
“You were there before Saint Helena.”
“How old was I?”
“Five.”
My stomach twisted.
“You said I was a baby.”
“That was the second story.”
“Second?”
I could barely breathe.
“How many lives did you people invent for me?”
No one answered.
Catherine folded her arms.
“Enough to keep you useful.”
Robert spun toward her.
“Shut up.”
“Oh, Robert.”
She smiled.
“You’ve spent decades pretending you were the only one protecting her.”
He took a step toward Catherine.
Victor raised his weapon.
“Don’t.”
Robert stopped.
I barely noticed.
My eyes stayed on Elena.
“What happened in Boston?”
She whispered:
“You saw something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Stop lying.”
“I swear.”
“You raised me for twenty-four years and now suddenly you know nothing?”
“I knew pieces.”
“Then give me the pieces.”
Elena looked at my shoulder.
“There was a research ward beneath a private hospital.”
My skin crawled.
“What kind of research?”
Robert interrupted.
“You don’t need to know every detail tonight.”
I turned on him.
“Every detail is the only thing I need.”
He went silent.
Elena continued.
“Children were being moved through it.”
“Why?”
“For experimental treatments.”
My stomach turned.
“Treatments for what?”
“Trauma.”
“Memory.”
“Neurological damage.”
She swallowed.
“Identity.”
I stared at her.
“Identity isn’t an illness.”
“No.”
“But memory can be manipulated.”
Catherine said it almost casually.
I looked at her.
“You’re saying they experimented on children to change what they remembered?”
She shrugged.
“Among other things.”
Helena whispered:
“Catherine.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know.”
Helena’s face crumpled.
“I found out later.”
Catherine laughed.
“Everyone in this room found out later.”
I felt sick.
“What did I see?”
Elena looked at me.
“A man.”
“Who?”
She closed her eyes.
“Victor.”
Victor stepped from the shadows.
“That is a lie.”
Robert said:
“It’s not.”
Victor’s face hardened.
I looked between them.
“What did I see him do?”
Elena whispered:
“You saw him kill someone.”
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
Nobody spoke.
Then Catherine said:
“Your mother.”
I looked at Helena.
She was alive.
Catherine smiled.
“Not Helena.”
My breath stopped.
Robert closed his eyes.
I whispered:
“My real mother?”
“Yes.”
Catherine’s voice softened.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”
I looked at Elena.
“You told me Helena was my mother.”
“She was supposed to be.”
“What does that even mean?”
Robert spoke.
“Helena agreed to take you.”
“Why?”
“To hide you.”
“From Victor?”
“Yes.”
Victor laughed.
“You people really never get tired of telling that story.”
I turned toward him.
“Then tell me yours.”
His expression changed.
He hadn’t expected that.
“Go ahead.”
I stepped closer.
“You say Robert stole children.”
“You say Helena lied.”
“You say Elena brought me to Saint Helena.”
“So tell me who I am.”
Victor lowered his weapon slightly.
“My daughter.”
Robert shouted:
“No.”
Victor ignored him.
“You were born Emily Vale.”
“Who was my mother?”
He looked at me.
“Marissa Vale.”
The name hit something deep inside me.
Not a memory.
More like an echo.
Marissa.
A woman laughing.
Red hair.
A blue coat.
A song I couldn’t place.
My knees weakened.
Gabriel caught my arm.
“Sophia?”
I pulled away.
“Marissa.”
The room blurred.
Catherine noticed.
“Oh.”
She smiled.
“Look at that.”
Robert rushed forward.
“Don’t push her.”
“Why?”
Catherine tilted her head.
“Afraid she’ll remember?”
My vision flashed.
A white hallway.
A woman kneeling in front of me.
Red hair.
Blood on her sleeve.
“Run, Emily.”
I gasped.
Gabriel grabbed me.
“What happened?”
“I saw her.”
Everyone froze.
“Elena.”
I looked at her.
“I saw a woman.”
She covered her mouth.
“Red hair.”
Helena began crying.
Victor’s face changed.
Not grief.
Fear.
I stared at him.
“You killed her.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“I saw you.”
“You saw what they made you believe.”
Robert moved between us.
“Victor, enough.”
Victor aimed the gun at him.
“Move.”
I stepped around Robert.
“No.”
Victor looked at me.
“Emily.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“It’s your name.”
“You don’t get to give it back to me.”
His jaw tightened.
I continued.
“If Marissa Vale was my mother, why did she die?”
Victor said nothing.
“Why was I in that hospital?”
Silence.
“Why did they stop my heart?”
Still nothing.
Catherine laughed.
“Because Victor panicked.”
His head snapped toward her.
“Don’t.”
“Oh, now you care?”
“Catherine.”
“You wanted the girl erased.”
My entire body went cold.
Victor raised the gun.
Catherine smiled.
“Do it.”
Robert shouted:
“Put it down.”
Daniel moved Helena behind a shelf.
Gabriel pulled me lower.
Catherine continued.
“You always were weak when someone said her name.”
“Shut up.”
“Marissa.”
Victor fired.
The shot cracked through the archive.
Catherine jerked backward.
For one horrifying second, I thought she’d been hit.
Then I saw the bullet had struck the wall beside her head.
She laughed.
“You missed.”
Victor’s hand shook.
“That was intentional.”
“Of course.”
Robert lunged.
Everything exploded at once.
He grabbed Victor’s wrist.
The gun fired again.
Daniel shoved Helena down.
Gabriel pulled me behind the shelves.
Elena screamed.
Catherine disappeared into the darkness.
Then the lights came back on.
Emergency lights.
Red.
Pulsing.
Victor and Robert were on the floor fighting.
The gun skidded across the concrete.
I ran toward it.
Gabriel shouted:
“Don’t!”
Too late.
I picked it up.
Everyone froze.
I pointed it at the floor.
My hands were trembling so badly I could barely hold it.
“Stop.”
Robert released Victor.
Victor slowly stood.
Nobody moved.
“Now,” I said, “somebody tells me everything.”
Catherine stepped back into view.
“Finally.”
I pointed the gun toward her.
Her smile disappeared.
“You first.”
She raised her hands.
“What do you want to know?”
“Marissa Vale.”
Catherine looked at Victor.
He said nothing.
“She worked in Boston.”
“Doing what?”
“Neurology.”
“Doctor?”
“Researcher.”
“What was she researching?”
Catherine hesitated.
“Memory recovery after severe trauma.”
I looked at Robert.
“True?”
He nodded.
“And Victor?”
Catherine smiled faintly.
“He funded the program.”
Victor snapped:
“I funded legal research.”
“Until it stopped being legal.”
I looked at him.
“What did she discover?”
Catherine’s eyes returned to me.
“That memories could be suppressed.”
“I already know that.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“She discovered they could come back.”
My heart pounded.
“So?”
“So if memories always come back, people who pay to erase evidence have a problem.”
I felt sick.
“What evidence?”
“Children who saw things they weren’t supposed to see.”
Helena whispered:
“God.”
Catherine continued.
“Political families.”
“Criminal families.”
“Corporate scandals.”
“Abuse.”
“Murders.”
“Disappearances.”
“Children make excellent witnesses because adults underestimate them.”
My stomach twisted.
“And the program erased those memories?”
“Temporarily.”
“Marissa found that out.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor wanted her silenced.”
Victor shouted:
“That is not what happened.”
I pointed the gun at him.
“Then what happened?”
He looked at me.
“Marissa wanted to expose everyone.”
“Everyone including you?”
His silence answered.
Catherine smiled.
“She made copies.”
“Of what?”
“Patient records.”
“Payments.”
“Names.”
“Videos.”
“And?”
“She hid them.”
My eyes went to the sealed room.
“The archive.”
Catherine shook her head.
“No.”
“Then where?”
She looked at my shoulder.
My blood went cold.
“No.”
Catherine’s smile returned.
“They hid the access code in the patient.”
Robert shouted:
“Catherine.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
He closed his eyes.
I raised the gun.
“Tell me.”
Robert spoke slowly.
“The mark on your shoulder isn’t just surgical.”
“What is it?”
“It was created around an implanted device.”
My stomach dropped.
“No.”
Gabriel stared at me.
Daniel whispered:
“What?”
I touched my shoulder.
Suddenly every time Robert entered my room made sense in a darker way.
“You were checking an implant?”
“Yes.”
“For twenty years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To see whether it had migrated.”
My voice shook.
“What is inside me?”
Robert looked devastated.
“A data capsule.”
I almost laughed because the alternative was screaming.
“You expect me to believe they put evidence inside a child?”
“Marissa did.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody would search you.”
Catherine corrected him.
“Nobody except us.”
My skin crawled.
I remembered Robert’s fingers over the scar.
My wrist.
My neck.
Always checking.
I pointed the gun at him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You came into my room while I slept.”
“To make sure Catherine hadn’t removed it.”
I turned toward her.
She didn’t deny it.
“That’s why you were watching me?”
Robert nodded.
“Every night at 2:17?”
“Yes.”
“Why that time?”
“Because Catherine always chose anniversaries.”
I felt sick.
“Anniversary of what?”
He whispered:
“Your first death.”
I looked at Catherine.
“You stopped my heart.”
She tilted her head.
“Technically, the machine did.”
Robert lunged toward her.
I shouted:
“STOP!”
He froze.
I pointed the gun at Catherine.
“You did it?”
“I authorized it.”
“Why?”
“To interrupt memory consolidation.”
“You experimented on me.”
“You were already a witness.”
“I was five.”
“You were dangerous.”
I wanted to shoot her.
I felt it.
That terrified me.
I lowered the gun slightly.
“I’m not becoming you.”
For the first time, Catherine looked annoyed.
“Very noble.”
“No.”
I looked around the archive.
“Just practical.”
Then I turned to Robert.
“How do we remove the capsule?”
His face changed.
“We don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because of where it is.”
“Where?”
“Near the brachial plexus.”
I didn’t understand.
Daniel did.
His face went pale.
“Removing it could damage her arm.”
Robert nodded.
“Or worse.”
“What does the capsule contain?”
“No one knows.”
Catherine laughed.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
“The original client list.”
Robert’s expression went blank.
“No.”
“Oh, yes.”
Catherine stepped closer.
“Marissa wasn’t just saving patient files.”
“She copied every name connected to the Boston program.”
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
Victor whispered:
“You’re lying.”
Catherine looked at him.
“Your name is first.”
He lunged.
Gabriel tackled him.
The gun in my hands almost went off.
“STOP!”
Again.
Everyone froze.
I was done being the scared one in the room.
“Catherine.”
“Yes?”
“If the capsule matters that much, why didn’t you remove it years ago?”
She smiled.
“Because I didn’t know which child had it.”
I stared at her.
“The three medallions.”
“Exactly.”
“You lost track of me.”
“For five years.”
“Then Saint Helena.”
“Yes.”
“Why the fire?”
Catherine looked toward Helena.
Helena answered.
“To destroy records.”
Catherine smiled.
“And people.”
I stared at Helena.
“Did you start it?”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Mara had told the truth about that.
“At least partly,” Helena said.
“What does that mean?”
“I started a small fire in the records office.”
“To destroy evidence?”
“To create a distraction.”
“Why?”
“So Elena could get you out.”
“And the children who died?”
Helena began sobbing.
“The fire spread.”
My chest tightened.
“Twenty-two children.”
“Nineteen.”
“Still nineteen.”
“I know.”
“You killed nineteen children to save me?”
“No.”
Catherine interrupted.
“She didn’t.”
Helena stared at her.
Catherine smiled coldly.
“The main fire started in the dormitory.”
“Who started that one?”
Catherine looked toward Victor.
Victor went white.
“No.”
Robert whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What?”
Victor shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
Catherine said:
“You ordered the accelerant.”
“I ordered evidence destroyed.”
“You ordered everything destroyed.”
“Not the dormitory.”
“You knew what they would do.”
Victor’s face cracked.
For the first time, he looked old.
“I didn’t know children were still inside.”
Catherine laughed bitterly.
“You always say that.”
I looked around the room.
Everyone had blood on their hands.
Maybe not literally.
But close enough.
Robert had lied.
Elena had consented.
Helena had started one fire.
Victor had funded the program.
Catherine had turned it into a weapon.
Gabriel and Daniel had spent years chasing fragments.
And I had been the fragment none of them could control.
I lowered the gun.
“I’m leaving.”
Everyone stared.
Catherine laughed.
“You can’t.”
“Watch me.”
“You still have the capsule.”
“I know.”
“You won’t make it to a hospital.”
I froze.
“What?”
She smiled.
“The implant has a failsafe.”
Robert’s face drained.
“What did you do?”
Catherine pulled a small device from her pocket.
A remote.
“No.”
Robert moved.
Victor grabbed him.
Catherine held up her thumb.
“One button.”
My shoulder suddenly felt like it was burning.
“What does it do?”
Catherine’s voice softened.
“Destroys the capsule.”
“And me?”
She shrugged.
“Possibly.”
Gabriel stepped in front of me.
“Give me the remote.”
“No.”
Daniel moved too.
Catherine laughed.
“Look at that.”
“Brothers protecting the girl who isn’t even their sister.”
I looked at Gabriel.
Then Daniel.
“Is that true?”
Daniel said:
“I don’t care.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Neither do I.”
Something inside me shifted.
For the first time that night, blood didn’t feel like the only definition of family.
Catherine pressed her thumb against the button.
Robert shouted:
“WAIT!”
She stopped.
“What?”
“I know where Marissa’s backup is.”
Catherine stared at him.
Victor did too.
“You’re lying,” she said.
“No.”
“Where?”
Robert looked at me.
“Inside the capsule.”
Catherine rolled her eyes.
“That is the backup.”
“No.”
Robert shook his head.
“That’s the decoy.”
Everything went still.
Catherine’s face changed.
“What?”
“Marissa knew you would eventually find the implant.”
Robert looked toward me.
“So she placed something else inside Sophia.”
I felt sick.
“What else?”
He whispered:
“A second key.”
Catherine stared.
“To what?”
Robert smiled for the first time.
“The real archive.”
Catherine’s composure disappeared.
“Where?”
Robert said nothing.
She raised the remote.
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“I will kill her.”
Robert looked at me.
And suddenly I understood.
He wanted me to notice something.
His eyes moved toward my left wrist.
The place he had touched every night after checking my scar.
Neck.
Wrist.
Shoulder.
My scar wasn’t the only thing.
I looked at my wrist.
A tiny pale line.
Almost invisible.
Catherine followed my gaze.
Her eyes widened.
“No.”
I ran.
She pressed the button.
Pain exploded through my shoulder.
I screamed.
Gabriel caught me.
The world flashed white.
Then darkness.
When I opened my eyes, I was on the floor.
Robert was kneeling over me.
“Sophia.”
I gasped.
“My arm.”
“Can you move your fingers?”
I tried.
Yes.
Painfully.
“Good.”
“What happened?”
“The remote triggered the capsule.”
“Did it destroy it?”
Robert looked confused.
“No.”
Catherine screamed from across the room.
“WHY?”
Everyone looked at her.
The remote displayed a red error light.
Robert stared at me.
Then slowly smiled.
“Because it isn’t active anymore.”
Catherine went pale.
“What?”
Robert touched my shoulder.
“The capsule is gone.”
I stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
He looked toward Elena.
She was crying.
“Elena removed it.”
I turned.
“What?”
Elena nodded.
“When?”
Her voice broke.
“Fourteen years ago.”
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“You operated on me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Elena looked at Catherine.
“Marissa.”
Silence.
Catherine’s face changed completely.
Not anger.
Terror.
Victor whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“She didn’t die in Boston.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“The woman Victor killed wasn’t Marissa.”
Catherine backed away.
“No.”
“She survived.”
“No.”
“She found us years later.”
“NO.”
I stared at Elena.
“Where is she?”
Elena looked at me.
“I don’t know now.”
“Did you know then?”
“Yes.”
“When did you last see her?”
“Fourteen years ago.”
“What happened?”
“She removed the capsule.”
“And the evidence?”
“She took it.”
Catherine’s face had gone gray.
Robert whispered:
“Where?”
Elena shook her head.
“She never told me.”
I stared at my wrist.
“The second key?”
Elena nodded.
“She moved it.”
“Where?”
“Your wrist.”
My heart hammered.
“What does it open?”
Elena looked at Helena.
Helena’s face was wet with tears.
“The real archive.”
Victor whispered:
“Where is it?”
Nobody answered.
Then a voice came from the tunnel.
A woman’s voice.
Older.
Steady.
“Far away from you.”
Everyone turned.
A woman stepped into the red emergency light.
My breath stopped.
Red hair streaked with silver.
Blue coat.
The face from my flash of memory.
The woman who had knelt in front of me and said:
Run, Emily.
Catherine stumbled backward.
“No.”
Victor looked as if he’d seen death itself.
Robert whispered:
“Marissa.”
The woman looked at me.
Her eyes filled instantly.
For the first time all night, nobody spoke.
Then she smiled through tears.
“Hello, Emily.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
I stood slowly.
“You’re my mother?”
Her face broke.
“Yes.”
I wanted to run to her.
I wanted to scream at her.
I wanted to be five years old again.
Instead, I asked:
“Where have you been?”
Marissa’s expression changed.
“Making sure the people who did this could never reach you again.”
Catherine recovered first.
“You failed.”
Marissa looked at her.
“No.”
She reached into her coat.
Catherine raised the remote.
Marissa laughed.
“That toy stopped working fourteen years ago.”
Then she pulled out a small black drive.
Catherine’s face drained.
Marissa held it up.
“This is what you’ve all been killing each other over.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
She looked at me.
“It belongs to her.”
My heart pounded.
“Why me?”
“Because you were the last surviving witness.”
“To Boston?”
Marissa shook her head.
“To what happened before Boston.”
The room went silent again.
I stared at her.
“What happened before Boston?”
Marissa looked at Robert.
He lowered his eyes.
Then at Elena.
She began crying again.
Then at Victor.
His face hardened.
Finally, Marissa looked back at me.
“You were not born Emily Vale.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course I wasn’t.”
Every new truth erased the one before it.
“Then who am I?”
Marissa stepped closer.
“The name Emily came later.”
“What was my first name?”
She opened her mouth.
Then a shot rang out.
Marissa jerked.
I screamed.
“Mom!”
She fell.
The drive slid across the floor.
Everyone turned.
Catherine held a gun.
Smoke curled from the barrel.
Robert lunged.
Catherine fired again.
The bullet hit a shelf.
Gabriel tackled her.
Daniel grabbed the drive.
Victor reached for it.
They collided.
I dropped beside Marissa.
Blood spread beneath her coat.
“No.”
I pressed my hands against the wound.
“No, no, no.”
Marissa grabbed my wrist.
“Listen.”
“I’m calling an ambulance.”
“No time.”
“You’re not dying.”
“Emily.”
“Stop calling me that.”
She smiled faintly.
“Good.”
My tears fell onto her face.
“What?”
“That means you’re ready.”
“Ready for what?”
She looked at the drive in Daniel’s hand.
“For the truth.”
“Then tell me.”
Her breathing became shallow.
“Your first name…”
I leaned closer.
“What?”
She whispered a name.
One I had never heard.
But the moment she said it, something inside me opened.
A room.
A song.
A man holding my hand.
A little boy laughing.
A house with yellow curtains.
And someone calling me:
“Lena.”
I gasped.
Marissa smiled.
“Yes.”
“My name was Lena?”
“Lena Hart.”
“Hart?”
She nodded.
“Who were the Harts?”
Marissa’s eyes filled with tears.
“Your parents.”
My breath stopped.
“You’re not my biological mother?”
“No.”
Everything shattered again.
“Then who are you?”
“The woman who tried to save you.”
I stared at her.
“My real parents?”
She swallowed.
“Dead.”
“Victor?”
“No.”
“Catherine?”
Marissa looked toward Robert.
“No.”
“Then who killed them?”
Her grip tightened around my wrist.
“The one person everyone here still trusts.”
My heart froze.
“Who?”
She looked past me.
Directly at someone.
I slowly turned.
Gabriel?
Daniel?
Helena?
Elena?
Robert?
Victor?
Catherine?
Marissa whispered:
“Julia.”
I stopped breathing.
My best friend.
The woman who had watched every camera feed.
Tracked every location.
Helped me uncover every secret.
The person who knew where I was every second.
“No.”
Marissa’s voice faded.
“Julia isn’t your friend.”
My phone rang.
Everyone stared.
Caller ID:
JULIA.
My hands shook as I answered.
“Julia?”
She sounded calm.
Too calm.
“Did Marissa finally tell you?”
I couldn’t speak.
Julia sighed.
“I was hoping she’d die before that part.”
My blood turned to ice.
“Who are you?”
A soft laugh.
“The reason Robert never found the real person entering your room.”
I looked at Robert.
His face changed.
Julia continued.
“He wasn’t always the one coming in at 2:17.”
My skin crawled.
“You?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“To see if you remembered me.”
My throat closed.
“Remember you from where?”
Julia paused.
Then said:
“From the night your parents died.”
The entire archive disappeared around me.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t kill them.”
“Then who did?”
“Oh, Lena.”
Her voice softened.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Tell me.”
“They killed themselves.”
“No.”
“They chose you over everyone else.”
“What does that mean?”
Julia exhaled.
“Your father was the one who built the Boston program.”
My heart stopped.
“And your mother was the one who tried to expose it.”
The room spun.
“Who were they?”
Julia laughed.
“Open the drive.”
Daniel looked at me.
I nodded.
He plugged it into the old terminal.
Folders appeared.
Hundreds.
Then one file opened automatically.
A family photograph.
A man.
A woman.
A little girl.
Me.
And a boy standing beside me.
Older.
Maybe seven.
I stared.
“I had a brother.”
Julia’s voice came through the phone.
“Yes.”
My eyes moved closer to the screen.
The boy’s face.
Something about it.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
I looked around the room.
At Gabriel.
At Daniel.
At Robert.
Then I understood.
The boy in the photograph wasn’t Gabriel.
Wasn’t Daniel.
He was standing in this room.
I turned slowly.
Victor smiled.
“No,” I whispered.
Julia laughed softly.
“Yes.”
Victor wasn’t my father.
He was my brother.
My older brother.
The same boy in the picture.
The same child who had once held my hand.
The same man everyone had spent twenty-four years calling the monster.
Victor stared at the screen.
Tears filled his eyes.
“You finally remember.”
I backed away.
“No.”
“You were three.”
“No.”
“I was seven.”
“Stop.”
“I tried to get you out.”
“STOP!”
Julia’s voice cut through the room.
“And now for the part none of them knows.”
Everyone froze.
I gripped the phone.
“What?”
“Victor didn’t start this.”
Robert stared at the speaker.
Julia continued.
“Neither did Catherine.”
“Neither did Marissa.”
“Neither did Elena.”
“Your father did.”
My breath stopped.
“What was his name?”
Julia said it.
“Dr. Thomas Hart.”
The terminal changed.
A video file began playing automatically.
A man appeared on screen.
The same man from the family photograph.
My father.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If Lena ever sees this, then we failed.”
My knees weakened.
He continued.
“The program is no longer about memory.”
“It is about control.”
“And the person who took it from me is someone my family trusted.”
The video glitched.
Then my father said:
“Her name is Julia Mercer.”
I stared at the phone.
No one moved.
Julia laughed.
“You always did look like him.”
“Where are you?”
I whispered.
“Oh, Lena.”
Her voice turned cold.
“I’m closer than you think.”
Then the archive door slammed shut.
Steel locks engaged.
One.
Two.
Three.
Catherine stopped fighting.
Victor turned toward the tunnel.
Robert ran to the control panel.
Dead.
Julia continued:
“You’ve spent all night asking who lied to you.”
The emergency lights flickered.
“What you should have asked was who designed every clue you found.”
My blood froze.
The Saint Helena folder.
The tracker.
The hospital footage.
The messages.
The calls.
The camera feed.
Julia had been there for all of it.
“You led me here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I couldn’t open the archive without you.”
The terminal beeped.
A countdown appeared.
10:00.
9:59.
9:58.
Daniel whispered:
“What is that?”
Julia answered for him.
“Fire suppression purge.”
Robert’s face drained.
“That system doesn’t suppress fire.”
“No.”
Julia laughed.
“It removes oxygen.”
My stomach dropped.
Everyone looked at the sealed doors.
9:41.
9:40.
Gabriel started searching the walls.
Daniel grabbed Helena.
Robert pounded the control panel.
Victor stared at me.
Julia whispered:
“You have ten minutes, Lena.”
“To do what?”
“Open the final file.”
“What happens if I do?”
“You learn why everyone in that room had to be there tonight.”
“And if I don’t?”
Her voice softened.
“Then Saint Helena finally finishes what it started twenty-four years ago.”
The timer hit:
9:17.
And beneath it, a single file appeared.
HART PROJECT — SUBJECT ZERO
Beside the file was a photograph.
My photograph.
I stared at it.
Then at the name underneath.
Not Sophia.
Not Isabella.
Not Emily.
Not even Lena.
The name read:
SUBJECT ZERO — LENA HART — PRIMARY DESIGNER
My blood turned to ice.
I whispered:
“Designer?”
Julia laughed.
“You really don’t remember, do you?”
“What?”
“You weren’t one of the children they experimented on.”
The timer dropped to:
8:59.
8:58.
8:57.
Julia’s final words came through the speaker.
“You were the child who taught them how.”
END OF PART 4
