Chapter 9 — The Bloodline
Chapter 9 — The Bloodline
The words followed me all the way back to Chicago.
Another child.
My mother had said them as though they were a death sentence.
Perhaps they were.
The Moretti estate appeared through the windshield just before dawn.
Its limestone walls stood pale against the snow.
The same house where Emma had offered Alessandro half a broken cookie.
The same house where I had first believed my greatest problem was keeping my job.
Now I knew there was a hidden laboratory beneath it.
A missing child.
A corrupted bloodline.
And a man who had spent decades manipulating everyone around him.
Alessandro stared at the gates.
“How long has it been there?”
My mother answered from the rear seat.
“Twenty-six years.”
He looked at her in the mirror.
“And nobody knew?”
“Your father knew.”
“Who else?”
She hesitated.
“Your grandfather.”
Alessandro's hands tightened around the wheelchair controls.
“So my entire childhood was built above a laboratory.”
“Yes.”
“And my father used it to create heirs.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
My mother looked at me.
“Because the Moretti Trust was never designed to reward wealth.”
She paused.
“It was designed to reward blood.”
The gates opened.
No guards greeted us.
The estate felt dead.
Too quiet.
Matteo immediately noticed.
“Something's wrong.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Where is everyone?”
“Gone.”
“Check the cameras.”
“Still offline.”
Michael appeared from the second vehicle.
His shoulder was bandaged.
He looked toward the mansion.
“They're waiting for us.”
Alessandro glanced at him.
“Who?”
Michael shook his head.
“Your father.”
I looked at my mother.
She was staring at the house.
Her face had gone pale.
“Mom?”
She whispered:
“I haven't been here since the night your daughter was born.”
I froze.
“You've been inside?”
“Yes.”
“What happened that night?”
She closed her eyes.
“I saw the laboratory.”
“What did you see?”
“Children.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
My stomach dropped.
“Three?”
She nodded.
“One was Emma.”
“One was Eva.”
“And the third?”
My mother looked at me.
“I never learned her name.”
We entered through the main doors.
The house was exactly as I'd left it.
Except for one detail.
On the floor of the foyer were three small footprints.
Wet.
Child-sized.
They led toward the west wing.
Emma's.
I knew them immediately.
I ran.
Alessandro followed.
“Anna, wait!”
I couldn't.
I followed the footprints.
They stopped at the library.
The hidden door was open.
Beyond it was the staircase descending into darkness.
Alessandro stopped.
“Matteo.”
“Yes?”
“Stay upstairs.”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
Alessandro looked at him.
“I'm going with you.”
“You're injured.”
“So are you.”
Michael smiled faintly.
“Fair.”
I looked at both brothers.
Then down the stairs.
“Let's go.”
The staircase seemed endless.
The air became colder.
The walls changed from stone to reinforced concrete.
Then we reached a steel door.
It had no handle.
Only a biometric scanner.
Alessandro placed his palm against it.
Nothing.
Michael tried.
Nothing.
My mother stepped forward.
The scanner turned green.
The door opened.
Alessandro stared at her.
“You had access.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why did it open?”
My mother looked at me.
“Because it recognized your blood.”
I stepped forward.
The door opened wider.
Beyond it was a corridor filled with glass rooms.
I stopped breathing.
The laboratory was enormous.
Medical equipment.
Incubators.
Freezers.
Computers.
Rows of locked cabinets.
And photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Children.
Families.
Blood samples.
DNA charts.
The names of people I had never heard of.
Michael whispered:
“My God.”
Alessandro rolled slowly into the first room.
There was a monitor.
A file opened automatically.
SUBJECT A-01 — SUCCESSFUL.
He scrolled.
SUBJECT A-02 — FAILED.
SUBJECT A-03 — FAILED.
SUBJECT A-04 — SUCCESSFUL.
I felt sick.
“How many?”
Michael counted the files.
“Twenty-three.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed toward another directory.
“Thirty-one.”
I stared at her.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew!”
She began crying.
“I tried to stop it.”
“You let this happen.”
“I tried.”
“You should have told me!”
“I was afraid.”
“Of him?”
“Yes.”
I pointed toward the files.
“Then why did you bring me into this?”
“Because I thought it was over.”
A voice came through the speakers.
“It never was.”
We all froze.
Lorenzo.
His voice echoed through the laboratory.
“Welcome home.”
Alessandro looked around.
“Where are my daughters?”
A screen turned on.
Emma appeared.
Then Eva.
They were in separate rooms.
Alive.
Terrified.
I ran toward the monitor.
“Emma!”
She looked up.
“Mama!”
Eva cried:
“Mommy!”
I covered my mouth.
Lorenzo's voice continued.
“Two children.”
A pause.
“One bloodline.”
Another screen appeared.
A DNA chart.
Three names.
ALESSANDRO MORETTI
DANIEL CARTER
UNKNOWN FEMALE
I stared.
“What is that?”
Lorenzo laughed.
“The truth.”
Alessandro looked at my mother.
“What does the third sample mean?”
She said nothing.
Lorenzo answered for her.
“The third sample belongs to your sister.”
Alessandro frowned.
“I don't have a sister.”
Lorenzo's voice softened.
“You did.”
Silence.
“She died.”
“No.”
“She was killed.”
“No.”
Alessandro's face changed.
“Then where is she?”
Lorenzo smiled.
“Standing in front of you.”
Everyone looked at me.
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
My mother closed her eyes.
Alessandro stared at me.
Lorenzo continued.
“Anna isn't Anna.”
I felt the room tilt.
“What?”
“Your mother changed your identity.”
My mother stepped forward.
“Stop.”
“You were born a Moretti.”
My knees weakened.
“No.”
“You were born to inherit.”
“No.”
“Your mother stole you.”
I turned toward her.
“Mom.”
She began sobbing.
“I had no choice.”
“Who am I?”
She couldn't answer.
Lorenzo did.
“You are Alessandra Moretti.”
Silence.
Alessandro stared at me.
His face had lost all color.
“That's impossible.”
Lorenzo laughed.
“You've been searching for your sister for twenty-seven years.”
Michael stepped backward.
“No.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“You're my sister?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I looked at my mother.
“Tell him.”
She cried.
“I changed your name.”
“Tell him!”
“You were born Alessandra.”
My world collapsed.
The laboratory seemed to spin.
Alessandro backed away.
I couldn't breathe.
All those years.
My childhood.
My name.
My birth certificate.
Everything had been false.
I looked at my mother.
“Why?”
She finally answered.
“Because Lorenzo wanted to marry you into the family.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He wanted you to become the mother of his next heir.”
Alessandro's face became horrified.
“He wanted his own daughter to marry—”
“Yes.”
The words hung in the air.
Michael covered his mouth.
“This family is sick.”
My mother looked at me.
“I took you and ran.”
“But I grew up believing I was someone else.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because once you knew who you were, Lorenzo would find you.”
I looked toward the screens.
“And Emma?”
“Your daughter carries both bloodlines.”
“Because Daniel?”
My mother nodded.
“Daniel was chosen because his genetic profile completed the succession.”
I felt nauseous.
“You used him.”
“Yes.”
“And he knew?”
My mother looked at Daniel.
He stood at the entrance.
His face was broken.
“I didn't know everything.”
“You knew enough.”
He nodded.
“I knew there was something unusual about your family.”
“And you still married me.”
“I loved you.”
“Was any of it real?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Every moment.”
I looked away.
Then Alessandro said:
“She is my sister.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
Alessandro stared at him.
“And Emma?”
“Your daughter.”
“And Eva?”
“Your daughter.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“We're siblings.”
I nodded.
He looked devastated.
Then a gunshot echoed through the laboratory.
Michael fell.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Michael!”
Alessandro rushed toward him.
Another shot.
The lights went out.
I heard Emma screaming.
Then Eva.
Then Lorenzo's voice:
“Now you understand the bloodline.”
A door slammed.
When the emergency lights came on, the screens were black.
The girls were gone.
Again.
We found Michael barely conscious.
Alessandro pressed a cloth against his wound.
“Stay with me.”
Michael laughed weakly.
“You always were terrible at this.”
“Shut up.”
“Nice to see you too.”
I knelt beside them.
“Who shot you?”
Michael pointed toward the corridor.
“Not Lorenzo.”
“Then who?”
He looked at me.
“Your mother.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She knew.”
My mother stepped backward.
“No.”
Michael grabbed Alessandro's sleeve.
“Your mother didn't just protect you.”
He looked at me.
“She helped create the bloodline.”
My mother shook her head.
“I had no choice.”
Michael whispered:
“You always say that.”
Alessandro stared at her.
“Did you know about the children?”
“Yes.”
“Did you help Lorenzo?”
“I was forced.”
“You lied to us.”
“Yes.”
“You let children die.”
My mother collapsed into a chair.
“I tried to save as many as I could.”
Michael shook his head.
“You saved yourself.”
My mother looked at me.
“I saved you.”
The words silenced everyone.
She reached into her coat.
She pulled out another envelope.
“I kept this for twenty-seven years.”
She handed it to me.
The paper was old.
My hands trembled.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Not mine.
A child's.
ALESSANDRA MARIA MORETTI.
Mother:
Isabella Moretti.
Father:
Lorenzo Moretti.
Sibling:
Alessandro Moretti.
I couldn't look away.
Then something fell from the envelope.
A photograph.
Two newborn babies.
One was me.
The other was Alessandro.
Written beneath them:
THE HEIRS.
I cried.
Not because I had discovered who I was.
Because I had discovered what they had wanted me to become.
A tool.
A bloodline.
A signature.
A womb.
A piece of property.
Alessandro picked up the photograph.
He looked at it for a long time.
Then he looked at me.
“I don't know what to call you.”
I wiped my tears.
“Anna.”
He nodded.
“Then Anna.”
He extended his hand.
I took it.
“We're still family.”
“Yes.”
“Nothing changes that.”
I nodded.
For the first time, I believed him.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
A woman's voice spoke.
Daniel turned pale.
“What do you want?”
She replied.
He put the phone on speaker.
Lorenzo's voice came through.
“You have one hour.”
“For what?”
“To decide which child inherits.”
Daniel looked at me.
“What happens if we refuse?”
Lorenzo laughed.
“Then neither child does.”
The call ended.
Michael stared at the phone.
“What does that mean?”
Alessandro looked toward the laboratory files.
“I think I know.”
He opened the original trust document.
There was a clause buried near the bottom.
One that none of us had seen.
In the event of competing heirs, succession shall be determined by bloodline purity.
I stared.
“What is bloodline purity?”
Michael answered:
“That's the trap.”
“How?”
He looked at Alessandro.
“Only one of the girls has the complete genetic combination.”
My stomach dropped.
“Which one?”
Michael shook his head.
“We don't know.”
Then a computer suddenly powered on.
A single message appeared.
SUBJECT EVA — 100% MATCH.
I stopped breathing.
Then another appeared.
SUBJECT EMMA — 100% MATCH.
Alessandro stared at the screen.
“That can't be.”
Michael whispered:
“They're both perfect.”
The final message appeared.
THIRD SUBJECT — ACTIVE.
I stared.
“Third?”
A camera feed opened.
A woman stood in a laboratory.
Holding a baby.
She slowly turned toward the camera.
My mother screamed.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“Who is that?”
She couldn't answer.
The woman smiled.
Then the baby opened its eyes.
Green.
Just like Eva's.
Lorenzo's voice filled the laboratory.
“You wanted the bloodline.”
A pause.
“Now you can meet the child I kept hidden from all of you.”
Alessandro stared at the screen.
Michael whispered:
“There were never two heirs.”
The woman smiled.
May you like
“There were three.”
And then the screen went black.
