CHAPTER 12 — THE LAST LIE
CHAPTER 12 — THE LAST LIE
The message remained on my phone.
YOU RELEASED THE WRONG FILE.
Beneath it:
AND SHE IS STILL ALIVE.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
My mother stood in front of me.
Alive.
My daughters stood beside her.
Emily.
Eve.
Lucas.
My father.
My brother.
Everyone I thought I could trust was standing in that underground facility.
And yet someone was still lying.
I looked at my father.
“Who is she?”
He didn't answer.
“Dad.”
Nothing.
I stepped closer.
“Who ordered my mother's death?”
My father looked at my mother.
Then at me.
His face had changed.
The fear was back.
Not fear of Adrian.
Something worse.
Fear of the truth.
My mother noticed it too.
“Victor.”
He looked at her.
“You have to tell him.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You promised.”
“I promised to protect him.”
“You've been protecting him from the truth for twenty-five years.”
He closed his eyes.
I felt my anger rising.
“Tell me.”
Silence.
Then he whispered:
“Your grandmother.”
I frowned.
“Adrian's mother?”
“Yes.”
“She died thirty years ago.”
“No.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
My father looked at me.
“She didn't.”
The room became silent.
Even Adrian stopped moving.
He looked at my father.
“You're finally telling him.”
I turned toward Adrian.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Adrian smiled.
“Closer than you think.”
My mother suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Elias, we need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because if she knows the archive is open…”
She stopped.
A sound echoed through the corridor.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming toward us.
Everyone turned.
Adrian smiled.
My father went pale.
My mother whispered one word.
“Helena.”
A woman appeared at the end of the corridor.
She was elderly.
Elegant.
Dressed in white.
Her silver hair was pulled neatly behind her head.
She walked with a cane.
But there was nothing fragile about her.
Her eyes were sharp.
Cold.
Focused.
She stopped beneath the emergency lights.
And looked directly at me.
“Elias.”
I froze.
I had never met her.
But somehow...
I recognized her.
Not from photographs.
From dreams.
From fragments of childhood memories.
A woman's voice.
A hand touching my forehead.
A lullaby.
I took a step backward.
“You.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
My father moved in front of me.
“Stay away from him.”
She laughed.
“Still playing the hero, Victor?”
My father raised his weapon.
“Don't.”
She looked at him.
“You never could shoot me.”
“Try me.”
She smiled.
“You've had thirty years.”
Then she looked at Emily.
“Come here, child.”
Emily stepped behind me.
I raised my hand.
“Don't speak to her.”
Helena's eyes narrowed.
“You don't understand who she is.”
“I know exactly who she is.”
“No.”
Helena smiled.
“She isn't your daughter.”
Emily gasped.
I stared.
“What did you say?”
Helena's voice remained calm.
“Ask your father.”
I turned.
My father said nothing.
My mother stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
Helena looked at her.
“You survived.”
“Yes.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
My mother's face hardened.
“Neither were you.”
Helena laughed.
“Yet here we are.”
I looked between them.
“What is going on?”
My mother finally spoke.
“Helena was the one who created the Continuity Program.”
I stared at the old woman.
“You.”
She nodded.
“I built it.”
“Why?”
“To preserve our family.”
“By stealing children?”
“By protecting bloodlines.”
“By murdering people?”
“By removing threats.”
I shook my head.
“You sound exactly like Adrian.”
She smiled.
“He learned from me.”
I looked at Adrian.
“You served her.”
Adrian nodded.
“For most of my life.”
“And then?”
“She betrayed me.”
Helena's expression changed.
“You betrayed yourself.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“You promised I'd inherit everything.”
“You were never meant to inherit anything.”
Silence.
Adrian stared at her.
“What?”
“You were a caretaker.”
His face hardened.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You made me believe I was the heir.”
Helena smiled.
“You were useful because you believed you were.”
For the first time, I saw Adrian's entire world collapse.
Not because his empire was gone.
Because he had discovered that even he had been a pawn.
I looked at Helena.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
I laughed.
“You're going to have to be more specific.”
“You have the bloodline.”
“So?”
“You have the memories.”
“I don't.”
“You will.”
She looked at Emily.
“And she has the final marker.”
My stomach tightened.
“What marker?”
Helena stepped forward.
“E-00.”
I looked at Eve.
She stared at the floor.
“No.”
Helena smiled.
“Yes.”
I looked at Eve.
“What does E-00 mean?”
She whispered:
“The original.”
Helena nodded.
“The first child.”
I frowned.
“Then why is Eve E-00?”
Helena answered:
“Because Eve wasn't the first.”
I stared.
“Who was?”
Helena smiled.
“You.”
Silence.
My entire body went cold.
“What?”
“You were the first successful subject.”
My father stepped forward.
“That's a lie.”
Helena looked at him.
“You know it's true.”
“No.”
“You were there.”
“I was a child.”
“You watched.”
“I couldn't stop it.”
“You helped.”
My father lowered his head.
I looked at him.
“Dad?”
He couldn't meet my eyes.
I felt something break inside me.
“What did they do to me?”
My mother started crying.
Helena answered.
“We trained you.”
“For what?”
“To become the perfect successor.”
I shook my head.
“I was a child.”
“Yes.”
“You experimented on me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why don't I remember?”
“Because your mother erased it.”
I looked at my mother.
She nodded slowly.
“I had no choice.”
“Why?”
“Because you were becoming like them.”
I couldn't breathe.
“You mean…”
“You were beginning to believe them.”
Fragments appeared in my mind.
A white room.
A table.
Numbers.
A little girl crying.
A man standing over me.
My own voice.
“Again.”
Someone saying:
“Good.”
Another memory.
My mother holding me.
“You don't remember anything.”
A younger version of me shaking his head.
“Why?”
“Because you don't need to.”
Another memory.
A door.
A child.
Me telling someone:
“Take him.”
Lucas.
I looked at my son.
The memories were coming back.
Not all at once.
But enough.
I had been there.
I had seen the facility.
I had helped Adrian.
I had believed the lies.
Then my mother had erased my memories.
Not to punish me.
To save me.
I looked at her.
“You saved me.”
She nodded.
“I tried.”
“And Dad?”
She looked at him.
“He helped me.”
I turned toward my father.
“You helped her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you keep lying?”
His voice broke.
“Because I was ashamed.”
I stared at him.
“You should have told me.”
“I was afraid you'd hate me.”
“I do.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
Then I saw the tears in his eyes.
And suddenly, anger wasn't enough.
He had failed me.
But he had also tried to save me.
Both things could be true.
Helena stepped forward.
“You see?”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Your family lies.”
She smiled.
“They always have.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“What?”
“They lied because they were afraid.”
“And I wasn't?”
“You lied because you wanted control.”
Her smile disappeared.
I stepped closer.
“You didn't protect anyone.”
“You built cages.”
“You called them homes.”
“You destroyed families.”
“You called them bloodlines.”
“You stole children.”
“You called them heirs.”
Helena's eyes narrowed.
“And what did your precious father do?”
I looked at him.
“He made mistakes.”
“He betrayed you.”
“Yes.”
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“He abandoned Lucas.”
“Yes.”
“And yet you forgive him?”
I stared at her.
“I'm not forgiving him.”
I turned toward my father.
“Not yet.”
Then back to Helena.
“But I choose him.”
She laughed.
“Choice.”
“Yes.”
“The illusion of freedom.”
“No.”
I looked at Emily.
“The thing you could never understand.”
Helena raised her cane.
A small red light appeared.
The entire facility began locking down.
Doors slammed shut.
Metal barriers dropped.
The countdown disappeared.
A new message appeared.
CONTINUITY PROTOCOL: ACTIVE.
My father looked horrified.
“She still has access.”
I looked at Helena.
“You activated it.”
“Yes.”
“What does it do?”
“It completes the succession.”
Adrian suddenly shouted:
“No!”
Helena looked at him.
“Too late.”
“What succession?”
She smiled.
“The system will select the strongest bloodline.”
Emily stepped backward.
“What does that mean?”
Helena looked at her.
“You.”
I moved in front of Emily.
“No.”
“The system will determine whether you're worthy.”
“I don't care.”
“You don't have a choice.”
I looked at the control panel.
“Everyone has a choice.”
Helena laughed.
“You still don't understand the system.”
“No.”
I looked at Lucas.
“But he does.”
Lucas stepped forward.
Helena's smile disappeared.
“You.”
Lucas looked at her.
“You trained me.”
“Yes.”
“You taught me every protocol.”
“Yes.”
“You taught me how to control the system.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Then you made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You taught me how to destroy it.”
Helena's eyes widened.
Lucas ran toward the central console.
“No!”
Security barriers dropped around him.
My brother rushed forward.
Noah grabbed the barrier.
“Lucas!”
“I've got it!”
Helena screamed:
“Stop him!”
Adrian suddenly moved.
He attacked Helena.
She fell backward.
Everyone froze.
Adrian stood over her.
“You used me.”
Helena stared up at him.
“Yes.”
“You used my son.”
“Yes.”
“You used my family.”
“Yes.”
Adrian's face twisted.
“Then you deserve to lose everything.”
He kicked the cane away.
My father looked at me.
“Elias.”
I nodded.
We moved.
Lucas reached the console.
His fingers moved rapidly.
The system displayed warnings.
DELETION WILL BE PERMANENT.
He looked at me.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“If I do this…”
He hesitated.
“What?”
“It deletes every Voss record.”
“Every record?”
“Every genetic database.”
“Every succession protocol.”
“Every identity file.”
“Every hidden facility.”
“Everything.”
I looked at my children.
Then at Helena.
Then at the thousands of photographs on the walls.
“Do it.”
Lucas pressed the button.
The system asked:
FINAL CONFIRMATION.
He looked at me.
I nodded.
He pressed YES.
The facility shook.
Lights exploded.
Computers shut down.
Screens went black.
The archive disappeared.
The Continuity Program ended.
For the first time in almost fifty years...
nobody controlled the system.
Nobody owned the children.
Nobody controlled the bloodline.
There was nothing left to inherit.
Helena stared at the dead screens.
“No.”
She began laughing.
Then crying.
Then laughing again.
“You destroyed the future.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
I took Emily's hand.
“We gave it back.”
Police stormed the facility minutes later.
Helena was arrested.
Adrian was arrested.
The remaining officials connected to the program were exposed.
The world learned what had happened beneath the city.
But the hardest truth wasn't the scandal.
It was what came afterward.
The rebuilding.
The apologies.
The therapy.
The funerals.
The families searching for children who had disappeared decades earlier.
The names of people who would never come home.
No victory could bring them back.
No empire could repair what had been destroyed.
But at least the lies had ended.
Almost.
Three days later, I stood outside the hospital.
Emily sat beside me.
Eve was upstairs.
Lucas was speaking with investigators.
My mother was sleeping.
My father sat quietly nearby.
I looked at him.
“Dad.”
He looked up.
“I have one question.”
“What?”
“Did you know Helena was alive all these years?”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“That's the last lie.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she threatened your children.”
I looked at him.
“And now?”
“Now she can't.”
I studied his face.
For the first time, I saw no secrets.
Only regret.
I stood.
“You're going to tell me everything.”
“Yes.”
“No more lies.”
“No more.”
I walked toward him.
Then stopped.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“I don't forgive you yet.”
He nodded.
“I don't expect you to.”
“But…”
I looked at my family.
“We can start again.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then a child's voice whispered:
“Are you Elias Voss?”
I froze.
“Yes.”
The child whispered:
“They told me you were dead.”
My blood went cold.
“Who told you?”
Silence.
Then:
“Helena.”
I looked at my father.
His face went pale.
The child continued.
“There's another facility.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Where?”
A pause.
Then the child whispered:
“Under your house.”
The call ended.
I stood frozen.
My father stared at me.
“What is it?”
I looked at him.
“You said the Continuity Program was destroyed.”
“It was.”
“Then why is there another facility?”
He didn't answer.
I looked toward my family.
The nightmare wasn't over.
The system was gone.
The empire was collapsing.
Helena was in prison.
But someone had built one final secret.
And this time...
it wasn't beneath the city.
It was beneath the home where I had raised my children.
I looked at my father.
“Take me home.”
He swallowed.
“Elias…”
“Now.”
Because there was only one question left.
May you like
Who had been living beneath our house...
all these years?
