CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 11
THE MORETTI FAMILY
The basement was completely dark.
I couldn't see Luka.
I couldn't see Daniel.
I couldn't even see Lily.
But I could hear her.
A tiny, restless sound against my chest.
Then Robert's voice came again.
"Don't move."
I froze.
Luka whispered:
"He's not here."
"What?"
"The voice."
I listened.
There was something strange about it.
Too clear.
Too close.
Yet there was no one upstairs.
Luka reached into his pocket and switched on a small flashlight.
The beam swept across the basement.
Empty.
No Robert.
No stranger.
Nothing.
Only the old shelves.
The safe.
And the open file.
Daniel stared toward the ceiling.
"That wasn't a recording."
"How do you know?"
"Because Robert never recorded that voice."
"Then who was it?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Luka walked toward the stairs.
I grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
He looked at me.
"Someone is trying to scare us."
"Or warn us."
"Either way, we need to leave."
"No."
I looked at the file.
"We came here for answers."
"We found enough."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Not yet."
I looked at Lily.
"My entire life is a lie."
My voice broke.
"I need to know who I am."
Luka lowered his weapon.
"Then we find out."
Daniel looked at the file.
"There may be another compartment."
"Where?"
"Under the bottom page."
Luka removed the documents.
There was a thin metal panel beneath them.
He pried it open.
A key fell out.
Engraved on it were two letters:
M.M.
Maria Moretti.
I stared at it.
"My mother."
Daniel nodded.
"Where would she hide something?"
I thought about Maria.
Her fear.
Her secrets.
The way she always avoided talking about the Moretti family.
Then I remembered something.
"The old chapel."
Luka looked at me.
"What chapel?"
"The Moretti estate."
Daniel's expression changed.
"You remember it?"
"I don't know."
A memory flickered.
Snow.
A stone chapel.
My mother crying.
A little boy holding my hand.
Luka.
And someone standing behind us.
A man.
Tall.
Elegant.
Cold.
I whispered:
"Marcus."
Luka's jaw tightened.
"Then that's where we're going."
We reached the Moretti estate just before dawn.
The mansion stood at the edge of the forest.
Black windows.
Broken statues.
Dead vines crawling over the stone walls.
It looked less like a home than a mausoleum.
I had been there before.
I knew it.
Even though I couldn't remember when.
Luka opened the gate.
The hinges screamed.
Daniel stayed behind us.
"Nobody has lived here for years."
"Then why is there a light?"
I pointed toward the chapel.
One small window glowed yellow.
Luka immediately raised his weapon.
"Stay behind me."
We crossed the courtyard.
The chapel door was unlocked.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and candle wax.
At the front stood a stone altar.
Behind it was a large portrait.
The Moretti family.
Marcus.
Maria.
Eva.
Luka.
And me.
I stopped.
"Why am I in this photograph?"
Luka stared at it.
"I've never seen this."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Look at the date."
A small plaque beneath the portrait read:
2001
My breath caught.
I was a baby.
Yet the photograph showed me standing between Eva and Luka.
I looked at Maria.
She was holding my hand.
Marcus stood behind us.
But there was something wrong.
There were five children.
Not four.
Five.
I counted again.
Eva.
Luka.
Me.
A little boy.
And another little girl.
"Who are they?"
Daniel examined the photograph.
"I don't know."
Luka stepped closer.
"That's impossible."
"What?"
"My brother was an only child."
I looked at him.
"You said you had no biological siblings."
"That's what I was told."
"Then who are these children?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at the little boy.
Something about him felt familiar.
His eyes.
His smile.
The way he stood.
Then I realized.
He looked like Lily.
My blood went cold.
"That's impossible."
Daniel looked at me.
"What?"
"That boy."
I pointed.
"He looks like my daughter."
Luka stared at the photograph.
His expression changed.
"You're right."
A noise came from behind us.
We turned.
The chapel door was closing.
Luka ran toward it.
Too late.
It slammed shut.
A lock clicked.
Daniel rushed forward.
"Open it!"
Luka tried.
Nothing.
Then the lights came on.
A projector flickered to life.
An old recording appeared on the wall.
Maria.
Twenty-five years younger.
She was sitting in this same chapel.
Her face was swollen from crying.
She looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this, then I'm dead."
I covered my mouth.
Maria continued.
"Or they've made me disappear."
She looked down.
"I don't know which is worse."
A younger Marcus entered the frame.
He placed a folder on the table.
Maria looked at him.
"You promised me."
Marcus answered:
"I promised to protect the family."
"You killed my daughter."
"She wasn't your daughter."
Maria slapped him.
I froze.
Marcus grabbed her wrist.
"She was an experiment."
"No."
Maria's voice broke.
"She was a child."
Marcus leaned closer.
"All of them were."
The recording changed.
Sixteen photographs appeared.
The children from M-01 through M-16.
Then one final photograph.
M-17.
Me.
Maria's voice returned.
"Marcus believed the Moretti bloodline could produce something extraordinary."
The screen showed Eva.
Then Luka.
Then me.
"Eva was the first."
The image changed.
"She survived."
Another.
"Luka was the second."
Another.
"He survived differently."
I looked at Luka.
He stared at the screen.
Then Maria said:
"And Elena was never supposed to survive at all."
My heart stopped.
The recording continued.
"Elena was the fourth attempt."
I whispered:
"Fourth?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Then who's the third?"
The screen showed the little boy from the photograph.
His name appeared:
M-03 — ADRIAN MORETTI
I froze.
"Adrian."
Luka whispered the name.
"I've never heard of him."
Maria continued.
"Adrian was the first child to inherit the complete sequence."
"What happened to him?"
The recording changed.
A hospital room.
A young boy lying unconscious.
Machines surrounding him.
Maria's voice became quiet.
"Marcus killed him."
Luka stepped back.
"Why?"
"Because Adrian remembered everything."
The screen showed Marcus standing beside the boy.
He was holding a syringe.
I covered my mouth.
"No."
The recording ended.
Silence.
Daniel looked at Luka.
"Your family was running this."
Luka's face was pale.
"My father."
"Your mother too."
"No."
Maria's recorded voice returned.
"I had no choice."
The next screen appeared.
A document.
MORETTI FAMILY RESEARCH PROGRAM
Below it:
PROJECT M-17
And beneath that:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: RECREATE ADRIAN
My heart stopped.
I looked at Luka.
"Adrian was the goal."
"Yes."
"They were trying to recreate him."
"Yes."
"And I was part of it."
Luka shook his head.
"No."
"Then why?"
"Because you weren't a copy."
He stared at the screen.
"You were something new."
A second recording began.
This time, it was Robert.
My father.
He looked exhausted.
"If Elena is watching this, then the Moretti family has failed."
I stared at him.
Robert continued:
"Adrian cannot be recreated."
A pause.
"So Marcus changed the objective."
The screen displayed a new file.
M-17: NATURAL SUCCESSOR
I felt sick.
Robert continued.
"They believed the sequence could be passed genetically."
"Not copied."
"Passed."
"That was why Elena's pregnancy mattered."
Daniel whispered:
"Lily."
I looked at him.
Robert continued:
"The child would be the first natural carrier."
My heart began pounding.
"That means..."
Daniel finished:
"Lily is M-17."
The screen changed.
A final document appeared.
PATERNAL SOURCE REQUIRED
Then:
MORETTI MALE LINE
I looked at Luka.
He stared at the screen.
"The father had to be a Moretti."
I shook my head.
"Then Victor..."
"Victor isn't a Moretti."
Daniel looked at me.
"That's why the DNA results were confusing."
Luka stepped closer to the screen.
"Who is the Moretti father?"
The recording suddenly stopped.
The chapel doors unlocked.
I turned.
Nobody was there.
Then a man's voice came from the back of the chapel.
"Me."
I froze.
A man stepped out of the shadows.
He was old.
Tall.
Silver hair.
A dark suit.
A cane in one hand.
But I knew him.
I had seen his face in photographs.
The man smiled.
"Hello, Elena."
Luka raised his gun.
The old man didn't react.
"Put it down, Luka."
Luka's face turned white.
"You're dead."
The man smiled.
"So everyone believed."
I stared at him.
"Marcus."
He nodded.
"Your grandfather."
My breath caught.
"You're alive."
"Obviously."
"You killed Adrian."
Marcus's expression didn't change.
"Adrian was weak."
"You experimented on children."
"We created them."
"You murdered them."
"Some."
My stomach turned.
"Some?"
Marcus walked toward us.
"The world is built by people willing to do what others cannot."
"You destroyed my life."
"No."
He looked at Lily.
"I gave your life meaning."
I stepped in front of my daughter.
"Don't look at her."
Marcus smiled.
"She's beautiful."
"Stay away."
"You still don't understand."
"Understand what?"
He looked at Luka.
Then Daniel.
Then me.
"Lily is not M-17."
I froze.
"What?"
"M-17 was the project."
He pointed at my daughter.
"She is M-18."
Silence.
Daniel's face went pale.
"What does that mean?"
Marcus smiled.
"It means the experiment succeeded."
I held Lily tighter.
"What experiment?"
Marcus looked at me.
"The creation of a child with two compatible paternal sequences."
My heart stopped.
"Victor and Luka."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
He pointed at the DNA report.
"Those results were manipulated."
"Then who?"
He smiled.
"You haven't met him yet."
I stared.
"Who is Lily's father?"
Marcus looked toward the chapel entrance.
"You're standing beside him."
I turned.
Luka was staring at Marcus.
"Don't."
Marcus smiled.
"Ask him."
I looked at Luka.
His face was unreadable.
"Ask him what happened the night you disappeared."
I swallowed.
"Luka."
He didn't answer.
Marcus continued:
"He was there."
"I know."
"No."
Marcus's smile widened.
"You don't know the whole story."
"What did he do?"
Marcus looked at Luka.
"Tell her."
Luka's eyes closed.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because she won't forgive me."
I felt my heart breaking.
"What did you do?"
Luka finally looked at me.
"Elena..."
"What did you do?"
He whispered:
"I took you."
The room went silent.
"You kidnapped me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Marcus ordered me to."
"You brought me to the laboratory."
"Yes."
"You gave me to them."
"No."
His voice cracked.
"I took you because I was trying to save you."
"Then why did you lie?"
"Because I failed."
Marcus laughed.
"Tell her the rest."
Luka looked at him.
"Enough."
Marcus smiled.
"You still protect her."
Then he turned toward me.
"Your daughter has two fathers."
I stared.
"One gave her his blood."
He pointed toward Luka.
"The other gave her the missing sequence."
I looked at him.
"Who?"
Marcus smiled.
"You."
I froze.
"What?"
"Your DNA."
He pointed at Lily.
"Half of her paternal signature isn't paternal."
I couldn't understand.
Marcus continued:
"You carried the genetic material of the father."
My blood went cold.
"That's impossible."
"Not with M-17."
"You altered my DNA."
"No."
He smiled.
"Your DNA was altered before you were born."
I looked at Lily.
My baby.
My daughter.
My blood.
My body.
My entire life.
Nothing was natural.
Marcus stepped closer.
"That's why she was born."
"That's why everyone wanted her."
"That's why Robert tried to hide her."
"And that's why Victor tried to claim her."
I stared.
"Then who is Lily's father?"
Marcus smiled.
"The answer is simpler than you think."
He looked at Luka.
"Her father is not one man."
Then he looked at me.
"Her father is the Moretti bloodline."
Luka's face changed.
"No."
Marcus nodded.
"Your blood."
He looked at me.
"His blood."
Then he pointed toward himself.
"And mine."
I felt dizzy.
"That's not possible."
Marcus smiled.
"Science has never cared what you think is possible."
He turned toward the chapel door.
Then stopped.
"There's one more thing."
I waited.
"Your mother is alive."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"Maria never died."
"I know."
Marcus smiled.
"No."
He looked at me.
"You misunderstood."
"She's at the hospital."
"That's not Maria."
I froze.
"What?"
Marcus's eyes became cold.
"The woman you've been calling your mother for twenty-five years..."
He paused.
"...is not Maria Moretti."
My blood ran cold.
"Then who is she?"
Marcus smiled.
"Ask Eva."
The chapel doors opened.
Marcus disappeared into the darkness.
Luka ran after him.
A gunshot echoed outside.
Then another.
I stood frozen.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
"We have to go."
"No."
"Elena."
"My mother."
"That wasn't your mother."
I looked at him.
"Then who have I been calling Mom?"
He didn't answer.
I turned toward the photograph on the wall.
The five children.
Eva.
Luka.
Me.
Adrian.
And the fifth child.
The little girl.
I stepped closer.
There was a name beneath her photograph.
I hadn't noticed it before.
I wiped away the dust.
My blood turned to ice.
M-05 — MARIA MORETTI.
I stared.
Maria wasn't the mother.
She was another child.
Another experiment.
Another lie.
Then who had raised me?
A sound came from the chapel entrance.
Eva.
She stood there, pale and breathless.
"Elena."
I turned.
"Tell me the truth."
She looked at the photograph.
Then at me.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You weren't raised by Maria."
"Who raised me?"
Eva whispered:
"The woman you call your mother is actually..."
She stopped.
"What?"
Eva looked at Lily.
Then at me.
"...your biological daughter."
I couldn't breathe.
"No."
Eva shook her head.
"I mean..."
She swallowed.
"She's not your daughter."
I stared at Lily.
Eva's voice broke.
"She's your granddaughter."
The world disappeared beneath my feet.
And somewhere outside the chapel, a man laughed.
A laugh I had heard once before.
May you like
Twenty-five years ago.
The night I was supposed to die.
