CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 14
THE FINAL DNA ENVELOPE
The phone kept ringing.
No one moved.
It was lying in the wet grass beside Robert's body.
The screen displayed one name.
HOME.
I stared at it.
Robert's home.
But Robert's home had burned down twenty-five years ago.
At least, that's what I had been told.
The phone stopped.
Then started again.
Luka stepped closer.
"Don't answer."
"Why?"
"Because whoever is calling knows where we are."
I looked at Daniel.
He was sitting against the car, pressing a hand against his wound.
"He's right."
I picked up the phone.
The ringing stopped.
A message appeared.
YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES.
Then another.
BRING THE FINAL ENVELOPE.
I looked at Luka.
"What envelope?"
Daniel's face changed.
"The one Maria gave you."
I pulled the envelope from my coat.
The seal was still intact.
Black wax.
A single letter pressed into it.
R.
Robert.
I stared at it.
"Why would Robert send a message asking for his own envelope?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Because maybe he didn't."
The phone vibrated again.
A photograph appeared.
It showed the inside of a room.
A metal table.
Two chairs.
And a woman sitting in the corner.
Maria.
Alive.
Beside her stood Victor.
But that wasn't what made my blood freeze.
On the table was another envelope.
Identical to mine.
And beneath it—
a birth certificate.
My birth certificate.
I zoomed in.
The name was clear.
ELENA MORETTI.
Date of birth.
March 14, 2001.
Father:
ROBERT HAYES.
Mother:
MARIA MORETTI.
I stared.
"That's impossible."
Luka looked at the screen.
"Why?"
"Because Maria wasn't my mother."
Daniel shook his head.
"Maybe the file was altered."
"No."
I pointed to the seal.
"That's the original government seal."
Eva stepped closer.
"Then Maria really was your mother."
I looked at her.
"You said she wasn't."
"I was wrong."
"How?"
"Because I only knew what Marcus told me."
I felt anger rising.
"Everyone keeps saying they were wrong."
Eva lowered her eyes.
"Because everyone was lying."
I looked at the photograph again.
Maria.
Victor.
The envelope.
Then I noticed something.
A clock.
The time was 5:42.
The message had arrived at 5:37.
Five minutes.
I looked at the road.
"Where is this?"
Daniel pointed toward the photograph.
"The old Moretti clinic."
"Where?"
"Seven miles north."
Luka started the car.
"Get in."
We reached the clinic in less than ten minutes.
The building looked abandoned.
No lights.
No guards.
No cars.
But the front door was open.
Luka stopped.
"This is wrong."
"What?"
"It's too easy."
Daniel stepped out.
"Maybe they want us inside."
I looked at the photograph.
"Then we'll go inside."
Luka grabbed my arm.
"Elena."
"I've spent my entire life being told what I can and can't know."
I pulled free.
"Not anymore."
We entered.
The hallway smelled of dust.
At the end was a metal door.
It opened automatically.
A light turned on.
A speaker crackled.
"Welcome home, Elena."
I froze.
Robert's voice.
Again.
But this time there was something different.
It sounded older.
Tired.
Almost human.
A screen appeared on the wall.
Robert sat in a chair.
He looked directly at the camera.
"If you're watching this, I'm dead."
I swallowed.
"I know what you're thinking."
"You're angry."
"Good."
"You should be."
He looked down.
"I lied to you."
"More than once."
"I erased your memories."
"I changed your identity."
"I made you believe your mother was someone else."
"I allowed you to marry a man who had been assigned to watch you."
Daniel lowered his head.
"But I did all of it for one reason."
Robert leaned forward.
"To keep Marcus from finding the original DNA."
The screen changed.
A laboratory document appeared.
PROJECT M-00
I froze.
"Before M-01, there was M-00."
Robert continued.
"M-00 was not an experiment."
"It was a child."
The screen showed a baby.
I couldn't breathe.
"That child was born naturally."
"With a genetic mutation we had never seen before."
"The mutation could repair damaged cells."
"Reverse genetic degradation."
"Even reconstruct damaged DNA."
I whispered:
"The cure."
Robert nodded.
"The child was the cure."
The photograph changed.
A woman.
Young.
Beautiful.
Maria.
Holding a newborn.
Robert's voice continued.
"Maria gave birth to M-00."
I stared.
"Then M-00 was..."
"Your mother."
I froze.
"No."
"Yes."
The screen changed.
A medical record appeared.
SUBJECT M-00 — MARIA MORETTI
I couldn't breathe.
"Maria wasn't M-05."
Robert's voice became quiet.
"That was a lie."
"M-05 was a copy created from her."
I looked at Eva.
She was crying.
"Why?"
"Because Marcus killed the original Maria."
I stared at the screen.
"The woman in the hospital..."
"Was the clone."
I felt sick.
"Then the real Maria..."
"Was dead before you were born."
I closed my eyes.
Everything collapsed.
The woman I had called mother.
The woman who had raised me.
The woman who had died in the hospital.
She wasn't Maria.
She was a copy.
But she had loved me.
That had to count for something.
The screen changed again.
A second child appeared.
Me.
SUBJECT M-00.5
I stared.
"What?"
Robert continued:
"After Maria died, I used her genetic material to create Elena."
"Not a clone."
"A successor."
I touched my face.
"You created me from my mother's DNA."
"Yes."
"But who was my father?"
The screen went black.
Then a name appeared.
ADRIAN MORETTI.
My blood froze.
"No."
Robert's voice continued.
"Adrian wasn't Marcus's experiment."
"He was Maria's son."
I stared.
"Adrian was my brother."
"Yes."
"Then Lily..."
Robert paused.
"Is Adrian's descendant."
My heart stopped.
"But Daniel..."
"Not her father."
I looked at Daniel.
He looked devastated.
Robert continued:
"Daniel's DNA was altered to mimic the paternal sequence."
"By Victor."
"Victor wanted to create a false heir."
"So Lily's father is..."
The screen displayed one final name.
ADRIAN MORETTI.
I couldn't breathe.
"That's impossible."
"Adrian died twenty-five years ago."
Robert's voice became quiet.
"That's what we believed."
The screen went black.
Then another recording started.
A security camera.
A young boy.
Adrian.
Alive.
Older.
Standing inside the Moretti laboratory.
He was speaking to someone.
I couldn't hear the conversation.
Then he turned.
And I saw his face.
He was older now.
Maybe thirty.
Maybe forty.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
The same eyes as Lily.
The same eyes as me.
I whispered:
"He's alive."
Daniel stood.
"No."
Luka looked at the screen.
"That's not Adrian."
"How do you know?"
"Because I saw him die."
"Where?"
"In the laboratory."
"Twenty-five years ago."
Luka shook his head.
"The man on the screen isn't Adrian."
"Then who is he?"
Luka's face went pale.
"His clone."
I stared.
"Another clone?"
He nodded.
"Marcus made hundreds."
I felt sick.
"Then how do we know which one is real?"
"We don't."
The screen changed.
A final file appeared.
FINAL DNA COMPARISON
Three samples.
ELENA
LILY
ADRIAN
The results appeared.
I stared.
The relationship was impossible.
Lily was genetically related to Adrian.
But not as a daughter.
Not as a granddaughter.
The report stated:
GENETIC RELATIONSHIP: IDENTICAL SOURCE.
I couldn't breathe.
"She's his clone."
Robert's voice returned.
"No."
I stared at the screen.
"Then what?"
"She is his genetic continuation."
"Explain."
"Adrian's original DNA was damaged."
"His genetic material could no longer reproduce."
"Maria's body could repair it."
"But Maria was dead."
"Yes."
"So?"
Robert's voice became almost a whisper.
"Elena."
I froze.
"You carried the repaired sequence."
My heart stopped.
"That's why I was pregnant."
"Yes."
"That's why Lily was born."
"Yes."
"She isn't Adrian's daughter."
"No."
"She's..."
"The continuation of Adrian."
I looked at Lily.
My baby.
My daughter.
Not a clone.
Not an experiment.
But something born from a dead man's genetic legacy.
Then I saw the final line.
MATERNAL SOURCE: ELENA MORETTI
PATERNAL SOURCE: UNKNOWN
GENETIC PRECURSOR: ADRIAN MORETTI
I stared.
"Who is her father?"
Robert's voice answered:
"We never found out."
The screen went black.
I turned.
"Then why did everyone keep saying there was a father?"
No one answered.
Daniel looked at me.
"Because they needed one."
"Why?"
"Because people don't understand genetic experiments."
I shook my head.
"That's not enough."
Luka stepped forward.
"There was someone."
"Who?"
"Someone who helped Marcus."
"Name."
He hesitated.
"Your father."
"Robert?"
"Yes."
I stared.
"You said Robert wasn't involved."
"I said he wasn't the director."
"Then what was he?"
Luka looked at me.
"The geneticist."
My stomach dropped.
"Robert created M-00."
"Yes."
"He created Maria."
"No."
"He created me."
"Yes."
"He created Lily."
"No."
"Then who did?"
Luka didn't answer.
Daniel suddenly whispered:
"Victor."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Victor created Lily."
"No."
"Not directly."
He looked at the final report.
"He combined the samples."
"Which samples?"
"Yours."
"And?"
"Adrian's."
I froze.
"Then there is no father."
"Correct."
"Lily has no biological father."
Daniel shook his head.
"Not in the traditional sense."
I stared at my daughter.
She was sleeping peacefully.
All of this had been built around her.
For a child who had never asked for any of it.
I suddenly felt sick.
"We leave."
Luka nodded.
We turned toward the door.
Then it locked.
The lights turned red.
A voice came through the speaker.
Not Robert.
Not Victor.
Not Marcus.
A woman's voice.
"Elena."
I froze.
Maria.
"Mom?"
The voice laughed.
"You still call me that."
I stared at the speaker.
"Where are you?"
"Close."
"Are you alive?"
"Very."
"Why did you lie to me?"
"Because I had to."
"About what?"
"Everything."
I felt anger rising.
"Then tell me the truth."
A pause.
"All right."
The door opened.
A woman stepped into the room.
She looked exactly like the Maria I had known.
But older.
Stronger.
Her hair was white.
Her eyes were cold.
I stared.
"Maria."
She smiled.
"Hello, Elena."
Luka raised his weapon.
Maria laughed.
"You won't shoot me."
"Try me."
She looked at him.
"You still have your brother's blood in your veins."
Luka froze.
"What?"
Maria stepped closer.
"You were never Luka Moretti."
I stared.
"What?"
She smiled.
"Your name is Adrian."
Silence.
Luka's weapon dropped slightly.
"No."
"Yes."
"You died."
"That was the story."
I looked at him.
The man I trusted.
The man who had protected me.
The man who had claimed he wasn't Lily's father.
His face was empty.
Maria continued:
"Marcus created a clone of Adrian."
She pointed at Luka.
"And then he gave him a new identity."
My heart stopped.
"Luka is Adrian."
Daniel stepped backward.
"No."
Maria nodded.
"Yes."
I looked at Luka.
He stared at his hands.
"I remember."
"What?"
His eyes filled with tears.
"I remember the laboratory."
"Tell me."
"I remember Maria."
"Tell me!"
He looked at me.
"I remember dying."
I froze.
"Then how are you alive?"
He whispered:
"I don't know."
Maria smiled.
"I do."
She looked at Lily.
"Because he was never dead."
She stepped closer.
"He was copied."
Then she looked at me.
"And you were created to bring him back."
I couldn't breathe.
"What does that mean?"
Maria smiled.
"It means your daughter isn't the cure."
I looked at Lily.
"Then what is she?"
Maria's eyes became cold.
"The key."
"To what?"
"To restoring the original Adrian."
I looked at Luka.
"No."
Maria nodded.
"Yes."
Luka shook his head.
"I won't let you."
"You don't have a choice."
Maria raised her hand.
The doors behind us opened.
Armed men entered.
I pulled Lily against my chest.
Luka moved in front of me.
Daniel raised his weapon.
Eva screamed.
Maria looked at all of us.
"The Moretti family ends tonight."
She smiled.
"And tomorrow..."
She looked directly at Lily.
"...the original Adrian comes home."
I stared at Luka.
He looked terrified.
For the first time, I understood.
The war had never been about Victor.
Or Robert.
Or Marcus.
It had never even been about Lily.
It had always been about Adrian.
And now the man I had trusted most—
the man standing between me and the guns—
might be the very person everyone had spent twenty-five years trying to resurrect.
Then Lily opened her eyes.
She looked at Luka.
And smiled.
Luka froze.
A single tear ran down his cheek.
"I know that look."
Maria smiled.
"Of course you do."
Luka whispered:
"She's my daughter."
I stared at him.
"No."
Maria shook her head.
"Not quite."
She looked at me.
"She's his beginning."
Then she pointed at Lily.
"And your ending."
The lights went out.
A gunshot exploded.
And when the emergency lights came back on—
Maria was gone.
So was Lily.
I screamed.
"MY BABY!"
The room was empty.
Only one thing remained on the table.
The final DNA envelope.
I picked it up with trembling hands.
On the back, written in red ink, were six words:
OPEN THIS WHEN LILY DISAPPEARS.
I looked at the door.
Luka was gone.
Daniel was gone.
Eva was gone.
Everyone was gone.
Except me.
And the envelope.
I tore it open.
Inside was one final page.
I read it once.
Then again.
Then my knees gave way.
Because the final result wasn't about Lily.
It was about me.
SUBJECT: ELENA MORETTI
GENETIC STATUS: NON-HUMAN BASELINE
ORIGINAL HUMAN DNA: 17%
Below it was a handwritten note.
ELENA WAS NEVER BORN.
My hands began shaking.
And beneath that:
SHE WAS MADE.
I stared at the words.
Then I saw the final sentence.
May you like
PROJECT M-00 WAS NOT THE BEGINNING.
ELENA WAS.
