CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 7
THE FIRST BETRAYAL
I couldn't move.
For a moment, I wasn't standing inside a government archive.
I wasn't holding my newborn daughter.
I wasn't staring at the man who had signed her birth certificate.
I was somewhere else.
Somewhere twenty-five years ago.
A white room.
A young man with blood on his face.
A pair of hands holding mine.
A voice whispering:
"Don't be afraid, Elena."
Luka.
The memory vanished as quickly as it came.
I blinked.
He was still standing in front of me.
Older.
Harder.
Covered in tattoos.
But his eyes were the same.
I knew them.
Somewhere inside me, I knew them.
"You loved me."
His jaw tightened.
"Yes."
"Before I forgot."
"Yes."
"How?"
"You were sixteen."
I stared at him.
"And you?"
"Twenty."
My breath caught.
"We were together?"
"Briefly."
"How briefly?"
"Three months."
"Then what happened?"
"Your father found out."
"Robert?"
"Yes."
"What did he do?"
Luka looked away.
"He separated us."
"How?"
"He took you."
"Where?"
"A facility."
My stomach turned.
"M-17?"
"Yes."
"What did they do to me?"
"I don't know everything."
"But you knew."
"I knew enough."
"Tell me."
Luka's expression became pained.
"They erased your memory."
"Because of you?"
"Partly."
I stared at him.
"What did I know?"
"The location of the laboratory."
"That's all?"
"No."
He hesitated.
"You knew the names of the people funding M-17."
"And?"
"You knew about the sixteen children."
I looked at the photographs.
My heart sank.
"So I knew about them."
"You tried to save them."
"What happened?"
"You failed."
My throat tightened.
"How many?"
"All of them."
I looked at the wall.
Sixteen photographs.
Sixteen lives.
I had seen them before.
But now I understood why they felt familiar.
I had been there.
I had known them.
Maybe I had even promised them something.
"What did I promise them?"
Luka didn't answer.
"Luka."
"You promised you'd come back."
My chest tightened.
"And I didn't."
"No."
"Because my memory was erased."
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you save them?"
His expression hardened.
"I tried."
"But you failed."
"Yes."
The word was almost a whisper.
I looked at him.
For the first time, I understood that Luka carried his own ghosts.
Maybe that's why he looked at my daughter the way he did.
Like he was seeing all sixteen children in one tiny body.
"Did you love me then?"
"Yes."
"Do you love me now?"
Silence.
I waited.
He looked at me.
"That's not a question you should ask."
"Why?"
"Because you're still married."
I laughed bitterly.
"My husband left me at the hospital with his mistress."
"You're still legally married."
"I don't care."
"I do."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want you making decisions while you're vulnerable."
My eyes narrowed.
"You don't get to decide what's best for me."
"I know."
"Then stop."
He nodded.
"Fine."
I turned away.
My daughter began crying.
I picked her up.
She immediately calmed.
I looked down at her.
"Your mother is going to find out the truth."
Luka watched us.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
"Speak."
A man's voice came through.
Luka's expression changed.
"How?"
Pause.
"How many?"
Another pause.
"Understood."
He hung up.
"What?"
"Vanessa is gone."
My heart tightened.
"From the clinic?"
"Yes."
"Where did she go?"
"Someone extracted her."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
"Then find her."
"I'm trying."
"She knows about my mother."
"Yes."
"And she knows about my baby."
"Yes."
"Then we can't let her disappear."
"We won't."
I noticed something in his voice.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
"What's wrong?"
He looked at the archive screen.
"The access log."
"What about it?"
"Someone accessed your mother's file again."
"Vanessa?"
"No."
"Who?"
Luka turned the monitor toward me.
A name appeared.
ELENA HAYES.
My blood froze.
"That's me."
"Yes."
"But I didn't access it."
"I know."
"Then who did?"
"Someone using your old identity."
I frowned.
"My old identity?"
"Before Robert changed your name."
"What was it?"
He hesitated.
"Elena Moretti."
I stared at the screen.
My mother's surname.
Luka's surname.
My supposed biological family.
Then another line appeared.
ACCESS AUTHORIZED.
BIOMETRIC MATCH: 100%
I felt sick.
"How can someone have my biometric signature?"
Luka looked at me.
"Because they're you."
I stared.
"What?"
"Someone else has been using your identity for years."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
"Then find out."
"I will."
Suddenly, the archive doors unlocked.
A guard rushed inside.
"Ma'am."
Luka stepped in front of me.
"What?"
The guard looked frightened.
"We found something."
"What?"
He handed Luka an envelope.
No name.
No address.
Just a symbol.
A black circle crossed by seventeen lines.
Luka opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
I looked over his shoulder.
My breath stopped.
It was me.
Not the Elena I knew.
A teenage girl.
Standing beside Luka.
My hand was in his.
We were smiling.
And behind us stood my mother.
Alive.
I stared at the picture.
"When was this taken?"
Luka turned it over.
A date was written on the back.
THREE DAYS BEFORE THE BETRAYAL.
I looked at him.
"What betrayal?"
His expression changed.
"The first."
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
"Tell me."
Luka looked at the photograph again.
Then:
"I betrayed you."
My stomach dropped.
"How?"
"Your father asked me to do something."
"What?"
"Leave you."
"And you did?"
"I thought it would protect you."
"Did it?"
"No."
"Then why?"
"Because I believed Robert."
I shook my head.
"That's not a betrayal."
"It was."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't just leave."
He swallowed.
"I gave them your location."
I felt as though I'd been punched.
"You..."
"I told them where you were."
"Why?"
"Because they had my father."
"Marcus?"
"Yes."
"They threatened him?"
"No."
Luka looked away.
"They threatened you."
I stared.
"Me?"
"They told me if I didn't give them your location, they'd kill you."
"But you gave them my location."
"Yes."
"And they took me."
"Yes."
"Then you betrayed me."
"Yes."
I looked down at my daughter.
My hands were shaking.
"You said you loved me."
"I did."
"Then how could you?"
"I was twenty."
"You were old enough to know."
"I know."
"Did they hurt me?"
His silence answered.
My throat tightened.
"What did they do?"
"They put you in the M-17 chamber."
"What happened?"
"I tried to get you out."
"After you gave me to them."
"Yes."
"Too late."
"Yes."
I stared at him.
"You made a choice."
"I did."
"And I paid for it."
"Yes."
I turned away.
For the first time since meeting him, I wanted him nowhere near me.
I wanted to hate him.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I whispered:
"Get away from me."
"Elena—"
"Get away."
He didn't move.
"Please."
That word stopped him.
Luka took one step back.
Then another.
My daughter began crying.
I held her tighter.
I didn't look at him.
"I trusted you."
"I know."
"You signed her birth certificate."
"Yes."
"You said you'd protect her."
"I will."
"How can I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
I finally looked at him.
He looked broken.
But I couldn't care.
Not yet.
Then the archive doors slammed shut.
The lights flickered.
A voice came through the speakers.
"Elena."
I froze.
I knew that voice.
My father's.
Robert.
"Elena, if you're hearing this, Luka has finally told you the truth."
I looked at Luka.
He was staring at the speakers.
The recording continued.
"You may hate him."
A pause.
"You should."
My chest tightened.
"He betrayed you once."
Luka closed his eyes.
"But there is something you don't know."
The screen turned on.
A video appeared.
Robert.
Older.
Tired.
The same face I'd seen in my dreams.
He looked directly into the camera.
"Luka didn't betray you because he wanted to."
I stared.
"He betrayed you because I ordered him to."
My heart stopped.
Luka opened his eyes.
I turned toward him.
Robert continued.
"I needed Marcus to believe Luka had turned against you."
The room went silent.
"Because if Marcus knew Luka was protecting you, he would have killed you both."
I looked at Luka.
His face was unreadable.
Robert continued.
"The betrayal was staged."
I felt my knees weaken.
"What?"
Luka whispered:
"I told you."
I looked at him.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew this whole time."
"I knew Robert ordered it."
"You let me believe you betrayed me."
"Because I had to."
The recording continued.
"Elena, if you're watching this, then the plan failed."
My heart raced.
"Marcus has found you."
A pause.
"Your daughter has been born."
Robert's expression changed.
For the first time, I saw fear in his eyes.
"And now the real M-17 begins."
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
Then I heard a sound.
A soft mechanical click.
Luka turned.
A hidden compartment opened in the wall.
Inside was a small metal box.
On the lid:
ELENA — OPEN ONLY AFTER THE CHILD IS BORN.
My name.
My daughter's birth.
The same symbol.
I reached for it.
Luka caught my wrist.
"Wait."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know what's inside."
"That's why I'm opening it."
He released me.
I lifted the lid.
Inside was a single key.
A photograph.
And a handwritten note.
I picked up the photograph first.
It showed my mother.
Holding a newborn.
I turned it over.
MARCH 14, 2001.
My birth date.
But something was wrong.
The baby wasn't me.
I looked at Luka.
"Who is that?"
He didn't answer.
I examined the photograph again.
The newborn had a small hospital bracelet.
I zoomed in.
The name was visible.
ELENA MORETTI.
My heart stopped.
Then I looked at the woman holding the baby.
My mother.
Behind her stood Robert.
And beside Robert—
another woman.
She looked exactly like me.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same scar.
I dropped the photograph.
"No."
Luka picked it up.
His expression changed.
"That's impossible."
I stared at the woman.
"Who is she?"
He looked at me.
"I don't know."
The door behind us suddenly opened.
A woman stepped into the archive.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
I stopped breathing.
The woman looked directly at me.
Then at my daughter.
Tears filled her eyes.
"Elena."
My knees nearly gave out.
"Mom?"
She nodded.
Maria Moretti took one trembling step forward.
"I've been trying to find you for twenty-five years."
Luka raised his weapon.
Maria looked at him.
"You still carry the same gun."
Luka froze.
She smiled sadly.
"Do you remember what you did with it the night you betrayed my daughter?"
Luka's face went pale.
I looked between them.
"Mom..."
Maria's eyes moved to my baby.
Then she whispered:
"That's not your daughter."
My blood froze.
"What?"
Maria took another step.
"She's mine."
The archive fell silent.
And then she said the words that shattered everything I thought I knew.
"Elena, you died twenty-five years ago."
I couldn't breathe.
"You're not the original Elena."
She looked at the woman in the photograph.
"You're her replacement."
And behind Maria, a second woman appeared.
My face.
My eyes.
My scar.
Older than the girl in the photograph.
Alive.
She looked directly at me.
May you like
Then smiled.
"Hello, sister."
