Chapter 12 — The Price Luka Paid
Chapter 12 — The Price Luka Paid
The voice disappeared.
The church remained dark.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Hope began to cry.
I pulled her against my chest.
"Mommy's here."
But my own voice sounded distant.
Because somewhere in the darkness, a woman had called me daughter.
And I knew that voice.
I had heard it before.
In my dreams.
In the recordings.
In the fragments of memories my father had spent years trying to bury.
"Rebecca."
My mother whispered the name.
A light flickered above us.
Luka immediately moved in front of me.
"Stay behind me."
I grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
He looked at me.
"What?"
"I need to hear her."
"You don't know who she is."
"She called me daughter."
"That doesn't mean she gets to have you."
I stared at him.
He was afraid.
Not for himself.
For me.
Before I could answer, footsteps echoed from the balcony above.
Slow.
Unhurried.
A woman appeared.
She was dressed in a long gray coat.
Her hair was dark, streaked with silver.
She looked older than my mother.
But her eyes...
Her eyes were mine.
The same shape.
The same dark color.
The same small scar above the left eyebrow.
I stopped breathing.
She looked down at me.
"Elena."
I couldn't speak.
My mother stepped forward.
"Rebecca."
The woman smiled sadly.
"Eleanor."
My mother flinched.
"You survived."
"So did you."
"You were supposed to be dead."
Rebecca looked at Charles.
"He made sure everyone believed that."
My father lowered his weapon.
"Rebecca."
Her eyes hardened.
"You don't get to say my name."
"Please."
"You had twenty-six years."
She looked at me.
"Twenty-six years to tell her."
I stared at Charles.
"What did you do to her?"
He closed his eyes.
"Nothing."
Rebecca laughed.
"Nothing?"
Her voice cracked.
"You took my daughter."
My mother began crying.
"I saved her."
"You stole her."
"I kept her alive."
"You erased me."
"I had no choice."
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
"You always had a choice."
I stepped forward.
"Stop."
Everyone looked at me.
I held Hope tighter.
"I want the truth."
Rebecca nodded.
"You deserve it."
She descended the stairs.
Slowly.
She stopped a few feet away.
"I gave birth to you."
My heart broke.
"I remember your mother."
I looked at Eleanor.
She shook her head.
"I'm not your mother."
The words hurt.
Even though I already knew.
Rebecca continued.
"When you were born, your father believed you were the key to M-17."
"Because of my blood."
"Yes."
"And you?"
"I wanted to take you and disappear."
"What happened?"
"Charles found us."
She looked at my father.
"He said he wanted to protect you."
Charles whispered:
"I did."
"You wanted to control her."
"No."
"You wanted to study her."
"I wanted to understand what was happening to her."
Rebecca shook her head.
"You never understood the difference."
I looked at Charles.
"What happened to you?"
Rebecca touched her chest.
"He shot me."
My breath caught.
"What?"
"Not to kill me."
She smiled bitterly.
"To make me disappear."
Charles looked down.
"I thought you were dead."
"You never checked."
He had no answer.
Rebecca turned toward me.
"Eleanor took you."
I looked at my mother.
"And raised me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Rebecca smiled through tears.
"Because she loved you."
I looked at Eleanor.
She was crying.
"And you?"
Rebecca's voice broke.
"I never stopped."
A gunshot exploded above us.
Rebecca dropped.
"Down!"
Luka pushed me behind a pew.
Bullets tore through the wooden benches.
People screamed.
Charles returned fire.
Gabriel dragged Miriam behind a stone column.
I held Hope against the floor.
"Luka!"
"I'm here."
He crawled toward us.
A bullet struck the floor inches from his hand.
"We have to move."
"Where?"
"Back entrance."
Rebecca appeared beside us.
"Not the back."
Luka looked at her.
"Why?"
"They sealed it."
"Then where?"
She pointed upward.
"The bell tower."
I stared.
"That's forty feet up."
"It's the only exit."
Luka grabbed my hand.
"Come on."
We ran.
The stairs were narrow.
Hope was crying.
My lungs burned.
Luka climbed ahead.
"Keep going."
I followed.
Behind us, gunfire continued.
Halfway up, Luka stopped.
I almost crashed into him.
"What?"
He looked at the wall.
A small red light was blinking.
"What is that?"
Rebecca's voice came from behind us.
"Tracker."
"On what?"
She looked at Luka.
"On him."
Luka froze.
"What?"
Rebecca pointed at his neck.
"The tattoo."
He touched it.
"You put it there?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Rebecca looked at Charles.
He didn't answer.
My stomach dropped.
"Father."
Charles finally spoke.
"It was necessary."
Luka's face hardened.
"You tracked me."
"For your protection."
"All these years?"
"Yes."
Luka ripped at the tattoo.
Blood appeared.
"Stop!"
I grabbed his hand.
"You'll hurt yourself."
He looked at me.
"They've been tracking me my entire life."
"I know."
"No."
His voice cracked.
"You don't."
He stared at the tiny blinking light.
"They always knew where I was."
I realized what that meant.
Every time Luka had found me.
Every time he had appeared when I needed him.
Every time he had saved me.
Perhaps he had been guided there.
Or watched.
Or controlled.
I whispered:
"Did you know?"
He looked at Charles.
"No."
My father looked away.
Luka laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
He pulled a small knife from his pocket.
I grabbed his wrist.
"Don't."
"I need to remove it."
"I'll do it."
"No."
He looked at me.
"I won't let them control me again."
He cut into the skin.
I screamed.
"Luka!"
Blood ran down his neck.
The tracker came loose.
He threw it down the stairs.
It exploded.
The entire building shook.
Rebecca stared.
"That wasn't just a tracker."
Luka looked at her.
"What was it?"
"A stabilizer."
He went still.
"What?"
"Your body has been suppressing M-17 for years."
She looked at the blood.
"Removing it forced the sequence fully awake."
Luka staggered.
I caught him.
His skin was burning.
"Luka?"
He couldn't answer.
His pupils widened.
His hands trembled.
Charles ran toward us.
"Put him down."
"No."
"Elena, listen to me."
"No!"
"He needs treatment."
"You caused this."
"I can save him."
Luka pushed me away.
"Go."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Go with Hope."
"I'm not leaving you."
"Elena."
He looked at me.
"I need you to leave."
His voice was barely audible.
I touched his face.
"I won't."
He closed his eyes.
Then collapsed.
We carried Luka into an underground medical room.
Rebecca took control immediately.
She connected monitors.
Miriam brought medication.
Charles stood behind the glass.
I turned toward him.
"If he dies..."
He looked at me.
"If he dies, I will never forgive you."
He nodded.
"I know."
"Do you even care?"
He looked through the glass at Luka.
"He was the son I wasn't allowed to have."
"You made him a prisoner."
"I know."
"You used him."
"I know."
"Then why?"
Charles's eyes filled.
"Because I believed if I controlled the mutation, I could protect him."
"From what?"
He looked at me.
"From the people who wanted to use him."
I stared.
"Who?"
"The government."
"Why?"
"Because M-17 was classified."
"By whom?"
"Everyone."
He sat down.
"Military agencies. Pharmaceutical companies. Intelligence organizations."
I felt sick.
"How many people know?"
"Enough."
"How many are coming?"
He looked at the clock.
"More than we can stop."
I looked at Luka.
His body convulsed.
Rebecca shouted:
"He's crashing!"
I ran toward the room.
"What's happening?"
"His heart."
I pushed through the door.
Rebecca tried to stop me.
"Elena!"
I ignored her.
Luka was lying beneath the medical lights.
His body was covered in sweat.
I grabbed his hand.
"Luka."
His eyes opened.
"Hope."
"She's safe."
"Promise."
"I promise."
His eyes closed.
I squeezed his hand.
"Don't you dare leave me."
His heartbeat slowed.
The monitor beeped.
Once.
Twice.
Then nothing.
"Luka!"
Rebecca shouted.
"Clear!"
The machine discharged.
His body jerked.
Nothing.
"Again."
Another shock.
Nothing.
I cried.
"No."
Rebecca pressed her hands against his chest.
"Come on."
Nothing.
"Come back."
The monitor remained flat.
I whispered:
"You promised me."
Still nothing.
Then Hope began crying in the hallway.
Luka's eyes opened.
The monitor beeped.
Once.
Then again.
Rebecca froze.
"What..."
His heart began beating.
Fast.
Strong.
The wounds on his neck began closing.
His breathing steadied.
Miriam stared at the monitor.
"That's impossible."
Charles whispered:
"No."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He stared at Luka.
"The sequence fully activated."
Luka opened his eyes.
They looked different.
Not changed.
Just sharper.
He looked at me.
"Elena."
I cried against his chest.
"You're alive."
He touched my hair.
"I told you."
"You scared me."
"I know."
Then he looked at Rebecca.
"Is this the price?"
She frowned.
"What?"
"The mutation."
Rebecca didn't answer.
Charles did.
"No."
He stepped closer.
"The price isn't survival."
He looked at Luka.
"It's memory."
Luka went still.
"What?"
Charles pointed to the monitor.
"Every time your body activates the complete sequence, it repairs more than tissue."
He swallowed.
"It repairs the brain."
Luka stared.
"And?"
"It removes what the brain considers unnecessary."
My stomach dropped.
"Memories."
Charles nodded.
"Yes."
I looked at Luka.
"What memories?"
He didn't answer.
Charles whispered:
"People."
Luka looked at me.
His eyes filled with fear.
"Elena..."
I grabbed his hand.
"I'm here."
He squeezed it.
"I remember you."
I smiled through tears.
"Then that's enough."
But Charles shook his head.
"It won't be."
Hours passed.
Luka remained conscious.
But something had changed.
He couldn't remember the first apartment we'd shared.
He forgot the name of the street where we met.
He forgot the song I used to play when I couldn't sleep.
Each memory disappeared slowly.
Not all at once.
Like pages being torn from a book.
I sat beside him.
"Do you remember this?"
I showed him an old photograph.
He stared.
"That's you."
"And you?"
He shook his head.
I felt something break inside me.
"It's okay."
It wasn't.
But I said it anyway.
He looked at me.
"Tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"Everything."
So I did.
I told him about the hospital.
The first time he signed his name.
The day he found Hope.
The nights he sat outside my door because I was afraid.
The way he always drank coffee without sugar.
The way he smiled when Hope called him Uncle Luka.
He listened.
Sometimes he laughed.
Sometimes he cried.
And every time a memory vanished, I replaced it with a story.
Because if his mind was determined to erase his past...
I would become his past.
Near dawn, Rebecca entered.
She held an old folder.
"Luka."
He looked at her.
"What?"
"I found something."
She placed the folder on the table.
Inside was a medical record.
His.
But the date was twenty-six years old.
I looked at it.
"What's this?"
Rebecca whispered:
"His birth record."
Luka stared.
"My mother?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Your father."
He looked confused.
"Charles."
"No."
Rebecca shook her head.
"Not Charles."
She pointed to the second name.
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: UNKNOWN
Then she turned the page.
There was a handwritten note.
PATERNAL LINE: M-17 POSITIVE
Luka stared.
"Who is my father?"
Rebecca looked at me.
Then at Luka.
"I don't know."
My heart stopped.
"But Charles said..."
"He lied."
"Then who?"
Rebecca's face changed.
"I think I know."
She opened the final page.
A photograph was attached.
I recognized the man immediately.
Ethan.
My husband.
Luka stared at the photograph.
"No."
I couldn't breathe.
Rebecca whispered:
"He's your father."
Silence.
The man who had abandoned me.
The man who had abandoned Hope.
The man who had lied to all of us.
My husband.
Was Luka's biological father.
I looked at Luka.
He looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then the hospital doors opened.
Ethan appeared.
His face was pale.
He looked at Luka.
And whispered:
"My son."
Luka's expression hardened.
"You knew?"
Ethan began to cry.
"Not until tonight."
Luka stood slowly.
His body was still weak.
"Then why did you leave Elena?"
Ethan looked at me.
"Because Charles told me..."
He stopped.
Luka stepped closer.
"What did he tell you?"
Ethan swallowed.
"That if I stayed with her..."
He looked at Luka.
"...they would kill you."
Luka froze.
I stared at Ethan.
"You knew about him."
"I knew there was a child."
"You knew?"
"I was nineteen."
"You abandoned him."
"I thought he was dead."
Luka's face twisted.
"You thought I was dead?"
Ethan began crying.
"I was told you died."
"Who told you?"
Ethan looked at Charles.
Everyone turned.
My father stood in the doorway.
Luka stared at him.
"You told my father I was dead."
Charles closed his eyes.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I needed him to leave."
Luka stepped toward him.
"You stole my father."
"I protected you."
"You stole my life."
"I know."
Luka raised his hand.
For one terrifying second, I thought he would strike him.
Instead, he lowered it.
"You don't get to call that protection."
Charles nodded.
"No."
Luka looked at me.
Then at Hope.
Then at Ethan.
His voice was quiet.
"I've spent my entire life paying for other people's secrets."
He looked at Charles.
"That's over."
Then he turned toward the door.
"Whatever happens next..."
He took my hand.
"...we decide."
I squeezed his fingers.
But before we could leave, every monitor in the room turned on.
The same woman's face appeared.
Rebecca froze.
My mother whispered:
"No."
Victoria's voice came through the speakers.
"Did you really think you could escape?"
I stared at the screen.
She was alive.
Smiling.
Then she looked directly at Luka.
"Enjoy your memories while you still have them."
The screen changed.
A countdown appeared.
02:17:43
Charles went pale.
"What is that?"
Rebecca whispered:
"The second phase."
I looked at Luka.
"What second phase?"
He stared at the countdown.
Then he answered.
"The phase where they stop trying to capture us."
He looked at Hope.
"And start killing everyone who knows the truth."
The countdown continued.
Two hours.
Seventeen minutes.
Forty-two seconds.
And for the first time, I understood the real price Luka had paid.
It wasn't just his memories.
It wasn't the pain.
It wasn't even the mutation.
It was the life he could have had.
A normal life.
A family.
A childhood.
A father.
A mother.
A name that belonged only to him.
They had taken all of it.
And now they wanted to take Hope too.
I looked at Luka.
He was staring at me.
"Elena."
"Yes?"
"If I forget you..."
I shook my head.
"You won't."
"But if I do..."
I stepped closer.
"I'll remind you."
"Every day?"
"Every day."
"Even if it takes years?"
"Even if it takes my whole life."
He smiled.
A small, tired smile.
"Then I think I can pay any price."
He kissed my forehead.
Behind us, the alarm began screaming again.
May you like
And somewhere beneath Chicago...
another door opened.
