Chapter 6 — The Woman in the Black Car
Chapter 6 — The Woman in the Black Car
The first thing I noticed was the silence.
Not the ordinary silence of an airplane waiting on a runway.
This was different.
There was no engine vibration.
No movement.
No sound from the cockpit.
Just the faint hum of the cabin lights and my daughter's breathing against my chest.
I looked at Luka.
He was standing in the aisle, one hand resting near the weapon beneath his jacket.
My mother sat rigidly across from me.
The little girl beside her—my sister—was staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.
Then the cabin door opened.
A man in a dark suit stepped inside.
He smiled.
"Ms. Carter."
I tightened my arms around Hope.
"Where are we?"
"Safe."
"That's not an answer."
He glanced at Luka.
"Mr. Moretti."
Luka's expression was ice.
"Who are you?"
The man ignored him.
"Mr. Carter would like to speak with Elena privately."
My mother stood.
"No."
The man's smile disappeared.
"Mrs. Carter, please sit down."
My mother didn't move.
"You promised."
The man looked at her.
"Promises change."
Something passed between them.
Fear.
Recognition.
History.
I looked at my mother.
"What promise?"
She wouldn't answer.
I stepped into the aisle.
"Mom."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I'll explain."
"When?"
"Elena—"
"When were you planning to tell me that you knew Gabriel was alive?"
She looked away.
"I thought you were safe."
"You thought?"
Her voice broke.
"I had spent twenty-five years trying to keep you alive."
I shook my head.
"And now we're on his airplane."
Her face crumpled.
"I didn't know."
The man laughed softly.
"She didn't."
Luka turned toward him.
"Get out."
The man smiled.
"Still protective."
"Leave."
"I wouldn't test me, Moretti."
Luka stepped closer.
"I've been waiting twenty years to test someone."
The man's smile vanished.
Then a second voice came from the doorway.
"Enough."
Every person in the cabin froze.
Gabriel Carter entered.
He looked exactly as he had in my father's laboratory.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Calm eyes.
The same face that had appeared in my childhood nightmares without me knowing why.
He looked at me.
Then at Hope.
For a moment, he smiled.
"She's even more beautiful than the photographs."
I moved backward.
"Don't come near her."
Gabriel stopped.
"I don't intend to."
"Then why am I here?"
"Because we need to talk."
"No."
His eyebrows lifted.
"No?"
"I've spent my entire life being told what I need to know."
I pointed at him.
"I'm done."
Gabriel studied me.
Then he smiled.
"Your father really did teach you to fight."
"You knew him."
"I knew him better than anyone."
"You destroyed his life."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"He destroyed mine first."
My mother stood.
"Gabriel, don't."
He looked at her.
"You've had twenty-five years to tell her."
"I was protecting her."
"You were hiding her."
"I was protecting our children."
Gabriel's eyes moved to the little girl.
Something changed in his expression.
"Amelia."
My sister looked at him.
She immediately moved behind my mother.
I noticed.
She was afraid of him.
That was enough.
I stepped between them.
"Don't look at her."
Gabriel raised both hands.
"She's safe."
"She was taken from me."
"Your father took her."
My anger exploded.
"You ordered it."
"No."
"You created M-17."
"Your father created the foundation."
"You stole my sister."
"He gave her to me."
My mother screamed.
"That is a lie!"
Gabriel's expression remained calm.
"Ask Charles."
"He's dead."
"Exactly."
Silence.
Gabriel looked at me.
"Dead men are very convenient."
He led us into a private terminal.
I refused to walk beside him.
Luka stayed at my shoulder.
Two armed men followed us.
The building was enormous.
Too luxurious for an airfield.
Marble floors.
Glass walls.
Black cars waiting outside.
Then I saw her.
A woman stood beside the farthest vehicle.
She wore a black coat.
Long dark hair.
Dark sunglasses.
She was watching me.
Not Gabriel.
Me.
My daughter.
She looked at Hope for a long time.
Then she removed her sunglasses.
I stopped walking.
My mother gasped.
Luka whispered:
"That's impossible."
The woman smiled.
"Hello, Elena."
I stared at her.
I knew that face.
I had seen it in the photographs.
In the records.
In my nightmares.
But the woman in the black car wasn't a stranger.
She was someone I had met once before.
At my wedding.
She had stood at the back of the church.
A woman I thought was one of Ethan's relatives.
I had forgotten her.
She hadn't forgotten me.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
She smiled.
"Your father's first mistake."
Gabriel looked irritated.
"Selene."
The woman ignored him.
She walked toward me.
"Your mother never told you about me."
My mother stepped forward.
"Stay away from her."
Selene laughed.
"Still pretending you're her protector?"
She looked at me.
"Your mother wasn't the only woman who loved your father."
My stomach tightened.
"What does that mean?"
Selene's eyes moved toward Gabriel.
"It means Charles Carter wasn't the man you thought he was."
I looked at my mother.
She closed her eyes.
"Mom?"
She whispered:
"She's telling the truth."
The world tilted.
"What truth?"
My mother looked at me.
"Selene was your father's first wife."
I couldn't speak.
My father had a first wife?
Nobody had ever told me.
Selene smiled.
"And I am Amelia's biological mother."
My breath caught.
I looked at my sister.
She stared at Selene.
Not with fear.
With recognition.
"Mom?"
Selene's face softened.
"Come here, sweetheart."
Amelia hesitated.
Then she ran to her.
My mother began crying.
I stood frozen.
My entire family history was collapsing around me.
My father had a secret wife.
My mother had known.
My sister had been raised by the woman my father had apparently loved before her.
And Gabriel had been involved in all of it.
I turned toward him.
"What did you do?"
He looked at Selene.
"Nothing she didn't volunteer for."
Selene's smile disappeared.
"You always say that."
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
"Because it's true."
She looked at me.
"Don't believe him."
We were taken to a private mansion overlooking the sea.
I didn't know where we were.
Gabriel wouldn't tell me.
The house was enormous.
Cold.
Beautiful.
A prison disguised as luxury.
Hope was placed in a nursery.
I immediately objected.
"She's staying with me."
Gabriel didn't argue.
"Of course."
That frightened me more than resistance would have.
People like Gabriel didn't give things freely.
I carried Hope into the bedroom.
Luka followed.
I shut the door.
"What aren't you telling me?"
He looked at me.
"Too much."
"Start somewhere."
He sighed.
"Selene was involved in M-17."
"How?"
"She was one of the original researchers."
My stomach dropped.
"She created Amelia?"
"No."
"Then why did she say she's her biological mother?"
"Because she is."
"How can she be?"
"Your father used Selene's eggs."
I stared at him.
"So Amelia isn't my full sister."
Luka shook his head.
"She's your half-sister."
I looked toward the nursery.
"But my father was her biological father."
"Yes."
"And Mom?"
"Raised her."
I closed my eyes.
The secrets never ended.
Then I remembered something.
The photograph.
My mother.
Amelia.
The star bracelets.
"Why did my mother raise her if Selene was her biological mother?"
Luka's face hardened.
"Because Selene disappeared."
"Why?"
"She tried to expose Gabriel."
"And?"
"He killed her."
I looked at him.
"But she's standing outside."
"Exactly."
My heart began pounding.
"Then who did he kill?"
Luka looked at me.
"That's the question."
That night, someone knocked on my door.
Three soft taps.
I reached for Hope.
"Who is it?"
A whisper answered.
"Elena."
My mother.
I opened the door.
She entered quickly.
"Where's Luka?"
"Outside."
"Good."
She locked the door.
Then she looked at me.
"I need to tell you something before Gabriel does."
I waited.
"Selene isn't your father's first wife."
I stared.
"What?"
"She was never married to him."
"Then why did she say—"
"Because Gabriel wants you to believe that."
My mother took a breath.
"Your father loved me."
I said nothing.
"Then who is Selene?"
My mother's eyes filled with fear.
"She's the woman who helped Gabriel build M-17."
I looked toward the hallway.
"Why would she say Amelia is her daughter?"
"Because she believes she is."
"But she isn't?"
"No."
"Then whose child is Amelia?"
My mother looked at Hope.
"That's what I was trying to protect you from."
My stomach turned.
"Mom."
She grabbed my hands.
"Your sister isn't Amelia."
I stared at her.
"She's not?"
"No."
"Then who is she?"
My mother whispered:
"She's Subject 01."
The room went silent.
I couldn't understand.
"That's Luka."
"No."
She shook her head.
"That's what your father wanted everyone to believe."
My blood ran cold.
"Luka isn't Subject Zero?"
"No."
"Then what is he?"
My mother looked toward the door.
"He's the only person Gabriel was never supposed to find."
I whispered:
"Why?"
"Because Luka is not your brother."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"He is your son."
I stared at her.
The words made no sense.
"My son?"
She nodded.
"Your father took your newborn child from you twenty-six years ago."
I couldn't breathe.
"That's impossible."
"He told you that you were never pregnant."
"I wasn't."
My mother began crying.
"You were."
She reached into her coat.
Then she pulled out an old photograph.
A hospital room.
A young woman.
Me.
Barely eighteen.
Lying in a hospital bed.
And in my arms...
A newborn baby.
A baby with a tiny black star tattoo on his wrist.
Luka.
My knees weakened.
I grabbed the photograph.
"No."
My mother whispered:
"Your father erased your memory."
I looked at the door.
Luka was standing there.
He had heard everything.
His face was devastated.
"Mom?"
My mother turned toward him.
He stared at her.
"Is it true?"
She couldn't answer.
Luka looked at me.
I couldn't move.
He stepped inside.
"Elena."
I looked at his face.
The tattoos.
The eyes.
The scars.
The man who had protected my daughter from the moment he signed the birth certificate.
The man who had called me family.
The man I had believed was my brother.
"You're my son."
He nodded slowly.
"I think I always knew."
My voice broke.
"How?"
He touched the scar behind his ear.
"Because I remember your voice."
I began crying.
"I don't."
"I know."
He looked at Hope.
"That's why I protected her."
"Why?"
"Because I knew what it felt like to have someone decide you didn't belong to your own mother."
My mother covered her face.
Then the bedroom door opened.
Gabriel stood there.
He had heard everything.
He looked at Luka.
Then at me.
And smiled.
"Now," he said softly, "we can finally stop lying."
Luka moved in front of us.
Gabriel's smile widened.
"Your father thought he could erase my greatest achievement."
He pointed at Luka.
"He couldn't."
Then he looked at Hope.
"And now his bloodline has completed the experiment."
I held my daughter tighter.
Gabriel took one step forward.
"Tomorrow, Elena, you will learn what your father did to your son."
He paused.
"And why he erased twenty-six years of your memory."
Then he walked away.
The door closed.
I looked at Luka.
He looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Because suddenly the biggest mystery wasn't M-17.
It wasn't Gabriel.
It wasn't my mother.
It wasn't even Hope.
It was the missing twenty-six years between the day my father supposedly saved me...
And the day Luka walked into that hospital and signed his name as the father of my daughter.
And somewhere inside those missing years was the truth about why my own father had stolen his daughter's baby.
The truth was coming.
And I was beginning to understand something terrifying.
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My father hadn't been protecting me from Gabriel.
He had been protecting Gabriel from me.
