Chapter 8 — The Night My Father Disappeared
Chapter 8 — The Night My Father Disappeared
The darkness lasted three seconds.
Three seconds was all it took for my entire world to change again.
I heard my mother's scream.
Then a gunshot.
Then Luka shouting my name.
"Elena!"
I reached blindly for him.
My fingers caught his sleeve.
"I'm here."
"Stay behind me."
Another shot cracked through the laboratory.
Glass shattered.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Then the backup generators came alive.
I saw Gabriel on the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
But he wasn't dead.
He was staring at Selene.
"You..."
Selene stood several feet away, gun lowered.
She hadn't fired the shot.
Someone else had.
I looked around.
"Where's Hope?"
My mother was on her knees.
She was crying.
"Elena..."
"Where is my baby?"
She pointed toward the far corridor.
"She took her."
I ran.
Luka caught my arm.
"Wait."
"Let go."
"It's a trap."
"She's my daughter!"
"I know."
He looked toward the corridor.
"That's exactly what Selene wants."
I pulled away.
"I don't care."
I ran anyway.
The nursery was empty.
The crib was overturned.
The blanket was on the floor.
Hope was gone.
I stopped breathing.
"No."
I searched beneath the crib.
The closet.
The bathroom.
Nothing.
"No, no, no."
Luka entered behind me.
He saw the empty crib.
His face changed.
I had never seen him look that afraid.
"She's gone."
I turned toward him.
"Find her."
"I will."
"Find her!"
"I will."
He grabbed my shoulders.
"Look at me."
I stared at him.
"We're bringing her back."
His voice was calm.
Certain.
"You promised."
"I promise."
Then I saw something beneath the crib.
A tiny silver star.
My daughter's bracelet.
I picked it up.
There was blood on it.
My knees weakened.
Luka caught me.
"That's not Hope's blood."
"How do you know?"
He examined it.
"Because it's old."
I stared.
"What?"
He pointed to the edge.
"Someone planted this."
I looked toward the door.
"So Hope is alive."
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Because if Selene wanted us to believe she was dead, she wouldn't have left an old blood sample."
I held the bracelet.
"Then where did she take her?"
Luka looked at the security camera.
"Somewhere your father built."
My heart stopped.
"My father?"
He nodded.
"There's another facility."
"Where?"
"Under the house."
I stared.
"We're already under the house."
"Not this one."
We returned to the laboratory.
Gabriel was sitting against the wall.
Blood covered his shirt.
My mother stood nearby.
Selene was gone.
So was my sister.
I knelt beside Gabriel.
"Where did she take Hope?"
He looked at me.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Then tell me about the other facility."
His expression changed.
"You found it."
"No."
"Your father didn't tell you?"
"He didn't tell me anything."
Gabriel laughed weakly.
"Of course he didn't."
"Where?"
"Chicago."
My blood went cold.
"Chicago?"
"The first M-17 facility."
"Under what?"
"My father's old research center."
I stared.
"You knew?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you never destroy it?"
He looked at me.
"Because Charles sealed it."
"Why?"
"Because he disappeared."
I froze.
"My father didn't die."
Gabriel shook his head.
"Not when you were told."
"Then what happened?"
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"He vanished."
Six years earlier.
I remembered the phone call.
I was nineteen.
My father was dead.
That was what everyone told me.
A car accident.
Wet road.
No survivors.
I remembered standing in the funeral home.
I remembered the coffin.
I remembered crying.
But I didn't remember seeing his body.
I had never questioned it.
Not once.
Now I understood why.
My father had disappeared.
And someone had created a fake death.
But why?
Gabriel looked at me.
"Your father discovered what I was planning."
"What were you planning?"
"The final experiment."
"With Luka?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Chicago."
"Why did he disappear?"
"To stop me."
"Did he succeed?"
Gabriel looked at Luka.
"No."
Luka stepped forward.
"Where is he?"
Gabriel didn't answer.
Luka grabbed his collar.
"Where is my grandfather?"
Gabriel stared at him.
"Alive."
I stopped breathing.
"Where?"
"That's the problem."
"What problem?"
Gabriel smiled.
"We don't know."
The next morning, we left for Chicago.
Not by plane.
By armored vehicle.
Luka drove.
I sat in the back with my mother.
Gabriel was restrained beside us.
I didn't trust him.
But I needed him.
He was the only person who knew where my father's old facility was.
For three hours, nobody spoke.
Then my mother broke the silence.
"I should have told you."
I looked at her.
"Everything."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because your father asked me not to."
"He was protecting me."
She nodded.
"He thought if you knew the truth, Gabriel would use you."
"He used me anyway."
"I know."
"What happened the night he disappeared?"
My mother looked out the window.
"It started with a phone call."
"What call?"
"Your father called me at 2:13 in the morning."
"What did he say?"
"He said, 'They found Luka.'"
I looked at Luka.
"Then what?"
"He told me to take you and run."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Gabriel had already arrived."
I swallowed.
"Where?"
"At the house."
She closed her eyes.
"He had six men with him."
"What happened?"
"Your father fought them."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"And you?"
"I took Luka."
She looked at him.
"He was barely a year old."
My heart broke.
"I carried him through the basement."
"What happened?"
"We reached the tunnel."
"Then?"
"I heard a gunshot."
I held my breath.
"Your father."
She nodded.
"I thought he was dead."
"What did you do?"
"I ran."
"Without him?"
"I had you."
She looked at me.
"You were eighteen."
I whispered:
"What happened to Luka?"
She stared at him.
"Someone took him."
My blood went cold.
"Who?"
"Gabriel."
Luka's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"I remember."
We all looked at him.
"You remember?"
He nodded.
"Not everything."
"What do you remember?"
"Your father."
I held my breath.
"He gave me to someone."
"Who?"
"A woman."
My mother went pale.
"Selene."
Luka nodded.
"Yes."
My mother whispered:
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because Selene was already dead."
The car stopped.
Luka turned.
"She's dead?"
My mother nodded.
"Your father killed her."
Gabriel laughed.
"Not exactly."
Everyone looked at him.
He smiled.
"Charles didn't kill Selene."
"Then who did?"
"She killed herself."
"Why?"
"Because she discovered what Charles had done."
"What did he do?"
Gabriel looked at me.
"He created Luka."
Silence.
"Charles created him using your mother's DNA."
My mother shook her head.
"No."
"Yes."
"He wouldn't."
"He did."
Gabriel leaned back.
"Your father wanted to prove M-17 could produce a perfect human subject."
Luka looked at him.
"And he used me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you were his grandson."
Luka's face went blank.
"Grandson?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Charles was your biological grandfather."
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
I looked at Luka.
He looked at me.
Suddenly everything made sense.
The resemblance.
The memories.
The genetic results.
The laboratory.
My father's obsession.
But one thing didn't.
"If Dad created Luka, why did he take him from me?"
Gabriel smiled.
"Because your father was afraid of what you would become."
"What does that mean?"
"You were the only person whose body could stabilize the M-17 sequence naturally."
I stared.
"And Luka?"
"Artificially."
My blood ran cold.
"Then Hope..."
"Is the combination."
I couldn't breathe.
"She's natural."
Gabriel nodded.
"Exactly."
We arrived in Chicago after sunset.
The old research center stood behind a chain-link fence.
The building looked abandoned.
Windows broken.
Walls covered in ivy.
But the security system was still active.
Luka scanned the entrance.
"This place isn't abandoned."
Gabriel smiled.
"No."
"Who runs it?"
"Nobody."
"Then who powers it?"
Gabriel looked at me.
"Your father."
My heart stopped.
"He built an autonomous system."
"For what?"
"To continue his research."
I stared at the building.
"My father has been running this facility?"
"From somewhere."
"Where?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"We never found him."
We entered.
The main hall was dark.
Dust covered everything.
But beneath the dust were fresh footprints.
Small.
Bare.
My stomach dropped.
"Hope."
Luka followed them.
We reached a steel door.
It opened automatically.
Beyond it was a laboratory.
Fresh lights.
Modern equipment.
And dozens of monitors.
Every screen displayed the same image.
My daughter.
Sleeping.
I screamed.
"Hope!"
Luka grabbed my arm.
"Don't touch anything."
I stared at the monitors.
The camera angle changed.
Hope was lying in a glass crib.
She was alive.
Someone was standing beside her.
A man.
Gray hair.
Thin.
Wearing an old laboratory coat.
I recognized him immediately.
My father.
I stumbled backward.
"No."
Luka stared at the screen.
"Grandfather."
My mother covered her mouth.
Gabriel whispered:
"Charles."
My father looked directly into the camera.
As if he could see us.
Then he spoke.
"Elena."
My heart stopped.
"I know you're watching."
The screen went black.
Then another message appeared.
IF YOU WANT YOUR DAUGHTER, COME ALONE.
I turned toward Luka.
"No."
He shook his head.
"You can't go."
"I have to."
"We'll go together."
The monitor flickered again.
A second message appeared.
LUKA MUST STAY.
He went pale.
Then a third.
BECAUSE HE WAS THE FIRST BETRAYAL.
I looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
The lights suddenly went out.
A voice came through the speakers.
My father's voice.
Older.
Broken.
"Elena..."
I froze.
"I never meant to hurt you."
Then the doors locked.
"Your mother lied."
My mother's face went white.
"Your brother lied."
Luka stepped back.
"And Gabriel..."
The voice paused.
"...was never the enemy."
I stared at Gabriel.
He looked genuinely terrified.
Then my father's final words filled the darkness.
"The person who betrayed me that night..."
A light came on.
Revealing a photograph on the wall.
My mother.
Holding baby Luka.
Beside another man.
A man I had never seen before.
My father continued:
"...was your mother."
The screen went black.
And my mother whispered:
"I can explain."
I turned toward her.
May you like
For the first time in my life...
I didn't know whether I wanted to hear the explanation.
