CHAPTER 10 — Luka’s Greatest Lie
CHAPTER 10 — Luka’s Greatest Lie
The screens went black.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Maya stood frozen beside the vault, still holding the photograph of the two newborns.
One baby was her.
The other was labeled:
LUKA BENNETT.
But the man standing across from her was Luka Moretti.
The stranger who had signed her daughter's birth certificate.
The man who had promised that no child would ever be left unprotected.
The man who had known far too much from the moment he entered the hospital.
Maya slowly raised her eyes.
"Luka."
He didn't answer.
"What does this mean?"
His jaw tightened.
"Maya..."
"Don't."
Her voice was quiet.
"Not this time."
She held up the photograph.
"Who is Luka Bennett?"
Luka looked at it.
And something in his face broke.
"I am."
The room fell silent.
Maya felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew your real name."
"Yes."
"You knew you were my brother."
"I found out six years ago."
Maya stared at him.
"Six years."
He nodded.
"And you never told me."
"I couldn't."
"You couldn't?"
She laughed bitterly.
"You've been lying to me since the day we met."
"I never lied about everything."
"You signed my daughter's birth certificate."
"Yes."
"You knew my father."
"Yes."
"You knew about M-17."
"Yes."
"And you knew you were the child in that photograph."
Luka closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Maya's voice trembled.
"Then what part of you was real?"
Luka opened his eyes.
"Everything that mattered."
She looked away.
"I don't know if I believe you anymore."
Ethan stepped toward them.
"You need to listen to him."
Maya turned sharply.
"Why?"
"Because if you don't understand Luka's past, you won't understand why Vale wants him dead."
Luka looked at Ethan.
"Don't."
Ethan ignored him.
"Tell her."
Luka's expression hardened.
"I'll tell her."
Maya waited.
Luka took a breath.
"I wasn't raised as your brother."
"I was raised by the Moretti family."
"Your family."
"The Morettis found me when I was an infant."
Maya frowned.
"They knew who you were?"
"Eventually."
"When?"
"When I was fourteen."
"And they kept you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they believed the Bennett bloodline had been destroyed."
Maya stared.
"They thought I was dead."
"Yes."
"And you?"
"They thought I was useful."
Her stomach tightened.
"Useful for what?"
Luka looked at the vault.
"To protect the trust."
Maya finally understood.
"The Moretti family knew about M-17."
"Not all of it."
"But enough."
"Enough to know someone would eventually come looking for me."
"Who?"
Luka looked toward the ceiling.
"Adrian Vale."
Maya folded her arms around herself.
"Why did you come to the hospital?"
Luka didn't answer immediately.
"Tell me."
"I received a message."
"From whom?"
"Daniel."
Maya's heart tightened.
"Daniel contacted you?"
"Three weeks before Emma was born."
"What did he say?"
"He said your husband was preparing to abandon you."
Maya's expression hardened.
"He knew?"
"Yes."
"He knew Daniel?"
"Yes."
"And you knew Daniel?"
"Yes."
She shook her head.
"Everyone knew each other except me."
Luka stepped closer.
"I didn't know the entire story."
"But you knew enough."
"Yes."
"Why did you sign the birth certificate?"
"Because Daniel told me your husband had filed paperwork naming himself as the father while simultaneously arranging to remove Emma from the inheritance records."
Maya stared.
"That was possible?"
"Because of the M-17 trust."
She remembered the hospital.
Her husband's cold expression.
His refusal to hold Emma.
His words.
Call me when you can think clearly.
Maya had thought he was simply cruel.
Now she realized he had been terrified.
"What was Daniel trying to accomplish?"
"To make sure Emma had a legal guardian outside your husband's control."
"That was you."
"Yes."
"You knew my husband would never accept that."
"I expected him to fight."
"He didn't."
Luka's expression became grim.
"Because he already knew Emma wasn't legally his."
Maya stared.
"What?"
"He had been told."
"By whom?"
"Your father."
Maya turned toward Ethan.
"You told Daniel?"
Ethan nodded.
"I warned him."
"Why?"
"Because your husband was working with Vale."
Maya's blood ran cold.
"My husband was working with Adrian Vale?"
"Yes."
"Since when?"
"Before your wedding."
She shook her head.
"No."
Ethan looked at her.
"He didn't marry you for love."
Maya's face went pale.
"He married you because of your blood."
The words destroyed whatever remained of the life she thought she understood.
Maya remembered Daniel.
His nervousness during the wedding.
His insistence that she sign certain documents.
The medical examinations.
The questions about her family.
She had thought it was normal.
Now every memory looked different.
"Then why did he leave?"
Luka answered.
"Because Vale ordered him to."
"To do what?"
"Take Emma."
Maya's arms tightened around her daughter.
"He was going to take my baby."
"Yes."
"But he walked away."
"Because he changed his mind."
Maya remembered Daniel's final words.
Call me when you can think clearly.
She had believed he was abandoning her.
Maybe he had been trying to protect her from something worse.
"But why didn't he tell me?"
"Because Vale threatened to kill you."
Maya closed her eyes.
Again.
Another secret.
Another excuse.
Another person deciding she couldn't handle the truth.
She turned toward Luka.
"And you?"
He didn't answer.
"You had a choice."
"I did."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was afraid you'd trust me."
Maya frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Luka looked at her.
"Because the first time I met you, I wasn't supposed to save you."
Maya froze.
"What were you supposed to do?"
"Take Emma."
Silence.
Maya stared at him.
"You were sent to take my daughter?"
"Yes."
"By whom?"
Luka looked at Ethan.
"Your father."
Maya's heart sank.
"My father ordered you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he believed the Moretti family could protect her better than he could."
Maya shook her head.
"And you refused."
"I couldn't."
"Why?"
Luka looked at Emma.
"Because she was crying."
Maya stared.
Luka's voice became quieter.
"I held her."
"I looked at her."
"And I remembered being that baby."
Maya's eyes filled with tears.
"You knew."
"I knew she was my niece."
"You knew before I did."
"Yes."
Maya looked away.
The vault suddenly began to close.
Luka rushed toward the door.
"Move!"
Maya grabbed the black box.
Ethan shouted:
"Get out!"
They ran.
The metal door slammed behind them.
A violent tremor shook the facility.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Maya stumbled.
Luka caught her.
"I'm okay."
"Are you sure?"
She looked at him.
"No."
He didn't let go.
For several seconds they stood there.
Then Maya whispered:
"I don't know who to trust."
Luka nodded.
"You don't have to trust me."
She looked at him.
"But I will protect you."
"Why?"
"Because you're my sister."
The word broke something inside her.
Sister.
She had spent her entire life believing she was alone.
Now the stranger who had walked into the hospital was her brother.
Her daughter's uncle.
The missing child from the photograph.
Maya wiped her tears.
"Then tell me everything."
Luka nodded.
"Everything."
They entered a smaller room.
Luka locked the door.
He sat across from Maya.
"The Morettis weren't just a criminal family."
Maya frowned.
"What were they?"
"Custodians."
"Of M-17?"
"Of the trust."
"The trust belonged to my family."
"Originally."
"But your family controlled it?"
"After the Bennetts disappeared."
Maya looked at Emma.
"Why didn't they tell me?"
"Because the trust had a succession rule."
"Which is?"
"The heir must remain hidden until the sequence activates."
"Why?"
"Because whoever finds the heir can kill them."
Maya understood.
"And the Morettis hid you."
"Yes."
"Until when?"
"Until I was old enough to protect myself."
"And then?"
"Vale found me."
"What happened?"
Luka's eyes hardened.
"He tried to recruit me."
"You refused."
"I pretended to accept."
Maya stared.
"You infiltrated him."
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Four years."
"You worked for Vale?"
"Yes."
"That's your greatest lie."
Luka nodded.
"Yes."
"Not the fact that you're my brother."
"No."
"Not the Moretti name."
"No."
"You worked for the man who was hunting me."
"Yes."
Maya's voice shook.
"What did you do for him?"
"Everything he asked."
"Did you hurt people?"
Luka looked down.
"Yes."
Maya closed her eyes.
"How many?"
"I don't know."
"Did you kill?"
Silence.
Maya looked at him.
He nodded once.
"Yes."
Her heart tightened.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because I have the evidence."
He reached into his jacket.
He placed a small encrypted drive on the table.
"Every operation."
"Every payment."
"Every name."
"Every person Vale ordered me to eliminate."
Maya stared at the drive.
"Why give it to me?"
"Because I need you to know what I became to keep you alive."
She didn't touch it.
"Did you ever hurt someone innocent?"
Luka looked directly into her eyes.
"Yes."
Maya's face fell.
"Who?"
"A woman named Elena Cross."
"Why?"
"She found M-17."
"What happened?"
"I was ordered to silence her."
"Did you?"
"I found her first."
"What did you do?"
"I let her escape."
Maya exhaled.
"Then why did you say yes?"
"Because Vale was watching."
"And he killed her?"
Luka nodded.
"He blamed me."
"Why?"
"Because he knew I had betrayed him."
Maya looked at him.
"So you were already trying to escape."
"Yes."
"And Daniel?"
"Daniel knew."
"That's why you worked together."
"Yes."
Maya finally understood.
The men she had believed were betraying her had secretly been fighting each other to protect her.
But none of them had trusted her enough to tell her.
That hurt almost as much as the betrayal itself.
Suddenly the encrypted drive began flashing.
Luka frowned.
"I didn't activate it."
Maya looked at it.
A message appeared.
YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES.
Then another.
BRING M-17 TO THE OLD CHAPEL.
A third line appeared.
COME ALONE.
Maya stared.
"Vale."
Luka shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because he wouldn't ask for me."
"Then who?"
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Maya stopped breathing.
It showed a woman.
Young.
Beautiful.
Standing beside a newborn baby.
Maya recognized her.
Her mother.
But the baby wasn't Emma.
It was Maya.
And behind them stood another person.
A young man.
Maya stared.
"Who is that?"
Luka leaned closer.
His face went pale.
"I don't know."
Maya looked at him.
"Look at his face."
Luka did.
Then he stepped backward.
"That's impossible."
"Who is he?"
Luka whispered:
"Adrian Vale."
Maya stared.
The photograph was dated twenty-five years ago.
But Adrian Vale looked exactly the same.
No older.
No younger.
Exactly the same.
Maya's mother entered the room.
She saw the photograph.
Her face went white.
"You found it."
Maya turned.
"What is this?"
Her mother couldn't answer.
"Mom."
She began crying.
Maya held up the photograph.
"Who is this man?"
Her mother whispered:
"Adrian isn't his real name."
"Then who is he?"
Her mother looked at Luka.
Then at Maya.
"He is the first M-17 subject."
Maya froze.
"Subject M-00."
Luka stared at the photograph.
"The first child."
Her mother nodded.
"The child who survived."
Maya looked at the photograph again.
The man smiling behind her newborn self.
The man who had hunted her family for decades.
The man who knew everything about M-17.
The man who never seemed to age.
Maya's blood turned cold.
"He isn't trying to control Emma."
Her mother shook her head.
"No."
"He wants to replace himself."
"Yes."
"With her."
Her mother nodded.
"Because M-17 was created to transfer the original sequence."
Maya whispered:
"From one body to another."
"Yes."
"Then Emma isn't the heir."
Her mother looked at her.
"She's the next vessel."
Maya's arms tightened around her daughter.
Outside, sirens began approaching.
Luka reached for his weapon.
But Maya didn't move.
She stared at the photograph.
Then she noticed something written on the back.
A single sentence.
THE GIRL WAS NEVER THE EXPERIMENT.
Maya turned the photograph over completely.
Underneath was another line.
THE MOTHER WAS.
Her breath stopped.
She looked at her own mother.
Then at Emma.
Then at Luka.
And finally toward the dark corridor.
For the first time, Maya understood why everyone had been afraid of her.
M-17 wasn't inside Emma.
It had never been inside Emma.
It had been inside Maya all along.
May you like
And someone had spent twenty-five years waiting for her to give birth so they could finally take it.
To be continued.
