Chapter 13 - THE LABORATORY BENEATH THE ASHES
The burned Moretti laboratory stood exactly where Luka remembered it.
Trees had swallowed most of the property.
We entered through a tunnel hidden beneath an old chapel.
Luka found the underground laboratory.
Evelyn waited inside.
Grace was in a bassinet beside her.
Alive.
Unhurt.
I ran toward her.
Evelyn raised a gun.
“Stop.”
I froze.
“Give me my daughter.”
“Soon.”
Derek stepped forward.
“You wanted me here.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you spent your entire life believing Charles chose you because you were his son.”
Derek's expression hardened.
“He didn't.”
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“No.”
“He chose you because you were M-8.”
She opened a file.
Derek's childhood medical records.
Hundreds of procedures.
Blood draws.
Bone marrow tests.
Experimental treatments.
“You weren't raised.”
“You were monitored.”
Derek looked shattered.
Evelyn continued.
“When Charles discovered Emma was his biological daughter, he panicked.”
“He knew you two could never safely have a biological child.”
“So he sabotaged the IVF process.”
I stared at her.
“Grace.”
Evelyn nodded.
“The embryo implanted in you was created before Charles discovered your parentage.”
“With whose DNA?”
Evelyn looked at Luka.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Luka froze.
I almost stopped breathing.
“But Gabriel wasn't my biological father.”
“Exactly.”
“So genetically, there was no dangerous relationship.”
Grace was biologically mine.
And biologically Gabriel's.
The man my mother had loved.
The man who had intended to be my father.
The cruelty and strange tenderness of it overwhelmed me.
“Why would Charles choose Gabriel?”
“He didn't.”
Evelyn smiled.
“I did.”
Derek stared.
“You switched the embryo.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To finish Elena's work.”
I looked at her in disgust.
“You used my body.”
“Yes.”
“You used my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“At least you're honest.”
Evelyn's eyes filled with something almost like regret.
“I thought I was saving millions.”
“That is what everyone says right before they destroy one person for the greater good.”
She flinched.
Good.
I wanted her to.
Luka slowly moved toward Grace.
Evelyn raised the gun.
“Don't.”
Luka stopped.
“What do you want?”
“The DNA samples.”
I held up the envelopes.
“Then give me Grace.”
Evelyn nodded.
I moved closer.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Grace saw me.
Her tiny face scrunched.
She began crying.
My body responded instantly.
Milk leaked through my shirt.
My arms physically ached to hold her.
“Please.”
Evelyn looked at me.
Something broke in her expression.
For one second, she wasn't a scientist.
She was a mother.
She lowered the gun.
That was when another voice came from the darkness.
“Pathetic.”
Everyone froze.
Charles Calloway stepped into the light.
Alive.
Derek whispered.
“No.”
Charles smiled.
“The bulletproof vest was uncomfortable.”
“But effective.”
Evelyn raised her gun again.
Charles fired first.
She collapsed.
Derek screamed.
Charles grabbed Grace.
I lunged.
He pointed the gun at her.
“Don't.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Charles smiled.
May you like
“Now.”
“Let's finish M-17.”
