Chapter 15: The Truth Behind Grace
Chapter 15: The Truth Behind Grace
The blast door slammed shut.
Its metallic echo rolled through the underground clinic long after Vincent had disappeared.
For several seconds...
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Only the sound of distant gunfire and the shrill emergency alarms filled the silence.
Then Alessandro turned slowly toward Grace.
She was staring at the closed door with tears running silently down her face.
One sentence repeated inside everyone's mind.
Who is Grace's father?
Marco was the first to react.
"We don't have time for riddles."
He checked the laptop.
The deletion bar continued climbing.
82% COMPLETE
"We have less than ten minutes before every file is erased."
"And if Gabriel was telling the truth..."
"...the explosives will detonate soon after."
Gabriel leaned weakly against the wall, blood soaking through his jacket.
"The server..."
He struggled to breathe.
"...is beneath the medical wing."
Marco looked at him.
"Can you stop the deletion?"
Gabriel slowly shook his head.
"Only with..."
He coughed violently.
"...the master authorization."
"Who has it?"
Gabriel looked toward the blast door.
"Vincent."
Alessandro knelt beside Grace.
"What did he mean?"
She looked frightened.
"I don't know."
"He never answered when I asked about my parents."
"He always said..."
"...my father must never know I exist."
Lily suddenly spoke.
"I remember."
Everyone turned.
She looked confused.
"When Grandpa visited..."
"He always argued with another man."
"What man?"
"The one in the picture."
"What picture?"
"The one Mommy hid."
Grace's eyes widened.
"There is a picture."
She hurried to the hospital bed where she had slept for years.
Kneeling beside it, she reached underneath the metal frame.
Her fingers found a loose floor tile.
She lifted it.
Hidden beneath lay a small cloth pouch.
"It was my secret."
"I wasn't allowed to keep anything."
"So I hid it."
Inside the pouch...
There was only one photograph.
Its edges had yellowed with age.
Grace handed it to Alessandro.
Every person leaned closer.
The image showed Isabella.
Very pregnant.
Standing in a garden.
Beside her stood Enzo Moretti.
They were smiling.
Nothing unusual.
Then Thomas gasped.
"There."
Hidden in the background...
Almost out of frame...
A young man stood watching Isabella.
His face was partially obscured.
But unmistakable.
Gabriel Rossi.
Marco frowned.
"That proves nothing."
Thomas slowly shook his head.
"No..."
"It proves he was closer to the family than anyone knew."
A folded note slipped from behind the photograph.
Grace hadn't known it was there.
Alessandro carefully unfolded the fragile paper.
The handwriting belonged to Isabella.
If anything happens to me... tell Enzo the girls are his, no matter what anyone says.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Amelia looked up.
"No matter what anyone says..."
Thomas whispered,
"She knew someone would question their parentage."
Gabriel suddenly laughed.
A tired.
Broken laugh.
"You still don't understand."
Everyone looked toward him.
He painfully sat upright.
"Vincent spent years creating doubt."
"Why?"
Alessandro demanded.
"Because doubt destroys inheritance."
Gabriel swallowed.
"The twins were Enzo's daughters."
"Always."
"Vincent couldn't change biology."
"So..."
"...he decided to change belief."
Marco frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Gabriel answered quietly.
"He manufactured rumors."
"He forged letters."
"He bribed doctors."
"He intended to convince the courts..."
"...that Isabella had an affair."
Thomas's eyes filled with anger.
"You monster..."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"I know."
"I helped draft those documents."
"I hated myself every day."
Grace quietly wiped away her tears.
"So..."
"Enzo was really my father?"
Gabriel looked directly at her.
"Yes."
"He loved both of you."
"He searched until the day he died."
Alessandro felt his chest tighten.
His father had never abandoned his daughters.
His family had been stolen.
One child imprisoned.
The other hidden.
His mother had died believing both babies were gone.
His father had been murdered trying to bring them home.
Suddenly...
The laptop emitted a loud warning tone.
91% COMPLETE
Marco cursed.
"We're out of time."
At that exact moment...
Emma stirred in Amelia's arms.
She slowly opened her sleepy eyes.
She looked around the underground clinic.
Then pointed toward the ceiling.
"Mommy..."
"They're upstairs."
Everyone looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
Emma frowned.
"I hear footsteps."
Nobody else heard anything.
Then...
Five seconds later...
Heavy boots thundered across the ceiling above them.
Dozens of them.
Marco's expression changed instantly.
"Special response team."
"No..."
He listened carefully.
"They're not Vincent's men."
A booming voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"This is the FBI!"
"This property is surrounded!"
"Lay down your weapons immediately!"
Thomas nearly collapsed with relief.
"They found us."
Marco slowly smiled for the first time that night.
"No."
"They found Vincent."
Gabriel's face turned pale.
"They're too late."
"What?"
"The server."
He looked at the screen.
96% COMPLETE
"If it reaches one hundred percent..."
"...the evidence disappears forever."
"And the explosives activate."
Alessandro turned toward the reinforced server room door at the end of the corridor.
Without hesitation, he sprinted toward it.
Marco followed.
Grace and Lily stood together for the first time in their lives, holding each other's hands.
Amelia clutched Emma tightly.
Thomas whispered a prayer.
Behind them...
The deletion counter continued climbing.
97%...
98%...
99%...
Then...
Just before the screen reached one hundred percent...
Every monitor in the underground clinic suddenly went black.
One line of white text slowly appeared across every display.
REMOTE ADMINISTRATOR ACCESS GRANTED
Below it...
Another message appeared.
System Override by: E. Carter
Amelia stared at the screen.
Her heart stopped.
Because only one person had ever signed documents that way.
Evelyn Carter.
May you like
The mother everyone believed had been dead for twenty-five years...
Had just taken control of the entire Moretti system.
