Chapter 5 - MY MOTHER'S WARNING
Luka moved immediately.
He told the security guard outside my room that no one entered without my permission.
Then he called someone named Marco and spoke in a low voice.
“Vale is in the building.”
He listened.
“No.”
Another pause.
“Lock down the maternity floor.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“You can’t lock down a hospital.”
Luka ended the call.
“Watch me.”
Minutes later, an overhead announcement instructed visitors to remain in designated areas because of a security issue.
I stared at Luka.
“Who are you?”
He looked at me.
“Someone who spent the last eight months cleaning up my father’s mistakes.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“My family provided private security to several research companies.”
Ryan scoffed.
“Security.”
Luka turned toward him.
“You want me to use the other word?”
Ryan went silent.
I didn’t ask what the other word was.
Not yet.
A knock came at the door.
My mother’s voice followed.
“Elena.”
My whole body tightened.
I opened the door myself.
She looked older than I remembered.
Her gray-streaked hair had been pulled into a loose knot.
She wore a dark green coat and held a leather handbag against her chest.
Richard Vale stood six feet behind her.
He smiled like an old family friend.
“Elena.”
Luka stepped between us.
Vale’s smile vanished.
“Luka.”
“You’re not coming in.”
“I’m chairman of the company responsible for her medical coverage.”
“I don’t care if you own the building.”
Vale’s eyes flicked toward Grace.
That look told me everything.
He hadn’t come to see me.
He had come to see my daughter.
“Mom.”
My mother stepped inside.
Luka closed the door in Vale’s face.
Ryan immediately moved toward her.
“Julia.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Vanessa gasped.
My mother stared at Ryan.
“You said you would protect her.”
Ryan touched his cheek.
“I tried.”
“You monitored her.”
“I kept her out of this.”
“You married her to get close enough to watch her.”
My stomach dropped.
I looked at my mother.
“You knew?”
Her face crumpled.
“Not at first.”
“When did you find out?”
“Three years ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I tried.”
The missing envelope.
I closed my eyes.
Ryan stepped forward.
“She was going to blow up your life while you were pregnant.”
“You stole her letter.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I looked at him.
“You keep using that word.”
He flinched.
My mother moved toward the bed.
Her eyes filled when she saw Grace.
“Oh, Elena.”
I pulled the blanket slightly away from Grace’s face.
“This is your granddaughter.”
My mother touched one tiny foot.
Then she whispered.
“She looks like you did.”
I almost laughed.
Instead, I asked the question that had been burning through me.
“Was I sick?”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“How sick?”
“Very.”
She sat beside me.
“You stopped gaining weight at six months.”
“Your muscles were weak.”
“You couldn’t sit up.”
“Doctors told us you might not live to see five.”
My mouth went dry.
“I don’t remember any of that.”
“You were too young.”
“Then Dad treated me.”
Her eyes filled.
“He saved you.”
“With M-17.”
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
My mother looked toward Luka.
He nodded once.
She took a long breath.
“Your father created an experimental mitochondrial replacement protocol.”
“It wasn’t supposed to alter your identity.”
“It was supposed to repair a defect.”
“Did it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why bury it?”
“Because he wasn’t authorized to use it on you.”
I stared at her.
“He experimented on me?”
“He was your father.”
Her voice cracked.
“He was desperate.”
“He thought he had months before your organs began failing.”
“He used his own research.”
“And it worked?”
My mother looked at Grace.
“Better than he expected.”
I felt the room tilt.
“What does that mean?”
Before she could answer, my mother opened her handbag.
She removed an old recorder.
A cassette recorder.
The kind I hadn’t seen since childhood.
“Your father made this two days before he died.”
Ryan stepped toward us.
“No.”
My mother held it away from him.
“You don’t get to decide anymore.”
She pressed PLAY.
Static filled the room.
Then my father’s voice emerged.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
“If Elena ever hears this, then Vale found her.”
I stopped breathing.
My father continued.
“M-17 worked.”
“But it did something we never predicted.”
“It didn’t just repair the mutation.”
“It permanently changed the way Elena’s mitochondrial DNA is expressed.”
“And if she ever has a daughter—”
The recording stopped.
The tape clicked.
I stared at my mother.
“That’s it?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
She turned the cassette over.
On the second side was a label.
May you like
FOR ELENA ONLY.
But before she could press play, the room lights went out.
