Chapter 9 - BLOOD FAMILY
Nobody spoke for almost a minute.
My entire identity had changed twice in twenty-four hours.
First I learned that my father had altered my DNA to save my life.
Now I learned that the man whose blood I carried was a Moretti.
Luka looked more shaken than I was.
“My uncle Gabriel died before I was born.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Ryan laughed softly.
Everyone turned.
“What?”
I demanded.
He looked at Luka.
“Your family really likes accidents.”
Luka crossed the room so quickly Ryan barely had time to stand.
He grabbed Ryan’s shirt.
“Say that again.”
“Luka.”
I shouted his name.
He released Ryan.
But his eyes stayed cold.
Ryan straightened his collar.
“Gabriel Moretti didn’t die in a car accident.”
My mother stared at him.
“How would you know?”
“My father kept files.”
Luka’s expression changed.
“What files?”
“Legal settlements.”
“Speak.”
Ryan swallowed.
“Gabriel was involved in the earliest phase of the M-series research.”
Luka froze.
“That’s impossible.”
“He wasn’t just a donor.”
My mother looked confused.
“The clinic told us—”
“The clinic was controlled by a Carter subsidiary.”
Ryan turned toward me.
“Michael selected Gabriel because of a rare mitochondrial compatibility marker in his family.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
I said.
“Mitochondria come from the mother.”
Ryan nodded.
“Normally.”
Luka looked at him sharply.
“What did they do?”
Ryan took a breath.
“They used nuclear donor material from Gabriel’s sample during embryo development.”
My mother looked horrified.
“No.”
“I’m not saying he was Elena’s father in the traditional sense.”
“He contributed genetic material.”
The science barely mattered to me.
The betrayal did.
My parents had known something.
The Morettis had known something.
Helix knew something.
And I had known nothing.
Luka opened the black M-17 folder.
Inside were laboratory notes.
Photographs.
Patient charts.
And a list of names.
Seventeen subjects.
The first sixteen were marked TERMINATED.
The seventeenth was me.
My stomach turned.
“What does terminated mean?”
My mother grabbed the folder.
“No.”
Luka looked at her.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Those weren’t animal trials.”
The room went silent.
I stared at her.
“You told me—”
“I lied.”
Her voice broke.
“Because I didn’t want you carrying this.”
My skin went cold.
“Who were they?”
“Embryos.”
“Some were pregnancies.”
Ryan whispered.
My mother covered her face.
“Michael didn’t know at first.”
“Vale compartmentalized the program.”
“When Michael found out there had been live births, he tried to shut it down.”
“Live births?”
I looked down the list.
M-04.
M-09.
M-12.
Next to each were dates.
Some survived days.
One survived eleven months.
Then I reached M-16.
Status was not TERMINATED.
It was MISSING.
Luka noticed.
“Who was sixteen?”
My mother shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at him.
He stared at the page.
“M-16 was Helix Crown’s reason for finding Elena.”
“Why?”
“Because sixteen survived.”
My heart pounded.
“Where is sixteen now?”
Ryan looked at me.
“According to my father, M-16 grew up.”
“And?”
Ryan hesitated.
Then said quietly.
“And she had a child.”
The vault suddenly felt very small.
Luka leaned closer.
“Who is she?”
Ryan looked toward the door.
“I don’t know her real name.”
“But Helix called her Eve.”
A phone rang upstairs.
One of Luka’s guards answered through his earpiece.
His expression changed.
“Luka.”
“What?”
“There’s a woman at the front gate.”
“Name?”
The guard looked toward me.
“She says her name is Evelyn Reed.”
My heart stopped.
Reed.
The same last name as my obstetrician.
May you like
The guard continued.
“She says she’s M-16.”
