Chapter 15 - THE FINAL EXPERIMENT
I ran toward the incubators.
Doctors tried to stop me.
Adrian moved faster.
“Get away from her.”
The guards stepped back.
I reached Grace's incubator.
Her tiny body moved.
Alive.
But surrounded by wires.
“No.”
I touched the glass.
“Mommy's here.”
Lucas moved.
Noah's monitor changed.
Grace's fingers curled.
They knew me.
I began crying.
The older woman watched.
“You see?”
“What?”
“They respond to you.”
“They're my children.”
“They respond to your genetic signature.”
I turned.
“You're sick.”
She smiled.
“Perhaps.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“What have you done?”
His mother looked at him.
“What was necessary.”
“You used Claire.”
“I used everyone.”
“Even me?”
“Especially you.”
Ethan's face collapsed.
“You made me marry her.”
“Yes.”
“You made me destroy her.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I loved her.”
“Yes.”
“And you still did it.”
His mother looked almost confused.
“Love was irrelevant.”
Ethan's voice broke.
“No.”
He raised his weapon.
Adrian grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because we need her alive.”
His mother laughed.
“You think you control this facility?”
Adrian looked around.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“No.”
She pressed a button.
The doors locked.
Every exit sealed.
Adrian's security team lost communication.
I stared.
“You planned this.”
“Yes.”
“Why bring us here?”
“Because the final stage requires all of you.”
“All of us?”
She nodded.
“Claire.”
She pointed to me.
“Ethan.”
Then Adrian.
“Adrian.”
He went still.
“What do you want from me?”
“Your blood.”
His expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Because your father was the original carrier.”
I stared.
“What?”
Adrian looked at his mother.
She smiled.
“Your father and Claire's father worked together.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That's impossible.”
“Your father helped create the original system.”
Adrian stepped back.
“You're lying.”
“I never lie to my son.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“You lied to me my entire life.”
She ignored him.
“Claire carries the activation marker.”
“Adrian carries the stabilizing marker.”
“And the babies?”
“Complete the sequence.”
I felt sick.
“What happens when you combine them?”
She smiled.
“The system becomes permanent.”
I looked at my children.
“No.”
She pressed another button.
A machine beside the incubators activated.
My babies began crying.
“Stop!”
I screamed.
Adrian ran toward the control panel.
A guard raised a weapon.
He stopped.
His eyes met mine.
“Don't move.”
I nodded.
Then Ethan stepped forward.
“I'll do it.”
His mother looked at him.
“What?”
“I'll give you what you want.”
“Ethan.”
He looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
Then he dropped his weapon.
He stepped toward the machine.
His mother smiled.
“Good.”
She approached him.
But Ethan suddenly grabbed her.
Adrian moved.
Security reacted.
Everything exploded into chaos.
Lights shattered.
Gunfire erupted.
Doctors screamed.
Adrian pulled me behind a reinforced wall.
“Stay here.”
“My babies!”
“I'll get them.”
He ran.
Ethan fought his mother.
She stabbed him.
He collapsed.
“Ethan!”
I ran toward him.
He looked up.
“Don't.”
Blood covered his shirt.
“I deserve this.”
“No.”
“I lied.”
“You did.”
“But I loved you.”
I began crying.
“I know.”
He smiled faintly.
“That was the only thing that was ever real.”
Then he closed his eyes.
I screamed.
Adrian reached the control panel.
He pulled a cable.
The machines shut down.
The incubators switched to emergency power.
My babies' alarms stopped.
I ran toward them.
Then the woman appeared behind Adrian.
She was holding a gun.
“Move away.”
Adrian turned.
“No.”
She raised it.
I screamed.
“Adrian!”
A shot fired.
Adrian fell.
The woman smiled.
But then she looked down.
Blood spread across her dress.
Grace stood behind her.
Holding a broken medical instrument.
The woman collapsed.
Grace stared at me.
“Mom.”
I ran to her.
“You're okay.”
She hugged me.
For twenty-eight years, I had believed I had no children.
Now my daughter was holding me.
And somewhere behind us, Ethan lay bleeding.
I looked toward Adrian.
He was alive.
Barely.
Then the emergency doors opened.
Police flooded the facility.
The project was exposed.
But as officers arrested the woman, one of them approached me.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“Yes?”
“We found something.”
“What?”
He handed me a file.
“This was hidden inside your mother's old records.”
I opened it.
Inside was a birth certificate.
My name.
My mother's name.
My father's name.
But beneath my name was another line.
SECOND SUBJECT: ADRIAN BLACKWOOD.
I stared at the page.
Adrian saw it.
His expression changed.
“Claire…”
I looked at him.
“You were part of Project Three too.”
He closed his eyes.
“I didn't know.”
But the document contained one final handwritten sentence.
Subjects Claire Bennett and Adrian Blackwood must never meet.
I looked at him.
And suddenly, our entire connection made sense.
May you like
We weren't strangers who had crossed paths by accident.
We had been connected since birth.
