MOTHER'S SECRET

MOTHER'S SECRET
ISABELLA HART - POV
The apartment building is smaller than my memory made it. Dingier. Paint peeling in strips where summer heat blistered it, buzzer panel hanging by exposed wires. I don't need the buzzer anyway. The amplifier lets me feel every heartbeat within three blocks, every breath, every spike of adrenaline.
My mother's pulse hammers on the fourth floor. Erratic. Terrified.
Part of me is glad.
"Isabella." Marco's voice crackles through my earpiece, steady as always. "Information only. Don't let emotion compromise the objective."
Right. Because my mother testifying against us to a federal grand jury isn't emotional. Because betrayal is just data to collect and analyze.
My hands are shaking. I shove them in my jacket pockets.
The lobby door's lock is broken, has been for months based on the rust pattern. Inside smells like old cooking oil and mildew. Stairs creak under my weight. Each step up feels wrong, like walking toward something I can't take back.
The amplifier hums. It's always humming now, vibrating behind my sternum like a second heartbeat. Colors are too saturated. Sounds have edges. And emotions, everyone's emotions bleed into me like I'm a sponge soaking up every feeling in a five block radius.
Right now I'm choking on my mother's fear.
Fourth floor. Door 4C. My hand hovers over the wood. I should knock. Should give her warning.
I don't.
My palm presses flat against the doorknob. Not pushing. Just intention. Will. The amplifier surges and the lock mechanism gives up, metal sliding smooth, door swinging open on hinges that need oil.
Sarah Hart stands frozen in her living room. Same clothes from the federal building. Blouse wrinkled. Slacks with a coffee stain near the knee. Hair falling out of its bun in gray streaked pieces. She looks old. Older than three days should make anyone look.
"Isabella." My name breaks in her throat. "Baby, I can explain."
"Don't." The word comes out fractured, harmonics tearing through it. Her lamp flickers. The bulb pops. Glass tinkles onto the floor. "Don't call me that. Don't call me anything."
I step inside. The door closes behind me. The sound is too final.
She's backing toward the kitchen, small shuffling steps like I'm something dangerous. The amplifier pulses and I can taste her fear, metallic and sharp. Maybe I am dangerous. Maybe Marcus's injection turned me into exactly what Vincent wanted.
A weapon.
"You sold me." I stay near the door because if I get closer I don't know what I'll do. "Federal protection. Grand jury. You gave them everything."
"To save you." Her hands twist together. "You have to understand, I thought I was saving your life."
"Saving me." The laugh that comes out doesn't sound like mine. "By destroying the only people who've actually protected me?"
"Those men kidnapped you." Sarah's voice rises. Defensive. "They held you prisoner. Used you for their criminal operations."
"Those men fought for me when you were selling me to Vincent."
The name lands between us like a grenade.
Sarah goes pale. Her knees buckle. She catches herself on the back of the couch.
"Vincent's dead," she whispers. But there's no conviction in it.
"Is he?" I move closer now. Can't help it. Need to see her face. "Because someone who's very much alive has been pulling strings. Orchestrating everything. And apparently you've been helping him."
"I didn't know." She sinks onto the couch. All the structure goes out of her. "I swear, Isabella, I didn't know what I was doing."
"Then tell me." I'm standing over her now. The amplifier making me taller somehow. More. "Tell me what you did."
She can't look at me. Stares at her hands instead. "Six months ago. Vincent came to the hospital. To my office. I thought I was hallucinating. You'd told me he was dead."
Six months. Before Marcus injected me. Before Montana. Before everything went to hell.
"What did he want?"
"He showed me things." Sarah's voice is barely audible. "Medical scans. Brain imaging. Reports showing neural deterioration. Your powers were killing you, he said. Burning through your brain tissue like acid. You had maybe a year left."
My stomach clenches. "What scans? I never had brain imaging done."
"He said you didn't know yet. That the symptoms would start soon. Seizures. Blackouts. Memory loss. He had video footage of you collapsing. Convulsing. I watched you die on that screen, Isabella. Over and over."
"Fake." But my voice wavers. "Vincent manipulates. It's what he does."
"I know that now." Sarah finally looks up. Her eyes are destroyed. Red rimmed and hollow. "But then? Watching my daughter dying in those videos? I would have done anything."
The amplifier lets me feel what she felt. Not memory but echo. Terror. Desperation. The specific helplessness of watching your child suffer.
I sink into the chair across from her. My legs won't hold me.
"What did he ask for?"
"Information." She's crying now but trying to hide it. "About your recovery. Your ability development. Where you were staying. He said he needed to monitor your condition. Prepare a treatment protocol."
"The Romano brothers." My throat is tight. "You told him about them."
"Their routines. Their locations. When they left you alone." Sarah's voice cracks. "Medical data from your nursing program. Your class schedule. I gave him everything he asked for because he promised he could save you."
I taste bile. "The blood bond. You reported that too."
She nods. Miserable. "He said bonding with four enhanced individuals was accelerating your deterioration. That it was burning through your neural pathways. He needed detailed reports so he could adjust the treatment."
"There was no treatment." The words feel heavy. "It was always manipulation. Using your fear to turn you into his spy."
"I realized." Sarah's hands are shaking now. "Three days ago. The FBI showed me actual medical scans. Real evidence. You're not dying, Isabella. Your brain is adapting. Evolving. Your powers are making you stronger, not killing you."
"So you panicked." I'm trying to track her logic. "Gave the Romano family to federal prosecutors. Destroyed everything."
"I thought I was protecting you." Her voice breaks completely. "If Vincent lied about the treatment, what else did he lie about? What was I really helping him do? I thought federal protection could save you from whatever he was planning."
"The Romanos were already protecting me." The amplifier surges. The windows rattle. I force it down. "While you were feeding Vincent intelligence."
"I'm sorry." She's sobbing now. Full body shakes. "I'm so sorry, baby. I thought I was saving your life."
The harmonics want to tear free. I hold them. Barely.
"When did you last contact him?"
She blinks. Confused by the shift. "Two hours ago. Why?"
Ice floods my veins. "What happened two hours ago?"
"He sent instructions. Through the encrypted email." Sarah's pulling out her phone with shaking hands. "A code phrase I was supposed to send once you were amplified. Once your abilities enhanced beyond baseline."
My heart stops. "What code phrase?"
"Protocol Omega." She shows me the phone screen. Sent message. Time stamp two hours ago. Seven words in the body: Protocol Omega. Target amplified. Phase complete.
The recipient is numbers. Random string. Encrypted routing.
"What does it mean?" Sarah's asking. Her voice sounds far away. "Isabella, what did I activate?"
I can't breathe. Through the bond I feel Marco's alarm spike. Dante's adrenaline. Luca going combat ready. Nico's panic bleeding through like blood.
My phone buzzes. Dante. Text message. Get out. Now.
"We need to leave." I'm pulling Sarah up. Toward the door. "Right now."
"What's happening?" She's resisting. "What did that message do?"
The windows explode.
Glass everywhere. Glittering. Deadly. I slam Sarah down. Cover her with my body. Feel something slice through my jacket. My shoulder. Pain bright and immediate.
Figures drop through the broken windows onto the fire escape. Black tactical gear. No markings. Moving with precision that's too perfect. Too smooth.
Not FBI. Not Bratva.
Something worse.
The first one through moves wrong. Fluid in a way that defies physics. Enhanced.
I shove Sarah behind me. Let the amplifier flood my system. Silver light spills from my hands. The air crackles.
"Isabella Hart." The voice is mechanical. Filtered. "Protocol Omega authorization. You're required to come with us."
"Try it." I release the power.
Full force. Enough to drop anyone. Anything.
The soldier walks through it. Doesn't even slow down.
My powers wash over him like water.
Impossible.
"Countermeasures." The mechanical voice sounds almost amused. "Vincent Romano prepared for all scenarios. Surrender or we extract by force."
More soldiers pour through the windows. Four. Six. Ten. All moving with that same impossible grace. All enhanced. All completely immune to everything I can throw at them.
Sarah's sobbing behind me. "What did I do? Oh god, Isabella, what did I do?"
I back toward the door. Sarah stumbling in my wake. But soldiers are coming through there too. Surrounded. Professional. Efficient.
Through the bond I scream. Mental. Desperate. Raw. Marco. Dante. Luca. Nico. Help.
The response is immediate. They're coming. But they're blocks away. Minutes that might as well be years.
A soldier's hand clamps on my arm. Grip like a vice. Unbreakable.
I try to pull away. Try to fight. The amplifier surges but it's useless. They're immune. Vincent made them immune.
"Welcome to Phase Two." The mechanical voice says.
Then something sharp bites into my neck. Cold spreading. Chemical.
The world tilts. Grays out.
Sarah's screaming my name.
Through the bond I feel the brothers' horror. Their rage. Their helplessness.
Then nothing.