Chapter 64 CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Chapter 64 CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Amelia’s POV

The rain had followed us like a curse.
It fell in slow, deliberate sheets, streaking across the windshield as if the sky itself was trying to erase the road ahead. The wipers struggled, gasping against the weight of water, while the faint hum of the car’s engine filled the silence between us.

Adrian hadn’t spoken since we left the estate. He drove like a man running from his own shadow, knuckles pale against the wheel. His jaw flexed every few seconds, a rhythm that felt like control barely holding itself together.

I didn’t ask where we were going. I didn’t need to.
The world behind us was burning, and the only direction left was forward.

When we finally stopped, it wasn’t at his apartment or the safehouse I expected. It was an old garage on the edge of the industrial district, a relic from another time, rick walls covered in ivy, a single rusted light flickering above the entrance.

Adrian cut the engine, and for a moment, all I could hear was the rain.
He exhaled shakily, then turned toward me. “You sure you want to do this?”

I looked down at the flash drive Damian had given me. It felt heavier than it should have, like a key to something that wasn’t meant to be opened.

“He said I was his inheritance,” I murmured. “But what if I’m just my father’s mistake?”

Adrian didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. The silence between us carried everything words couldn’t.

Inside the safehouse, the air smelled of dust and metal. Adrian powered up an old generator, and the flicker of light revealed walls lined with equipment cables, monitors, and forgotten tech from when he used to hack security systems for Damian’s firm.

He inserted the flash drive into his secure system. The screen flared to life, spilling a soft blue glow across his face. Lines of encrypted data appeared, rearranging themselves into folders labeled with dates and code names.

One folder stood out: “PROJECT HELIX.”

I moved closer, heartbeat thundering. My name was buried halfway down the list.
Not as Amelia Blackwood.
But as Subject Helix II.

The air around me seemed to vanish. My throat went dry. “Why… why am I listed like this?”

Adrian clicked through the files, and what unfolded felt like watching the ground split beneath my feet.
Charts of genetic pairings. Test results labeled “Compatibility Index.” Audio logs dated decades back.
Every file whispered the same nightmare: this wasn’t just about money or legacy. It was about design.

Adrian clicked on one of the audio files. Static crackled, then a familiar voice cut through my father’s.

“We can’t risk nature deciding who inherits power. We’ll decide. She’s the one.”

The room tilted. I gripped the edge of the desk as the world went soundless except for my pulse in my ears.

Adrian paused the file, glancing at me, guilt etched in his expression. “He… they paired you and Damian deliberately. It wasn’t a coincidence, Amelia. It was engineered.”

The words stabbed deep.
I shook my head, but the files didn’t lie.
Even the photographs embedded in the archives of me at six, at ten, at seventeen, all dated, categorized, and studied.

I whispered, “I wasn’t born to love him. I was built to belong to him.”

Adrian swallowed hard. “And maybe that’s why he’s obsessed because part of him knows it’s not love either. It’s programming.”

One of the metadata tags revealed an address: Blackwood Research Wing Northern Complex (Decommissioned).

Adrian frowned. “That’s impossible. That site’s been abandoned for years.”

“Then why is my name still linked to it?” I asked, voice sharp. “I’m done running from ghosts.”

He hesitated, studying me, then nodded. “Then we go. But we do it my way.”

We drove again, deeper into the storm. The city lights fell behind, replaced by the skeletal outline of the Blackwood estate’s northern edge. The gate was rusted open, chains swaying in the wind like something had broken out rather than in.

When we stepped out, the rain had softened to a mist, but the silence was worse than thunder. The building loomed ahead, half-collapsed, windows black as if the place had swallowed all the light it ever knew.

Inside, every step echoed. Water dripped from the ceiling. A faint hum vibrated under the floor, over still running somewhere.

Adrian led the way with a flashlight. Dust floated like ash in the beam.
We found a door labeled CONTROL ROOM AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

He pushed it open.

Rows of old monitors flickered weakly, static bleeding through their screens. He powered one on.
A video booted automatically.

The footage was grainy, time-stamped nearly twenty years ago.
A man stood in a white lab coat—my father.

Beside him, a boy, maybe ten, younger, with arched hair slicked back, eyes cold even then. Damian.

They were looking through a glass wall. On the other side was a little girl sitting on a swing, humming softly.
Her hair was lighter. Her smile is softer.
But I recognized her instantly.

Me.

Damian’s child voice broke through the static.

“Does she know?”

My father smiled faintly. “She doesn’t need to.”

I stumbled back. The room swayed. “No… no, this can’t be real.”

Adrian’s hand reached for mine, but I couldn’t feel it. My pulse roared too loudly.
Every memory, every strange déjà vu, every eerie connection to Damian, it all made sense now.
I wasn’t born into this story. I was built for it.

Tears blurred the monitors. “He lied to me my whole life,” I whispered. “Even the way I loved… wasn’t mine.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. “That’s not true. What you feel now is yours. Not theirs.”

His voice steadied me just enough to breathe again.

Then, the monitors flickered.

The static shifted into a live feed.
Damian’s face filled the screen, almost serene, sitting in his office as though we were late for a meeting.

“You found it,” he said softly. “Good. I wanted you to.”

Adrian stiffened. “He’s been watching...”

“Always,” Damian interrupted, as if he heard him. His gaze was focused directly into the camera, directly at me.
“Now you understand why I could never let you go.”

A pause. His eyes darkened.
“And why will you come back?”

The screen went black.

Adrian slammed a fist into the console, shattering the corner of the monitor. The noise echoed through the dead halls.

I didn’t flinch. I couldn’t. I just stared at the blank screen, Damian’s voice still whispering in the back of my mind.

“You’ll come back.”

I whispered, “He’s not hunting us anymore.”

Adrian turned toward me. “What do you mean?”

My reflection in the dark monitor almost smiled.

“He’s calling us home.”

Outside, the car alarm shrieked, suddenly slicing through the silence.
Adrian bolted first, gun drawn. I followed, rain hammering again as we reached the lot.

The passenger door was open. No one there. Just an envelope sitting on the seat.

Adrian opened it. His face drained of color.

Inside was a blood vial, labeled in stark black letters:
A. Helix II – Match Confirmed.

He looked at me, eyes wide. “Amelia… this was taken recently. He already knew we’d come here.”

The rain drummed harder, each drop echoing like a countdown.

I stared at the vial, at the way my name glistened on the label. Something cold settled in my chest, the fear, not anymore. Something sharper.

“Then maybe it’s time I stop running,” I said quietly.

Adrian’s expression faltered because the woman standing before him wasn’t broken anymore.

Lightning flashed across the sky, reflecting in my eyes.

“He made me,” I said. “Now he’s going to see what he created.”