Chapter 95 The Bloodline They Chose (Demilia’s pov)
Some revelations just sting, and then there are the ones that flip your whole life upside down. When Adrian said “half-sister,” the world sort of spun. The kid they’d been grooming, the one they’d been watching Amara, the one I promised to protect she’s my blood. Not some symbolic connection. Not a metaphor. Actually, genetically, we’re tied.
“Run it again,” I said, barely getting the words out. “Check it twice. Ten times. I need to know.”
Adrian just nodded, pulling up the files again. DNA charts glowed on the screen. Heritage markers. Medical records linked to my own sealed birth stuff. Everything overlapped. There was no getting around it.
“She shares one biological parent with you,” Adrian said. “The same unknown donor.”
My heart pounded so hard it hurt. “So this isn’t luck,” I said. “Someone planned this.”
Riven’s jaw clenched. “They didn’t just pick you. They followed your bloodline.”
“They didn’t just study me,” I said. “They studied where I came from.”
All these old memories started bubbling up redacted files, a secret adoption, all the questions I’d never had answers for.
“They weren’t just tracking potential,” Ethan said, slow and careful. “They were tracking inheritance.”
And there it was a cold, sharp realization in my chest.
“They think power runs in the blood,” I said. “That you can breed influence.”
Adrian’s face was grim. “Yeah. And they want to grow it.”
That word made me sick: cultivate. Like a crop. Like property. Like something to own.
I couldn’t breathe.
“So Amara,” I said, barely above a whisper, “she’s not just another subject.”
Riven shook their heads. “She’s proof this program’s been running for generations.”
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
“They didn’t just steal my childhood,” I said. “They built this whole machine from my blood.”
That night I sat by myself, just staring at the wall. My head was a mess of shock, anger, grief, this wild urge to protect. I thought about Amara’s laugh, her smile, the way she’s always scribbling in her sketchbook. The truth burned right through me: she’s family.
“I won’t let them get to her,” I promised the dark. “Not ever.”
The next morning, I faced my parents. No yelling, just this aching need for honesty.
“Did you ever find out anything about my biological family?” I asked.
My mom looked away. “Just scraps,” she said. “They kept everything sealed.”
“Did they ever mention other kids?” I pressed.
She shook her head, eyes shining. “No. They told us not to dig.”
My dad’s voice was rough. “We thought we were protecting you. We didn’t know we were guarding their secrets.”
I squeezed their hands. “This isn’t your fault. They built this lie long before you even met me.”
Later, Adrian found more. Buried files. Secret donor codes. Even a project name, hidden under layers of encryption.
LINEAGE PROJECT.
The words looked like a curse on the screen.
“They weren’t just watching powerful people,” Adrian said. “They were trying to manufacture it.”
My stomach dropped as he went on. “They found rare cognitive and emotional traits, then tracked the kids for generations.”
“So I wasn’t just picked,” I said, my voice thin. “I was sourced.”
Riven closed their eyes. “They see families as experiments. Renewable resources.”
And then Adrian dropped another bomb. “They didn’t just track your parents. They followed every descendant.”
My breath caught. “Are there others?”
He nodded. “You’re not the only one.”
Silence. Heavy.
“How many?” Ethan finally asked.
Adrian hesitated. “More than we want to know.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
“So I’m one in a line,” I whispered.
“Of designed potential,” Riven finished quietly.
That night, it just broke me. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.
I cried. Loud, ugly sobs, the kind that rip through you when you finally see the truth of what’s been done to you. My whole story was engineered from the start.
“They turned my blood into a resource,” I told Ethan between gasps. “My existence is just another data point to them.”
He wrapped his arms around me. “You’re so much more than what they built,” he whispered. “You always have been.”
I shook my head. “But Amara… She doesn’t deserve this. She shouldn’t be born into a trap.”
He nodded, voice gentle but firm. “No, she deserves freedom.”
The next day, we sat down with Amara’s mother again. The truth seemed even heavier now.
“There’s something else,” I said, voice soft. “Something personal.”
She looked at me, nerves flickering in her eyes.
“Amara is biologically related to me,” I told her. “We share a parent.”
Her jaw dropped as it sank in. “Family?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I said.
Tears filled her eyes. “She has family,” she choked out. “And they want to steal her future.”
I nodded. “We want to keep her safe. Not just from their influence from becoming another experiment.”
That night, we made our choice. Not a gesture. Not a theory. A plan.
“We extract her,” Riven said. “Legally, safely, for good.”
“And we end the Lineage Project,” I said. “Burn it down. All of it.”
Adrian’s face tightened. “Every branch. Every archive. Every handler.”
Ethan caught my eye, fierce and determined. “We stop the cycle.”
As we started planning, something shifted in me. This wasn’t just about defiance, or even revenge. This was about what came after. Legacy.
They tried to take my past. Tried to define who I was, to use me. But they wouldn’t take my blood. Not my sister. Not the next generation.
That night, I stood at the window, hand over my stomach.
“You won’t grow up in a cage,” I whispered to my unborn child.
“And neither will she,” I promised, thinking of Amara.
For a second, I let myself believe it.
Then Adrian burst in, eyes wide. “They’ve moved up the timeline.”
My heart nearly stopped. “What?”
“They’re getting ready to move Amara,” he said. “Private facility. Total control. No way in or out.”
I felt panic slam through me. “When?”
“Seventy-two hours.”
It hit me like a punch. “They’re taking her,” I breathed.
Riven’s jaw set. “Then we move faster.”
Adrenaline kicked in. Suddenly, none of this was about secrets anymore. This was about saving my sister before she disappeared into the same machine that took my life.