Chapter 76 Mother
Flora
I stared at the photo in Lucia's hands. Catherine's mother. She was supposed to be dead.
"That's impossible," I said. "Isabella died years ago."
"Vittorio lied," Lucia said. "Isabella faked her death and she's been the Benefactor all along."
Rafael took the photo and studied it. "How do we know this is real?"
Lucia pulled out more documents.
"She created it all thirty years ago," Lucia said. "When Antonio questioned her methods, she had him killed. When Eva tried to escape, Isabella gave the order to shoot her."
My stomach twisted into knots. "Not Kask?"
"They followed Isabella's orders." Lucia said. "Kask was just her puppet."
Rafael sat down heavily. "Does Catherine know about this?"
"I think so," Lucia said. "Catherine has been too convenient throughout this whole thing. I think she's been working with Isabella from the start."
"No," I said firmly. "Catherine saved us multiple times."
"Or guided you exactly where Isabella wanted you to go," Lucia countered. "She wanted you to destroy Kask and eliminate Dr. Chen and clean up all the loose ends."
"Where is she now?" Rafael demanded.
"New York," Lucia said. "She has a laboratory in Manhattan inside a Morelli Corporation building."
She pulled out more photos and my hands started shaking when I saw them. Children. All girls. Looking exactly like me.
"She's been creating genetic matches for years," Lucia said quietly. "Actual living children."
"How many?" Rafael asked.
"At least fifteen that we know of," Lucia said.
I couldn't breathe.
"What does she want with the embryos?" Rafael asked.
"They're the latest generation and the most refined," Lucia said. "She wants to study them and then create thousands more."
"We have to stop her," I said.
"She wants you more than anything Flora. If we offer you as bait, she'll come herself." Lucia said.
"Absolutely not," Rafael said immediately.
"It's the only way," Lucia insisted.
"She's right," I said. "This is our only chance to end this."
My phone buzzed with an unknown number. I answered and listened.
"Hello Flora. Come to New York. 432 Park Avenue tomorrow night at midnight. You have twenty four hours. Mother."
I showed them the message.
"There's your answer," Lucia said.
My phone buzzed again with a photo. A girl about twelve years old with my face strapped to a medical table.
"She's torturing children," I whispered.
"We leave tonight," Rafael said.
"I have a plane ready," Lucia said.
We ran to the car but Catherine was standing beside it holding a gun.
"Going somewhere?" she asked coldly.
Rafael moved in front of me protectively. "Catherine what are you doing?"
"My job," Catherine said. "Making sure you get to New York and making sure my mother gets what she wants."
"You've been working with Isabella this whole time," I said.
"Since she contacted me six months ago," Catherine said. "She promised me a place in her new world and I took it."
"She'll make you a slave like everyone else," Lucia said.
"She'll make me special," Catherine corrected. "Now get in the car."
We had no choice so we got in. Catherine drove us to the airport where a private plane waited. We landed in New York at dawn and the building was massive. A luxury skyscraper in midtown.
Catherine took us to the penthouse and locked us in. Hours passed slowly. At eleven thirty at night Catherine returned.
"Time to get ready," she said.
She led us to an examination room with bright lights and metal tables.
"Strip down," Catherine ordered me. "Put on the gown."
"Absolutely not," Rafael said.
Catherine raised her gun and aimed at his head.
"It's okay," I said quickly. "I'll do it."
I changed into the thin gown and sat on the cold table. At midnight exactly Isabella Morelli entered the room.
She smiled when she saw me. "There you are. I've waited so long for this moment."
"I'm not yours," I said.
"Every cell in your body belongs to me," Isabella said. "I designed it all."
The walls behind her slid open revealing a massive laboratory. Fifteen medical tables lined up in rows and on each table a girl lay unconscious. All of them with my face.
"My children," Isabella said proudly. "Subjects L 05 through L 19."
I walked toward them in shock. "What did you do to them?"
"Sedated them for transport," Isabella said. "They'll wake soon enough."
"Why create them?" I asked. "Why any of this?"
"Evolution," Isabella said. "These girls will be perfect. The next step in human development."
Scientists moved toward me and Rafael stepped in front to protect me. One of them hit him with a taser and he collapsed to the floor twitching.
They grabbed me and strapped me to a table. Isabella picked up a syringe filled with clear liquid.
Then alarms started blaring throughout the building.
"Police," a scientist shouted. "FBI agents. They're storming the building right now."
Detective Walsh entered with federal agents behind him. "Isabella Morelli you're under arrest for kidnapping and human trafficking and crimes against humanity."
Marco and Vittorio entered behind them both alive and both armed.
"How did you find us?" Catherine demanded.
"We called them," Lucia said stepping forward. "I had a tracker on me the whole time."
Walsh tackled Isabella and cuffed her roughly but Isabella was laughing as they dragged her away.
"You think this changes anything?" she shouted. "I have lawyers and money and power. I'll be out in a week and I'll find you all."
They took her away in an elevator. Medical teams rushed in to check the fifteen unconscious girls.
"What happens to them now?" I asked Walsh.
"Medical care first and then eventually we find them families," he said.
"Can I see them again?"
"That's up to them when they wake up," Walsh said.
At the hotel later Lucia told us the embryos were safe in a secure location.
"I'll help raise them properly," Lucia said. "Give them the childhood I never had."
"Can we help?" I asked.
"I'd like that very much," Lucia said and she smiled for the first time.
My phone buzzed with a text from Walsh. "One of the girls is awake. Subject L 05. She wants to meet you."
At the facility the girl sat up in bed with my face and my eyes and my scared expression.
"Hi," I said softly. "I'm Flora."
"You're L 01," she said quietly.
"I'm Flora and I'm not a number," I said. "You're whoever you want to be. Not what someone else decided."
"I don't understand," she said.
"You get to choose your own name and your own life and your own future," I said. "That's what freedom means."
Tears filled her eyes. "Really? I can choose?"
"Really," I promised and I meant it.
She started crying and I hugged her tightly. "You're safe now. I promise you're safe."
My phone buzzed against my leg. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. Unknown number. Two simple words.
"Not over."
I showed Rafael and his face went pale.
Because somewhere out there someone was continuing Isabella's work. Someone was watching us right now. And they were coming for us.