Chapter 9 - The Experiment That Created Me
"Subject One survived."
Three words.
That was all it took.
Three words written on the back of a photograph.
Three words that turned my entire life into a lie.
I stared at the picture in the man's hand.
A younger version of me stood beside another child.
Same eyes.
Same face.
Same expression.
The boy looked like my reflection.
Except I had never seen him before.
"Who is he?"
My voice sounded different.
Like I already knew the answer.
The man holding the folder smiled.
"That's the question your father spent years making sure you never asked."
I looked at Arthur.
My father.
The man who had shaped my entire life.
He looked older now.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
Like the weight of every secret had finally caught up with him.
"Arthur."
He looked at me.
"Don't listen to him."
I almost laughed.
"Why?"
My voice cracked.
"Because he's lying?"
Arthur didn't answer.
That was the problem.
He always had an answer.
But this time...
He had nothing.
The man stepped closer.
"My name is Victor Hale."
Victoria immediately reacted.
"No."
Everyone turned toward her.
She looked terrified.
"Victor is dead."
Victor smiled.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
I looked between them.
"Another dead person?"
Nobody responded.
At this point, I didn't even know what was real anymore.
My mother was alive.
Victoria was alive.
Arthur was alive.
And now another person who was supposed to be dead was standing in front of me.
I looked at Lily.
She was still sleeping.
Peaceful.
Completely unaware that every adult around her was fighting over her existence.
"Explain."
Victor opened the folder.
"Your father told you he built Whitmore Technologies because he believed in innovation."
He looked at Arthur.
"He never told you what he was really building."
Arthur stepped forward.
"Enough."
Victor ignored him.
"He wasn't creating software."
He looked at me.
"He was creating people."
The words felt impossible.
"What does that mean?"
Victor pulled out another photograph.
This one showed a laboratory.
A child sitting in a room.
Connected to machines.
I felt sick.
"Daniel..."
My mother's voice came through the phone.
"Don't look."
Too late.
I was already looking.
Because the child in the photograph...
Was me.
A younger me.
Maybe six years old.
Maybe seven.
I recognized the scar near my shoulder.
A scar I got as a child.
A scar my father told me came from an accident.
It wasn't an accident.
I looked at Arthur.
"You said I fell."
His face changed.
"I was trying to protect you."
"No."
My voice became louder.
"You were hiding it."
The entire runway went silent.
Victor continued.
"Arthur discovered that certain human traits could be enhanced."
"Traits?"
"Memory. Intelligence. Emotional control. Adaptation."
I stared at him.
"You experimented on children."
Victor didn't deny it.
"Yes."
The answer was simple.
Cold.
Terrifying.
I looked at Adrian.
"My brother."
Adrian looked away.
Victor nodded.
"Subject Two."
My heart stopped.
"Subject Two?"
Adrian closed his eyes.
Victor looked at him.
"Your twin brother wasn't born naturally."
Nobody moved.
I felt the world shift.
"No."
Adrian looked at me.
"I'm sorry."
The apology hurt more than the truth.
Because it meant it was real.
"You knew."
Adrian nodded.
"I remembered."
"Remembered what?"
His eyes filled with pain.
"The room."
A silence followed.
"The tests."
"The doctors."
"The day they separated us."
I looked at Arthur.
"You separated us?"
Arthur looked broken.
"I saved you."
I turned toward him.
"Saved me?"
My voice was almost a whisper.
"You created this."
Arthur shook his head.
"No."
He looked at Victor.
"He did."
Everyone turned.
Victor smiled.
A small smile.
Like he had been waiting years for that moment.
"Finally."
Arthur continued.
"Victor started the project."
Victor laughed.
"And Arthur finished it."
The two men stared at each other.
Two people who knew every secret.
Two people who destroyed each other.
And somehow...
Both were right.
I looked at Victoria.
"You knew all of this."
She nodded slowly.
"I found out after the crash."
"The crash you survived."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Because your father made me promise."
I looked at Arthur.
"You threatened her?"
"No."
Arthur's voice was quiet.
"I begged her."
That surprised me.
Because Arthur Whitmore never begged anyone.
Victor stepped closer.
"But now it's too late."
He pointed at Lily.
"The final stage has begun."
My entire body went cold.
"What final stage?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at my mother through the phone.
"Mom."
Her voice was shaking.
"Daniel, get Lily away from them."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
The answer terrified me.
Everyone.
Not one person.
Everyone.
The airport lights suddenly flickered.
A loud alarm sounded.
Security officers looked toward the hangar.
Something was happening.
Victor looked at his phone.
Then smiled.
"It's time."
Arthur immediately reacted.
"No."
For the first time...
He sounded desperate.
"What did you do?"
Victor looked at him.
"The same thing you did twelve years ago."
Arthur froze.
Victor turned toward me.
"Daniel, you want to know why your daughter was born?"
I held Lily closer.
"Stop."
Victor smiled.
"Because she wasn't created by accident."
Emma gasped.
I looked at her.
"What does he mean?"
She started crying.
"Daniel..."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Not another secret."
Victor opened the folder one last time.
Inside was a document.
A birth record.
My name.
Victoria's name.
Emma's name.
And another name.
A name I had never seen before.
But everyone else recognized.
My mother's face appeared on the phone screen.
She whispered:
"No..."
Victor looked at me.
"Your daughter was the continuation of the project."
I couldn't breathe.
"No."
"Yes."
He looked at Lily.
"She is the first one who inherited everything."
The runway went silent.
Then...
A small sound came from the black vehicle parked near the hangar.
A baby crying.
Everyone turned.
My blood froze.
Because I knew that sound.
I had heard it before.
Six months ago.
In a hospital.
The same cry.
The same voice.
The same child.
Sarah.
I stepped forward.
"Where is she?"
Nobody answered.
Then the vehicle door slowly opened...
And a little girl looked out.
Wearing a necklace I recognized.
The necklace my mother wore before she disappeared.
The girl looked directly at me.
May you like
And whispered one word:
"Daddy..."
