Chapter 6 - The Truth My Father Left Behind
The recording continued playing.
My own voice filled the basement.
"If Richard Carter finds out I survived, everyone connected to Helix is in danger."
I stood completely still.
Because I didn't remember saying those words.
I didn't remember that night.
I didn't remember the person I was before I became Nicole Carter.
But my voice did.
My past did.
And now it was standing in front of me.
Waiting to be uncovered.
Sarah stepped closer.
"Nicole..."
I raised my hand.
Not because I wanted silence.
Because I needed to listen.
The recording continued.
A younger version of my voice spoke again.
"I cannot trust anyone inside the organization anymore."
Then my father's voice answered.
"If you are hearing this, it means Richard already found the person who betrayed you."
The recording stopped.
The basement became silent.
No one moved.
Then Ethan whispered:
"Your father knew?"
I looked at him.
"Apparently."
Sarah stared at the device.
"Where did Richard get this?"
I walked toward the table.
The recorder was old.
Not something Richard had recently purchased.
Something preserved.
Hidden.
Protected.
Someone wanted me to find it.
I picked it up carefully.
There was a small mark carved into the side.
A symbol.
One I recognized immediately.
My father's symbol.
The one he used when he left messages only I would understand.
My fingers tightened around the recorder.
"My father didn't leave this for Richard."
Sarah looked at me.
"Then who?"
I didn't answer.
Because deep inside, I already knew.
He left it for me.
For the day when everything collapsed.
For the day when I stopped trusting everyone around me.
I looked at Ethan.
And for the first time, I wondered if my father had known about him too.
"Nicole."
Ethan stepped forward.
"I need to explain."
I looked at him.
"Start with the truth."
He nodded slowly.
"My father contacted me before our wedding."
Sarah closed her eyes.
Like she already knew.
"What did he say?"
Ethan looked ashamed.
"He said you were dangerous."
I almost smiled.
Dangerous.
That word had followed me my entire life.
People always called someone dangerous when they couldn't control them.
"What else?"
"He told me you were hiding something."
"And you believed him?"
"No."
The answer came quickly.
Then he stopped.
And corrected himself.
"At first, no."
I looked away.
Because that was the most honest thing he had said.
"I thought he was paranoid. I thought he hated losing control."
"Then?"
Ethan swallowed.
"Then he showed me proof."
Sarah looked at him.
"What proof?"
Ethan looked at the floor.
"A file about your old identity."
My expression changed.
"What was in it?"
"I don't know everything."
"That's not good enough."
He nodded.
"Your father was listed as someone connected to Helix."
My body went cold.
"My father?"
Sarah looked surprised too.
"That's impossible."
Ethan looked at her.
"You knew him?"
Sarah didn't answer.
That was interesting.
Because Sarah Carter knew more than she admitted.
I turned toward her.
"You know my father."
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
"I met him once."
"When?"
"Before everything happened."
"What happened?"
Sarah looked at the recorder.
"The night Helix disappeared."
The words felt heavy.
I had spent years trying to understand that night.
An operation that ended with missing files.
Missing people.
Missing memories.
Including mine.
"What do you mean disappeared?"
Sarah took a deep breath.
"Helix wasn't shut down."
She looked at me.
"It was erased."
The basement seemed smaller.
"By who?"
Sarah looked upstairs.
Toward the rest of the Carter house.
Then back at me.
"Someone with access."
"Richard."
She didn't answer.
But she didn't deny it.
I walked back to the files.
I opened the folder with my name.
There were more pages I hadn't read.
Reports.
Photographs.
Evidence.
Then I found something.
A document signed by Richard Carter.
My eyes moved across the page.
"Operation recovery."
Date.
Three years ago.
The same year Sarah disappeared.
The same year I lost parts of my memory.
I read the final line.
"Subject Nicole Carter remains unaware of her previous involvement."
I froze.
Subject.
Not Nicole.
Subject.
They weren't studying me as a person.
They were studying me as an asset.
A weapon.
A secret.
I turned the page.
There was another photograph.
This time, it was impossible to ignore.
It showed me.
Richard.
And Ethan.
Together.
Before the wedding.
I looked at Ethan.
"What is this?"
His face changed.
"I've never seen that."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"It's the truth."
I stared at him.
Then something happened.
A memory.
Small.
Broken.
A flash.
A room.
A voice.
Ethan's voice.
"You have to forget."
I grabbed the edge of the table.
The basement blurred.
Nicole.
Not Carter.
My old self.
Remembering.
Sarah noticed.
"What's wrong?"
I closed my eyes.
"I heard him."
Everyone became silent.
"Him who?"
I opened my eyes.
"Ethan."
He looked terrified.
"What did you hear?"
I looked at him.
"You telling me to forget."
His face turned pale.
"No."
The reaction was immediate.
Too immediate.
"You did."
"I didn't."
"You were there."
He stepped backward.
"Nicole, I swear I never..."
The basement door suddenly slammed shut.
Everyone turned.
The lock clicked.
From the outside.
Sarah ran toward it.
"Someone locked us in."
Ethan tried the handle.
Nothing.
I stayed still.
Because something was wrong.
The lock was not the important part.
The important part was the timing.
Someone wanted all of us together.
Someone wanted us trapped.
My phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
From Richard.
"Now you can finally remember."
I stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
A video file.
I opened it.
The screen showed a room.
A room I recognized.
My old workplace.
The intelligence facility.
The camera angle was from inside.
And standing in the center of the room...
was me.
But not the Nicole everyone knew.
The woman on the screen wore a military uniform.
She looked stronger.
Colder.
Different.
Then another person entered the room.
I stopped breathing.
Because I knew that person.
It was Ethan.
The video continued.
My younger self looked at him and said:
"If anything happens to me, protect the file."
Ethan answered:
"I promise."
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
I looked at Ethan.
The question was already there.
He knew.
He had known me before.
He had known my real identity.
The basement lights suddenly turned off.
A second later, a voice came through the speaker above us.
Richard.
"Nicole."
His voice echoed through the darkness.
"You finally remembered."
I looked upward.
Then the speaker continued.
"But there is one thing you still don't know."
A pause.
Then Richard said:
"The person who erased your memory was not me."
I felt my heart stop.
Because if Richard wasn't responsible...
then someone else had been controlling everything from the beginning.
The basement door unlocked.
May you like
Slowly.
Someone outside turned the handle.
