Chapter 6 - The Night My Life Was Rewritten
The drive to my apartment felt like the longest journey of my life.
Nobody talked.
Not because there was nothing to say.
Because there was too much.
I sat in the back seat with the birth certificate still in my hands.
The paper that had destroyed everything I thought I knew.
My name.
My parents.
My childhood.
All of it suddenly felt like a story someone had edited before giving it to me.
Daniel drove.
Charles sat beside him.
Victoria was in the passenger seat, holding the folder against her chest.
And I sat there trying to understand how a normal Monday morning had turned into a nightmare.
A week ago, my biggest problem was deciding whether I could afford new shoes for Noah before baseball season started.
Now I was sitting in a car with strangers who knew more about my life than I did.
"How long?"
My voice broke the silence.
Nobody answered.
I looked toward Daniel.
"How long have you known about me?"
His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"I told you."
"Three months."
"Yes."
I stared out the window.
"That wasn't the beginning."
Daniel didn't respond.
That was enough.
"How long?"
A few seconds passed.
Then he said:
"Eight years."
My heart dropped.
Eight years.
I turned toward him.
"You have known about me for eight years?"
"Hannah..."
"No."
My voice became sharper.
"Eight years ago, I was already an adult. I was already living my life. You knew where I was?"
Daniel nodded.
"Yes."
"And you did nothing?"
His silence hurt.
"I was trying to."
"Trying?"
I almost laughed.
"You let me believe my mother was dead."
"I didn't know she was alive."
"Then what did you know?"
Daniel looked at Charles.
That made me angry.
"Stop looking at him."
He looked back at me.
"I knew someone was watching you."
My expression changed.
"What?"
"I knew someone was tracking your movements."
"Who?"
He hesitated.
"I didn't know at first."
"And now?"
His jaw tightened.
"Now I think it was Charles's organization."
Charles immediately turned around.
"My organization?"
Daniel didn't back down.
"The people who worked for you."
Charles looked offended.
"Not everyone who worked for me answered to me."
"That's convenient."
The tension between them filled the car.
And suddenly I understood something.
They weren't allies.
They were two people who had been hiding different pieces of the same story.
"Enough."
My voice surprised both of them.
Everyone became quiet.
"I don't care who is guilty right now."
I held up the birth certificate.
"I need to know why my name is on this."
Victoria turned slightly.
"Because your mother changed your identity."
"Why?"
"Because your original identity was dangerous."
I looked at her.
"That doesn't explain anything."
She nodded.
"You're right."
She opened the folder.
"There is a recording."
My stomach tightened.
"A recording of what?"
"Your mother."
Nobody spoke after that.
Victoria removed a small device from the folder.
An old digital recorder.
"I was supposed to give this to you only if certain conditions were met."
I stared at it.
"What conditions?"
Victoria looked at Daniel.
"He found you."
The words made me uncomfortable.
"Who?"
Nobody answered.
Again.
Always that same silence.
The car stopped outside my apartment building.
Security vehicles were already there.
My neighbors stood outside.
Something had happened.
I jumped out before anyone could stop me.
"My children."
Daniel followed.
"They're safe."
"How do you know?"
"Because my team got here first."
I stopped.
"Your team?"
Another secret.
Another thing I didn't know.
Daniel looked away.
"I'll explain."
"No."
I looked at him.
"You keep saying that."
His expression changed.
"What?"
"You keep promising explanations after the next disaster happens."
That hit him.
Because it was true.
We entered the building.
Two security officers stood near the elevator.
"Everything is clear," one of them said.
Daniel immediately frowned.
"Clear?"
The officer nodded.
"The suspect is gone."
"Suspect?"
I froze.
"What suspect?"
Nobody answered quickly enough.
I already knew.
Someone had been here.
Someone had entered my home.
The elevator doors opened.
I ran.
I didn't care about anyone behind me.
I needed to see my children.
I needed to hear their voices.
The apartment door was unlocked.
My heart stopped.
I always locked it.
Always.
I stepped inside.
"Lily?"
Silence.
"Noah?"
A second later, footsteps.
Small footsteps.
"Mom!"
Lily ran toward me.
I dropped to my knees and hugged her.
Noah appeared behind her.
Both of them were okay.
Alive.
Safe.
I held them so tightly they complained.
"Mom, you're hurting me."
I immediately let go.
"I'm sorry."
Lily looked confused.
"Why are all those people outside?"
I forced a smile.
"Everything is okay."
But my voice didn't believe me.
Because it wasn't.
Not anymore.
After making sure my children were fine, I sent them to their room with Noah's favorite movie playing.
Then I walked back into the living room.
Daniel was standing near the window.
Charles was looking around my apartment.
Not admiring it.
Studying it.
Like he was searching for something.
"You know what I hate most?"
Nobody spoke.
I continued.
"It's not that people lied to me."
I looked at Daniel.
"It's that everyone thinks they had a good reason."
Nobody argued.
Because they knew.
I looked at the recorder in Victoria's hand.
"Play it."
She pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then a voice.
My mother's voice.
"Hannah."
I stopped breathing.
It was really her.
Older.
Tired.
But her.
"If you are hearing this, it means I failed to keep you away from the truth."
My eyes filled.
"I wanted you to have a normal life."
A pause.
"School. Friends. Children. A home."
My hand covered my mouth.
"Everything I never had."
The recording continued.
"But there is something you need to know."
The room became completely silent.
"You were never the target."
I looked at Daniel.
He looked confused.
"You were the reason."
A chill moved through me.
My mother's voice continued.
"When you were born, I discovered what Project Aurora was really creating."
Victoria looked down.
Charles closed his eyes.
Daniel became completely still.
"They weren't studying memories."
My mother's voice shook.
"They were trying to create them."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody answered.
The recording continued.
"Hannah, your father will tell you that he was trying to save you."
I looked at Charles.
"He will tell you Daniel was protecting you."
I looked at Daniel.
"But both of them are missing the most important truth."
The sound of my mother's breathing filled the room.
"The person who started Project Aurora..."
A pause.
"The person who changed your identity..."
Another pause.
"The person who signed your new birth certificate..."
My fingers tightened.
Then my mother's final words came.
"It was me."
The recording stopped.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
I looked at Charles.
Then Daniel.
Then Victoria.
"My mother started this?"
No answer.
I stood up slowly.
"Why?"
Daniel opened his mouth.
But before he could speak, someone knocked on my apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Everyone froze.
Daniel immediately reached for his phone.
Charles moved closer to the entrance.
Victoria whispered:
"Nobody knew we were here."
Another knock.
Louder.
My children were in the next room.
I looked at Daniel.
His face had gone pale.
"Who is it?"
Nobody answered.
Then a voice came from the other side of the door.
A voice I recognized.
A voice I had not heard in six years.
My mother's voice.
"Hannah."
May you like
The door handle slowly turned.
And the lock clicked open from the inside.
