Chapter 10 - The Woman Without a Name
Emergency lights illuminated the library in red.
A woman stood beside the bookshelves.
She wore a silver evening gown and a white mask.
Elena drew a small pistol from beneath her jacket.
The woman did not move.
“Take off the mask,” Elena said.
Victor stepped between them.
“Don’t.”
“Move.”
“Elena, listen to me.”
“Move.”
The woman lifted both hands and removed the mask.
Elena’s weapon lowered.
Isabella Serrano looked almost the same as she had on the day of her supposed death.
Her dark hair contained streaks of silver. Fine lines framed her mouth. But the face was unmistakable.
“Hello, my daughter,” she said.
Elena could not speak.
She had imagined this moment for years. She had imagined rage, accusations, perhaps even forgiveness.
She had never imagined silence.
Isabella approached.
“You have Gabriel’s eyes when you are angry.”
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Are you?”
Isabella smiled sadly.
“Several times.”
Elena raised the pistol again.
“Did you create Julian?”
“I helped reconstruct him.”
“He was a stolen child.”
“He was dying when Gabriel found him.”
“That does not make him yours.”
“No. Loving him made him mine.”
“You tortured him.”
“I participated in procedures I believed could save his mind.”
“You erased his name.”
“His original memories were fragmented by trauma.”
“So you replaced them with a dead boy.”
Isabella’s composure broke for an instant.
“My son was dead. Mateo was alone. Gabriel believed we could save both.”
“You cannot save the dead by burying the living.”
“No.”
The answer was so quiet that Elena almost missed it.
Isabella looked toward Victor.
“Tell her why you brought her here.”
Victor swallowed.
“I didn’t.”
“Then Lorena did.”
Elena glanced at the locked door.
“Lorena believes she is opening Aurelia Nine.”
“She is,” Isabella said. “But she does not understand what is inside.”
“Victor said it contains the subject list.”
“It contains more than names. Gabriel collected evidence for decades. Payments, experiments, political agreements, medical records, false adoptions, fabricated deaths.”
“Why didn’t he release it?”
“Because the Circle threatened you and Julian.”
“He could have gone to the authorities.”
“The authorities helped build Aurelia.”
Daniel’s voice came through Elena’s concealed earpiece.
“Mara’s team is entering the property.”
Elena kept her gaze on Isabella.
“Why are you here?”
“To prevent the Circle from controlling the archive.”
“And after that?”
“To destroy it.”
“No.”
“Elena, those records would expose thousands of victims.”
“They would also give those victims the truth.”
“Truth can destroy a person.”
“So can a lie.”
Isabella looked at her with deep exhaustion.
“You think identity is something pure. It is not. It is a story repeated until the body believes it.”
“Then let people choose their own story.”
The library door opened.
Sebastián Vale entered with two armed men.
“Touching,” he said. “The dead Serrano women reunited.”
Elena aimed at him.
His men aimed at her.
Victor raised his hands.
Sebastián looked at Isabella.
“You were ordered to remain hidden.”
“I stopped obeying orders years ago.”
“And yet you continue wearing our mask.”
“I wear it to remind myself what I became.”
Sebastián smiled.
“Lorena is ready. Julian will sign in seven minutes.”
Elena moved toward the door.
One guard blocked her.
Sebastián shook his head.
“You will remain here.”
Daniel’s voice whispered through the earpiece.
“Two minutes.”
Sebastián’s eyes moved to Elena’s ear.
He crossed the room and tore the device free.
Daniel’s voice crackled from the tiny speaker.
“Elena, get down.”
She dropped.
The library windows exploded inward.
Smoke filled the room.
Daniel entered from the garden terrace with Mara Bell and two armed agents.
Gunfire erupted.
Victor pulled Isabella behind the desk.
Elena struck the nearest guard with her pistol and ran into the corridor.
The party guests were screaming.
Security doors closed throughout the mansion.
From below came the sound of a man crying out in pain.
Julian.
Elena reached the basement entrance.
Lorena stood before it with a gun.
The sisters faced each other across the crowded corridor.
May you like
Lorena smiled.
“You finally came home.”
