Chapter 11 - SEBASTIAN’S CONFESSION
They did not take Ivy to the mansion.
Instead, Julian arranged a video call with Sebastian from the detention facility.
Sebastian appeared on the screen wearing a gray prison uniform.
Without his tailored suits and controlled surroundings, he looked older.
Ivy sat beside Celeste and Ellen.
“Where is Margaret?” Ivy asked.
Sebastian smiled faintly.
“You have Clara’s directness.”
“Answer me.”
“I don’t know where she is.”
“You said she would be killed.”
“I said that because it was the only way to make you listen.”
Celeste leaned toward the camera.
“You have one minute before I end this call.”
Sebastian’s smile vanished.
“Evelyn has Margaret.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I served Evelyn for thirty years without meeting her more than eleven times. She communicates through intermediaries.”
“You kidnapped children for someone you barely knew?”
“I protected this family.”
“You protected money.”
“No.”
Sebastian’s fist struck the table.
“You think this is about the trust because that is easier to understand. The Vale fortune is insignificant compared to Meridian.”
“Then explain it.”
Sebastian looked at Ivy.
“Your father encoded the archive location into both daughters using conditioning sessions. He knew paper records could be stolen. He believed only the sisters together could reconstruct the route.”
Ivy remembered the red door beneath water.
“Why wait until I turned thirteen?”
“Puberty activates the neurological patterns.”
Helena had said something similar.
Celeste folded her arms.
“Why did Evelyn separate us?”
“Because the archive can only be found when you are together. As long as Rose remained lost, no one could access it.”
“Then why hunt her now?”
“Because someone else found part of the archive.”
“Who?”
“Margaret.”
Ivy moved closer to the screen.
“What did she find?”
“A list of the children used in Meridian trials.”
“How many?”
Sebastian looked away.
“Hundreds.”
Ellen covered her mouth.
“Where are they?”
“Many died. Others were adopted into selected families. Some are still alive.”
Celeste’s expression became hard.
“You knew all this.”
“I was twenty-three when Evelyn recruited me. Eleanor had inherited the company, but Evelyn controlled its hidden operations. She promised the experiments would prevent wars, cure trauma, and identify violent behavior before it emerged.”
“And when you discovered children were being harmed?”
“I told myself the next phase would be different.”
Sebastian laughed bitterly.
“Cowards survive by promising themselves the next phase will be different.”
“Why should we trust anything you say?” Ivy asked.
“You shouldn’t.”
He leaned toward the camera.
“But you should understand that Evelyn does not merely want the archive. She wants to complete your father’s work.”
“With us?” Celeste asked.
“With Rose.”
Ivy’s stomach tightened.
“Why me?”
“Clara’s conditioning was interrupted. Yours was completed.”
Celeste reached for Ivy’s hand.
Sebastian continued.
“Evelyn believes Rose can access memories from every Meridian subject connected to the original sequence.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Ivy said.
“It doesn’t have to make sense to be dangerous.”
“Where is Eleanor?”
Sebastian went still.
“I helped Evelyn imprison her.”
Celeste’s grip tightened around Ivy’s fingers.
“Where?”
“Beneath Saint Orison Hospital.”
Julian, listening from outside the camera’s view, immediately contacted a federal team.
Sebastian looked at Celeste.
“Eleanor tried to expose Evelyn after the fire. She saved you, but she allowed Rose to remain hidden because reuniting you would reveal the archive.”
“She sacrificed my sister.”
“She believed separation was the only way to keep you alive.”
“And you drugged me until I forgot.”
“Yes.”
Celeste’s eyes filled with tears, but her voice remained steady.
“Why did Margaret seize the photograph?”
“She wasn’t stealing it from you.”
“Then why run?”
“She saw the man standing behind Ivy.”
Celeste remembered the hand reaching for the picture.
“Who was it?”
“One of Evelyn’s agents.”
“Which guest?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“I don’t know. But Margaret sent me a message before she disappeared.”
“What message?”
He looked directly at Ivy.
“She said the agent was someone Rose trusted.”
Ellen’s face went pale.
The video suddenly distorted.
Sebastian turned toward the door of the interview room.
A guard entered behind him.
Julian shouted at the screen.
“That is not one of our officers!”
The guard seized Sebastian by the neck and injected something into his shoulder.
May you like
Sebastian collapsed.
The camera went black.
