Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN ON THE BALCONY
The silver-haired woman was not Celeste.
Elena knew it the moment she stepped into better light.
The resemblance was strong, but this woman had a narrower jaw and a small mark beside her mouth.
Camille recognized her first.
“Marianne?”
The woman looked at her.
“My name has been many things.”
Camille’s voice broke.
“Are you my mother?”
Marianne gripped the balcony railing.
“Yes.”
Victor rose from the floor.
“You are supposed to be dead.”
“So are half the people in your archive.”
The countdown reached ten seconds.
Marianne pressed a device in her hand.
The ballroom screens changed.
ARCHIVE RELEASE PAUSED.
Victor laughed with relief.
“You always did enjoy an entrance.”
Marianne descended the staircase.
Eleanor remained near Elena.
Noah stood between Camille and the security guards.
Victor straightened his jacket.
“You cannot control the archive without the Mercer twins.”
“I do not need to control it,” Marianne answered. “I only need to expose you.”
She looked at Elena and Eleanor.
“Place your hands on the scanners again.”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Why should we trust you?”
“You should not.”
The honesty silenced everyone.
Marianne continued.
“Celeste and I spent our lives deciding what you were allowed to know. We told ourselves secrecy protected you. In reality, it protected our plans.”
Elena looked at the ring on Marianne’s hand.
“Where is my mother?”
Marianne’s eyes changed.
“Celeste died seven years ago.”
“Then why are you wearing her ring?”
“She gave it to me the night she died.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
“How did she die?”
Marianne looked toward Victor.
“She was poisoned.”
Victor smiled coldly.
“You have no proof.”
“The archive contains the medical record you erased.”
Camille moved closer to her mother.
“Why did you leave me?”
Marianne’s face tightened.
“I was being hunted. Celeste placed you with a family connected to Northstar because she believed medical access would become necessary.”
“So you turned me into a key.”
“I gave you a chance to live outside Bellweather.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“You let Victor target me.”
“I believed I could stop him before you were involved.”
Camille’s laugh was filled with pain.
“Everyone in this family believes harm does not count if it was part of a plan.”
Marianne lowered her eyes.
“You are right.”
Victor moved subtly toward the weapon lying near the platform.
Eleanor noticed.
She kicked it farther away.
The security men did not intervene. Their attention had shifted to the ballroom screens, where their own identities had appeared among Bellweather’s profiles.
Marianne addressed them.
“Victor created second profiles for both of you. If he leaves this building, your legal identities will be retired.”
One guard turned toward Victor.
“You said our families would be protected.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“They will be.”
The guard lowered his weapon.
The other followed.
Victor was suddenly alone.
Marianne placed her device beside the scanning machine.
“The archive can be released, but the system still requires the twins to agree.”
Elena looked at Eleanor.
“What happens if we release it?”
“Every copied profile becomes public,” Marianne said. “Victims regain evidence of their identities. Bellweather’s clients are exposed. But witness protection identities and legitimate undercover records may also be compromised.”
Victor seized on the warning.
“You could cause hundreds of deaths.”
“And if we keep it sealed?” Elena asked.
“Victor or someone like him will continue using it.”
“There must be a way to separate the victims from protected identities.”
“There is,” Marianne said. “But Celeste divided the decryption key.”
“Where are the pieces?”
“One was hidden in the pearls. One was encoded in Northstar’s medical system. The last was placed inside a memory known only to the daughter she raised.”
Elena stared at her.
“What memory?”
Marianne looked at the framed wedding photograph displayed on one of the screens.
“Celeste taught you a song when you were a child.”
Elena remembered her mother singing while closing the curtains each night.
It had sounded like a simple lullaby.
Seven lines.
Seven numbers hidden inside the rhythm.
Elena recited them.
Camille entered the numbers into the medical terminal.
Eleanor inserted the pearl chip.
A new menu opened.
SEPARATE PROTECTED IDENTITIES FROM UNAUTHORIZED COPIES.
Victor rushed toward the power controls.
Noah intercepted him.
They collided beside the platform.
Victor struck Noah twice, but Noah held him long enough for one of the former security guards to restrain him.
Elena selected the separation protocol.
The archive began processing.
Thousands of files moved into two groups.
Protected.
Unauthorized.
At the bottom of the screen, a third category appeared.
ORIGIN UNKNOWN.
Only one file was inside it.
ECHO.
Marianne stared at the name.
“That should not exist.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“You created me as Echo.”
“No. You were trained under the designation Echo 7. This file is older.”
“How much older?” Elena asked.
Marianne opened the metadata.
The Echo profile had been created thirty-nine years ago.
One year before Elena, Eleanor, and Camille were born.
Victor began laughing.
“You still do not understand.”
Marianne faced him.
“Who is Echo?”
May you like
Victor looked directly at Elena.
“The woman Celeste copied before she created either of you.”
