Chapter 22 - THE WIFE WHO ASKED TO FORGETSeven years earlier, Amelia had discovered Orpheus.
Not by accident.
She had infiltrated Hart Meridian’s classified archive while investigating the death of a soldier linked to an experimental command program.
Nathaniel had been assigned to stop her.
Instead, he helped her.
They married in secret because Theodore’s enemies monitored every public relationship Amelia formed.
Three months later, Amelia found the Successor A file.
It contained projections showing that exposure to certain trauma triggers could force her into predetermined decisions.
Orpheus had studied her entire life.
“They knew how you would react to threats against your father,” Nathaniel said. “They knew how to make you surrender, fight or disappear.”
“So I asked Helena to remove my memory?”
“You asked her to block everything related to Orpheus.”
“Why include you?”
“Because you believed loving me made me a pressure point.”
Amelia lowered the weapon slightly.
“Did you agree immediately?”
“No.”
“What changed your mind?”
“You became pregnant.”
The laboratory seemed to lose all sound.
Amelia stared at him.
Nathaniel continued.
“Orpheus detected the pregnancy before we did. Gabriel ordered surveillance. Victor wanted the child classified as Successor D.”
Amelia felt the floor shift beneath her.
“What happened?”
“You lost the child during an attack on the safe house.”
A fragmented image entered her mind.
Broken glass.
Blood across a white floor.
Nathaniel carrying her through smoke.
She pressed a hand against the wall.
“You told me I had been injured overseas.”
“You asked me to.”
Victor interrupted through the speakers.
“How touching.”
The shutters opened.
Nathaniel reached for Amelia, but she stepped away.
She believed he loved her.
She also knew love had allowed him to keep her inside a life built from missing rooms.
They reached the upper laboratory.
Cassandra was still conscious.
Victor stood behind a reinforced glass wall. The synthesis chamber beside him contained a transparent cylinder filled with red liquid.
The display reached eighty-three percent.
Elias and Theodore approached from the opposite corridor.
Julian’s voice sounded through the system.
“I can shut it down.”
“Do it,” Amelia ordered.
“I need all three successors to authorize.”
Three panels illuminated.
Amelia placed her palm on the first.
Elias placed his on the second.
The third waited for Julian.
Nothing happened.
“Julian?” Cassandra cried.
Victor smiled.
A door opened behind him.
Julian entered the laboratory.
He was not restrained.
He stood beside Victor.
“I am sorry,” Julian said.
Then he placed his hand on the third panel.
May you like
The chamber did not shut down.
It accelerated.
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