Chapter 11 - What My Mother Chose
My mother did not deny it.
“I believed it would protect you,” she said.
“From what?”
“From people who would kill you for what you saw.”
“You erased my sister.”
“I tried to save her.”
“You erased me.”
“I was told the effect would last only a few weeks.”
“And Vanessa?”
“She had witnessed her father arguing with Elena and Richard. Thomas feared she would be used against him.”
“So you decided for both of us.”
“Yes.”
The honesty of that answer hurt more than another lie.
Vanessa stood near the fireplace, her face pale.
“My father trusted you,” she said.
My mother looked at her.
“Thomas was a good man.”
“Then why did you help destroy everything he tried to expose?”
“Because Richard threatened Daniel.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Richard wasn’t my father.”
“No.”
“Then who was?”
She looked down at her hands.
“Adrian Vale.”
The room fell silent.
I felt nothing at first.
Then every word seemed to strike at once.
“Vale is my biological father?”
“Yes.”
“Did Richard know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Did Emily?”
“I don’t know.”
I thought of the false birth certificate listing Thomas Reed as my father.
“Why create that document?”
“To confuse anyone investigating the project. Richard created multiple identities for the children.”
“Children?”
“There were more of us.”
“Thirteen remained,” Vanessa whispered.
My mother nodded.
“Thirteen survived the final trial.”
“Where are they now?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Do they remember?”
“Some may.”
My phone rang.
It was Detective Bennett.
“We found Dr. Voss,” she said.
“Where?”
“She is hosting a public conference at the Vale Foundation headquarters tomorrow.”
“That seems convenient.”
“She wants to be found.”
A package arrived at the estate less than an hour later.
Inside was a white dress that had belonged to my sister when she was ten.
A card rested on top.
Daniel,
You saw only the beginning.
Come to the foundation tomorrow at noon.
Bring Margaret and Vanessa.
If police enter the building, the records will disappear forever.
Emily.
Detective Bennett advised against going.
I decided to go anyway.
My mother insisted on coming.
“You can barely walk,” I told her.
“This started with my choices. I won’t hide again.”
Vanessa joined us.
“Emily may hate me,” she said. “Elena raised me as a weapon. Emily may believe I willingly served her.”
“Did you?”
“For years.”
“Then why should I trust you now?”
“You shouldn’t. But I’m still coming.”
The next morning, we entered the Vale Foundation headquarters, a glass tower overlooking the river.
The lobby was filled with doctors, reporters, and investors attending a conference on memory-related neurological disorders.
Emily stood onstage beneath bright lights.
She wore a white suit.
When she saw us, she smiled.
“Welcome,” she said into the microphone. “Today, I will demonstrate that memory can be recovered, transferred, and controlled.”
A giant screen behind her illuminated.
My childhood face appeared.
Then Vanessa’s.
Then the faces of eleven other children.
“Project Sable did not end twenty-seven years ago,” Emily told the audience.
“It only changed names.”
Security guards closed the doors.
The screen changed again.
Live footage appeared from inside my house.
Someone was standing in my father’s ruined study.
He held a flame above a box of documents.
Emily looked directly at me.
“Choose carefully, little brother.”
May you like
The man lowered the flame.
“Save the evidence,” Emily said, “or save our mother.”
