Chapter 11: The Break-In
409 Words
The steel and glass structure of Blackwood Corporation glistened beneath the moonlight. Elena stood outside the north entrance, dressed in black, her hood pulled low. Inside her coat, the security badge burned against her chest like a guilty secret.
She entered without hesitation.
Every hallway, every turn had been memorized over the past weeks. She knew the route to the restricted archives. What she didn’t know—what terrified her—was what would happen if she were caught. By Damien.
The badge worked. She bypassed two levels of security and descended into the sublevel. The air grew colder. Quieter. A hallway stretched ahead, dimly lit. She moved like a shadow.
At the end, a retinal scanner. She hesitated, then pulled out the second key: a contact lens with her mother’s retinal code, replicated by Vivian.
The scanner blinked green.
She stepped inside.
The room was vast. Rows of cabinets, red-sealed folders. She moved quickly, scanning each label.
Eden Protocol.
There. Locked in a temperature-controlled vault.
She pulled out the flash drive Vivian had given her and plugged it into the panel.
The vault opened slowly.
Inside: one black binder. One flash drive. And a photo… of her mother and Damien’s father—standing beside a white chamber filled with fluid.
A boy floated inside.
Damien.
Oh my God...
She grabbed everything and turned—just as the alarms blared.
“No, no, no!”
The door behind her slammed shut.
She was locked in.
Footsteps echoed beyond the door.
“Elena!”
Her heart dropped.
Damien.
He stared at her through the glass, pain and betrayal in his eyes.
“What have you done?”
“I had to know the truth!” she cried.
His hand rested on the emergency override. He could open it.
Or he could walk away.
“Elena…” His voice cracked. “I trusted you.”
She pressed her hand to the glass. “Then trust me now. This is bigger than us. It always was.”
He stared at her.
And then pressed the release.
The door opened. She stumbled into his arms. He didn’t let go.
“I should be furious,” he whispered. “But I’m terrified of losing you more than anything else.”
“You won’t,” she whispered. “Not if we face it together.”
Across the city, Sophie watched the footage of the break-in.
And smiled.
“It’s all going exactly as planned.”
- Writer
