CHAPTER FIVE: WHAT MY MOTHER DID
1515 Words
Sophia didn't get into the car.
She stood in the cold London air, staring at her mother.
Eleanor looked smaller than she had a few hours earlier.
Fragile.
Afraid.
Sophia had seen her mother frightened before.
But never like this.
This wasn't fear of an assassin.
It was fear of the truth.
"What did you do?" Sophia asked.
Eleanor opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Sophia's eyes hardened.
"What did you do twenty-one years ago?"
Victor stepped forward.
"Eleanor."
She shook her head.
"Not here."
Cassian watched them from beside the vehicle.
"We should leave."
Sophia ignored him.
"No."
She kept her eyes on Eleanor.
"I'm done being protected from the truth."
Eleanor's voice trembled.
"You don't understand what you're asking."
"Then explain it."
"It isn't that simple."
"It has never been simple."
Sophia's voice rose.
"You lied to me about my father. You lied about my grandmother. You lied about where I was taken. You knew I was being trained and you never told me."
"I didn't know."
"You knew enough."
Eleanor flinched.
Sophia stepped closer.
"So tell me."
Victor looked away.
Eleanor finally whispered:
"I made a deal."
Sophia froze.
"What deal?"
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"With your grandmother."
The words seemed to drain the warmth from the air.
Sophia stared at her.
"What kind of deal?"
"Twenty-one years ago, Helena came to me."
"Why?"
"Because she knew I was pregnant."
Sophia's eyes widened.
Eleanor continued.
"She wanted you."
Victor's expression tightened.
"I refused."
"But she threatened you."
Eleanor nodded.
"She told me that if I refused, she would take you after you were born."
Sophia's voice became quiet.
"And you agreed."
"I thought I could control the situation."
"How?"
"I made a deal with her."
Sophia waited.
Eleanor looked directly at her daughter.
"I promised that when you turned fourteen, I would let her take you for one year."
Sophia's face went blank.
One year.
Fourteen.
The numbers connected instantly.
Her memories came flooding back.
The school gate.
The black car.
The man who grabbed her.
The hood over her head.
The first night in the Black Room.
One year.
She had always believed her k********g had been unexpected.
It hadn't been.
Her mother had known it would happen.
"You gave me to them."
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
"I thought I could get you back."
"But you let them take me."
"I had no choice."
"You always had a choice."
Sophia stepped backward.
"You signed an agreement."
"It wasn't supposed to happen that way."
"How was it supposed to happen?"
"They promised they would never hurt you."
Sophia laughed.
A broken, disbelieving sound.
"They trained me to kill."
"I know."
"They made me watch people die."
"I know."
"They made me become someone I didn't recognize."
Eleanor began to cry.
"I know."
Sophia stared at her.
"And you still expect me to forgive you?"
"No."
Eleanor wiped her tears.
"I don't expect forgiveness."
For the first time, Sophia saw no excuses in her mother's face.
Only regret.
"I just want you alive."
Sophia looked away.
Cassian finally spoke.
"That's enough."
Sophia turned sharply.
"You don't get to tell me when I'm finished."
"No."
Cassian's voice remained calm.
"But if we stay here, you'll have more than emotional problems."
He looked toward the road.
"We have company."
Victor immediately turned.
Two black vehicles were approaching in the distance.
Sophia's instincts took over.
"How many?"
Cassian looked at his watch.
"Four vehicles."
"Armed?"
"Definitely."
Sophia looked at him.
"You knew they were coming."
"Yes."
"How?"
"I invited them."
Sophia stared at him.
Cassian opened the SUV door.
"Get inside."
Sophia didn't move.
"Why would you invite them?"
"Because I wanted to know who would come."
Victor looked at him sharply.
"You could have warned us."
Cassian's expression remained unreadable.
"If I had warned them, they wouldn't have come."
Sophia studied him.
There was something unsettling about Cassian Black.
He wasn't like the men she had encountered in the Black Room.
They were arrogant.
Cruel.
Predictable.
Cassian was different.
He didn't seem to need violence to control a room.
He controlled it simply by entering.
"Who are you really?" Sophia asked.
Cassian looked at her.
"That's a complicated question."
"Try me."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Later."
The first vehicle accelerated.
Cassian's expression changed.
"Now."
Sophia pulled Eleanor into the SUV.
Victor climbed into the front.
Cassian got behind the wheel.
The vehicle shot forward.
A gunshot cracked behind them.
Eleanor ducked.
Sophia remained upright.
Cassian glanced at her through the mirror.
"You don't scare easily."
"I've been trained not to."
"I know."
Sophia frowned.
"You know a lot."
"I make it my business to know things."
"About me?"
"Especially about you."
Sophia's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
Cassian didn't answer.
The SUV turned sharply onto another road.
Two vehicles followed.
Victor looked back.
"They're gaining."
Cassian pressed the accelerator.
Sophia watched the road.
"There's an underground entrance ahead."
Cassian looked at her.
"You know London?"
"Enough."
"Where does it lead?"
"Old railway tunnels."
Cassian raised an eyebrow.
"You've been there?"
"No."
"Then how did you know?"
Sophia paused.
"I remember maps."
Cassian studied her through the mirror.
"Interesting."
Sophia looked away.
She didn't like the way he watched her.
It reminded her of the people who had trained her.
Except Cassian's gaze wasn't assessing whether she was dangerous.
It was as if he was trying to understand her.
That was somehow worse.
---
Twenty minutes later, they entered a secure underground facility.
The steel doors closed behind them.
Sophia stepped out.
She looked around.
Computers.
Security monitors.
Maps.
Photographs.
Files.
Everything was organized with military precision.
"What is this place?"
Cassian removed his jacket.
"My London office."
Sophia looked at him.
"This isn't an office."
"No."
"What is it?"
Cassian looked toward Victor.
"You tell her."
Victor sighed.
"It's a private intelligence center."
Sophia turned back to Cassian.
"You run intelligence operations."
"I investigate problems."
"People?"
"Sometimes."
"Governments?"
"Sometimes."
"Organizations?"
"Mostly."
Sophia crossed her arms.
"And the Black Room?"
Cassian's expression became serious.
"They're my biggest problem."
Sophia noticed the change.
"You've been fighting them for years."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Cassian looked at the wall.
There was a photograph hanging there.
A family.
A man.
A woman.
A little boy.
Sophia walked closer.
"Who are they?"
Cassian didn't answer.
Victor did.
"His family."
Sophia turned.
Cassian's jaw tightened.
"What happened?"
"They were killed."
"By the Black Room?"
Cassian nodded.
"Why?"
"Because of me."
Sophia looked at him.
Cassian walked toward the photograph.
"My father discovered what they were doing."
He paused.
"He tried to expose them."
"What happened?"
"They killed him."
Sophia looked at the photograph again.
"And your mother?"
"Dead."
"The boy?"
Cassian's expression hardened.
"That was my younger brother."
Silence filled the room.
Sophia suddenly understood.
Cassian wasn't hunting the Black Room for money.
He was hunting them because they had taken everything from him.
"How old were you?"
"Twenty."
Sophia said nothing.
Cassian turned away from the photograph.
"That's why I know what they do to people."
His eyes met Sophia's.
"And that's why I know you aren't their greatest weapon."
Sophia frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Cassian walked toward a large screen.
He pressed a button.
A file appeared.
PROJECT ECHO
Sophia's heart stopped.
She knew the name.
"No."
Cassian looked at her.
"Yes."
She stepped closer.
"Where did you get that?"
"We recovered it six months ago."
Sophia stared at the screen.
The file contained photographs.
Names.
Dates.
Training records.
Then she saw hers.
SUBJECT 017
Her blood ran cold.
Cassian continued scrolling.
"Your file was heavily altered."
"By whom?"
"We don't know."
Sophia pointed at the screen.
"That's not my original photograph."
"No."
"Who changed it?"
"We're still investigating."
She looked at him.
"Show me the original."
Cassian hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because I know when I'm being lied to."
He stared at her for a moment.
Then opened another file.
A photograph appeared.
Sophia stared.
It showed her at fourteen.
But she wasn't standing in the Black Room.
She was standing in a hospital.
Beside her was Eleanor.
And Victor.
Sophia's breathing stopped.
"I don't remember this."
Cassian looked at her.
"That's because someone erased the memory."
Sophia turned slowly.
"Who?"
Cassian didn't answer.
Instead, he opened another document.
A medical report.
At the top was a date.
TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO.
Sophia's eyes moved down the page.
Then stopped.
Her face went pale.
"What is that?"
Victor stepped forward.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Sophia read the final line.
SUBJECT: FEMALE CHILD. MEMORY CONDITIONING SUCCESSFUL.
She looked at her parents.
"What did you do to me?"
Nobody answered.
Sophia's voice trembled.
"You said I was taken when I was fourteen."
Victor looked down.
"You were."
"Then why is there a medical report from when I was born?"
Silence.
Sophia looked at Eleanor.
Her mother was crying.
"Mom?"
Eleanor whispered:
"Because they started preparing you before you were even born."
Sophia stared at her.
And suddenly, the entire story of her life began to fall apart.
She hadn't become an assassin at fourteen.
She had been chosen long before she was born.
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