CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE NAME SHE STOLE
1259 Words
The darkness swallowed the room.
Sophia stood completely still.
The woman's last words echoed in her mind.
My name is Lily.
Sophia turned toward the real Lily.
Her sister was staring at the speaker, frozen.
“No,” Lily whispered.
Sophia reached for her hand.
“Lily…”
Her sister pulled away.
“Don't.”
The voice returned through the speakers.
“You've always been so easy to manipulate.”
Lily's face tightened.
“Show yourself.”
A soft laugh answered her.
“I already did.”
The emergency lights came on.
The screens flickered.
A photograph appeared.
It showed two little girls.
Sophia and Lily.
But the faces had been switched.
Sophia stared.
“What is this?”
The voice answered.
“The truth.”
Lily stepped toward the screen.
“That's not possible.”
“It is.”
Sophia's mind raced.
The photograph showed Lily wearing Sophia's blue ribbon.
Sophia touched the screen.
“That ribbon belonged to me.”
“No,” the voice said.
“It belonged to me.”
Sophia froze.
The woman continued.
“You were six when they separated us.”
Sophia shook her head.
“Who are you?”
“You already know.”
“Anna?”
Silence.
Then:
“That's what they called me.”
Sophia's stomach tightened.
“What is your real name?”
The voice became colder.
“You've been calling me by it for years.”
Sophia looked at Lily.
Lily's expression changed.
“No.”
“What?”
Lily stepped backward.
“I remember her.”
Sophia stared at her.
“You remember Anna?”
Lily shook her head.
“Not Anna.”
She looked at the photograph.
“Someone else.”
The speakers crackled.
Then the woman spoke again.
“Good.”
Lily whispered,
“It's you.”
Sophia looked at her sister.
“Who?”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“The girl from the fourth room.”
The room went silent.
Sophia's heart raced.
“The fourth child.”
“Yes.”
“That's impossible.”
“She survived.”
Eleanor suddenly collapsed into a chair.
Sophia rushed toward her.
“Mum?”
Eleanor covered her face.
“I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
Eleanor looked at Sophia.
“The girl you called Lily…”
Sophia turned.
Lily stared at her mother.
“What?”
Eleanor's voice broke.
“She isn't Lily.”
Lily stopped breathing.
Sophia stared at her sister.
“No.”
Eleanor nodded slowly.
“The Black Room switched you.”
Lily's face became empty.
“I don't understand.”
“When they took the children, they changed the identities.”
Sophia felt sick.
“Then who is she?”
Eleanor looked at Lily.
“I don't know.”
Lily stepped toward her.
“You don't know who your own daughter is?”
Eleanor began crying.
“They erased the records.”
Victor spoke quietly.
“I found one.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Victor walked to the computer.
“I discovered the switch years ago.”
Sophia stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“That's not an answer.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“Her blood type didn't match Eleanor's records.”
Lily's face went pale.
“You tested me?”
“Years ago.”
“And you never told me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Lily laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Sophia looked toward the screen.
“Then who is the woman speaking?”
The answer came immediately.
“Your sister.”
Sophia's heart stopped.
“Anna?”
“No.”
A photograph appeared.
The little girl from the fourth room.
Underneath it was a name.
LILY HAYES — SUBJECT 020.
Sophia stared.
Then another file appeared.
SUBJECT 018 — IDENTITY TRANSFERRED.
Her eyes moved to the photograph.
The face was Lily's.
But the name was different.
ELENA VALE.
Sophia looked at Cassian.
“That's the woman from your file.”
Cassian nodded slowly.
“I thought she was dead.”
“She wasn't,” the voice said.
Cassian raised his weapon toward the speakers.
“Where is she?”
“Closer than you think.”
Sophia looked around the room.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because you deserve the truth.”
“You've been manipulating us.”
“I've been testing you.”
“For what?”
“To see whether you could remember.”
Sophia's pulse quickened.
“Remember what?”
A pause.
Then:
“Who killed our father.”
Sophia froze.
“Our father?”
The voice continued.
“Victor isn't your biological father.”
Eleanor gasped.
Victor closed his eyes.
Sophia stared at him.
“No.”
“Ask him.”
Sophia turned.
“Dad?”
Victor said nothing.
“Are you my father?”
He looked at her.
“I raised you.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Victor's silence answered for him.
Sophia stepped backward.
Eleanor whispered,
“Sophia…”
“Don't.”
Sophia's eyes filled with tears.
“Everyone lied to me.”
Victor's voice was quiet.
“I loved you.”
“But you weren't my father.”
“No.”
“Who was?”
Victor looked toward the screen.
The woman's voice answered.
“Your grandfather.”
Sophia stopped.
“No.”
Her grandfather smiled.
“Yes.”
Sophia stared at him.
“You're lying.”
“I am your biological father.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Cassian looked stunned.
Daniel's expression hardened.
Elias looked away.
Sophia could barely speak.
“My grandfather…”
“He wasn't your grandfather,” the voice said.
“He was your father.”
Sophia looked at the old man.
“Then who is my mother?”
Eleanor began crying.
The old man smiled.
“That is the question you should have asked first.”
Sophia's breathing stopped.
Eleanor looked at her.
“I am your mother.”
“Then why did you call him my grandfather?”
“Because he was married to my mother.”
Sophia stared.
The pieces began falling into place.
He wasn't her grandfather.
He was her biological father.
Eleanor had hidden the truth.
Victor had raised her.
The Black Room had manipulated her identity.
But there was still one question.
“Why?”
The woman on the speaker answered.
“Because your father wanted you to become something no one else could control.”
Sophia looked at the old man.
“What did you want me to become?”
He smiled.
“The successor.”
The screens suddenly changed.
A single file appeared.
PROJECT ECHO — FINAL SUBJECT
Then another line appeared.
SUBJECT 017 — SUCCESSOR CANDIDATE
Sophia stared.
Her grandfather stepped forward.
“You were never created to serve The Black Room.”
He looked directly at her.
“You were created to control it.”
Before Sophia could respond, the archive doors exploded inward.
Gunfire erupted.
Cassian grabbed Sophia and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
Daniel fired back.
Marcus dragged Eleanor to cover.
Lily disappeared into the smoke.
Elias shouted,
“Where is she?”
Sophia looked around.
Her sister was gone.
Then her phone vibrated.
One message.
COME ALONE.
Sophia stared at the screen.
A second message appeared.
OR YOUR REAL SISTER DIES.
Sophia's blood ran cold.
She looked toward the smoke.
For the first time, she didn't know which sister the message meant.
And somewhere beyond the gunfire, a woman whispered:
“Choose carefully, Sophia.”
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