Chapter 25 - The Marriage File
“Seven!”
I ripped the bracelet from Emily's wrist.
It wouldn't move.
“Six!”
Michael grabbed her arm.
“It's biometric,” he said.
“How do we stop it?”
The other Elena stepped forward.
“Don't.”
I glared at her.
“Move.”
“If you break the interface, you could damage her memory.”
I froze.
Emily was crying.
“Mom, make it stop.”
“Five.”
Victoria pulled a knife from her boot.
“Tell us how.”
The other Elena looked at her.
“Place my hand on the console.”
Victoria frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I'm the source.”
Michael shouted, “No.”
The other Elena ignored him.
“I'm the only one who can interrupt it.”
“Then do it!”
She placed her palm against the glass.
The console scanned her.
SOURCE VERIFIED.
The countdown stopped.
Emily collapsed against me.
I hugged her so tightly she cried out.
“Sorry.”
Michael crouched beside her.
“She's okay.”
I looked at him.
“Don't touch her.”
He stopped.
For the first time since seeing him alive, I saw pain in his face that I couldn't dismiss.
“You have every right to hate me.”
“I don't hate you.”
He looked surprised.
“I don't know what I feel.”
“That’s fair.”
I stood.
“You told me you loved me.”
“I do.”
“And you let me believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“And you married another version of me.”
Michael didn't defend himself.
“Yes.”
The other Elena looked away.
I picked up the marriage file.
“Why was this never destroyed?”
She answered.
“Because they wanted proof that identity could legally overlap.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“They created marriages between different versions of the same person.”
Victoria looked sick.
“Why?”
“To establish ownership.”
I looked at her.
“Ownership of what?”
“People.”
Silence.
Sarah whispered, “Oh God.”
The other Elena continued.
“The network couldn't legally own a human being.”
She pointed to the documents.
“So they owned identities.”
Michael looked at me.
“If Elena A died, Elena B inherited the records.”
“And the marriage.”
“Yes.”
“The property?”
“Yes.”
“The children?”
His eyes dropped.
I understood.
Emily.
I stepped backward.
“You're telling me they created children so the next identity would inherit them?”
The other Elena nodded.
“Some.”
My hands trembled.
“That’s why Emily is the door.”
“Yes.”
“Because she's legally attached to every version?”
“Not legally.”
She looked at the bracelet.
“Neurally.”
Reyes stepped closer.
“Then what exactly did Sarah implant?”
The room went silent.
My mother looked at the floor.
“Tell them.”
Sarah's voice broke.
“I put a recovery marker inside Emily.”
I stared at her.
“You said you didn't know what it was.”
“I didn't.”
“You knew enough to do it.”
“They told me if I refused, they'd take her.”
“She was a child.”
“I know.”
“You used my daughter.”
“I was trying to save yours.”
My breath caught.
“What did you say?”
Sarah began shaking.
“They weren't threatening Emily.”
She looked at me.
“They were threatening you.”
I couldn't speak.
“They told me you'd already been selected for permanent transfer.”
Michael stepped forward.
“That part is true.”
My mother nodded.
“I had one choice.”
“What?”
“Put the key in Emily.”
“Why?”
“Because the system couldn't erase a mother while her child still remembered her.”
I looked at Emily.
Her eyes were wet.
“That’s why they kept making her remember you.”
Victoria looked toward the ceiling.
“They didn't want Elena to disappear.”
“No,” Sarah said.
“They wanted Elena to become someone else.”
The other Elena walked to another console.
She pulled up a file.
I saw a list.
ELENA HART — TRANSFER 1.
ELENA HART — TRANSFER 2.
ELENA HART — TRANSFER 3.
TRANSFER 4 — FAILED.
TRANSFER 5 — CHILD SUBJECT.
TRANSFER 6 — CURRENT.
I swallowed.
“What am I?”
The other Elena looked at me.
“Transfer Six.”
Michael looked at the list.
“No.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Not all of it.”
“But enough.”
He looked broken.
“I knew they created you from my wife's neural profile.”
I shook my head.
“The first Elena.”
“Yes.”
“And then they made me.”
“Yes.”
“You raised me to believe I was their biological daughter.”
“I didn't know the full truth.”
“You married me.”
His voice broke.
“I fell in love with you before I knew.”
The other Elena looked at him.
“That is the one thing they couldn't program.”
I looked at her.
“Did you love him?”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“And I know you do too.”
Before I could answer, a hard metallic crash shook the room.
Reyes lifted his weapon.
Someone had breached the upper corridor.
Michael moved quickly.
“We have three minutes.”
“For what?”
“To leave.”
“Where?”
He looked at the wall.
A hidden panel opened.
Behind it was a staircase.
He pointed downward.
“There is another archive.”
I stared.
“Another one?”
“The one Vale doesn't control.”
Victoria looked at him.
“Where?”
Michael answered:
“Inside my original home.”
I frowned.
“What home?”
He looked at me.
“The house where I first met you.”
My blood ran cold.
“That house burned down.”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
He stepped onto the stairs.
“That wasn't the house.”
May you like
The door behind us exploded inward.
We ran.
