Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN ON THE SCREEN CLAIMED TO BE SOFIA’S MOTHER—BUT SHE WANTED SOMETHING NO ONE EXPECTED
Sofia did not answer.
The woman on the screen waited.
Evelyn Hawthorne.
Same eyes as Eleanor.
Same cheekbones.
Same slight tilt of the head.
But younger.
Sharper.
Alive.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Where are you?”
Evelyn smiled.
“Hello, Daniel.”
“Answer me.”
“You sound like Charles.”
Daniel stiffened.
Sofia stepped in front of the camera.
“You said you're my mother.”
“Genetically.”
“Explain.”
Evelyn nodded.
Eleanor and Evelyn had been identical twin sisters.
Their parents concealed Evelyn because she was born with severe health complications.
That was the official story.
The truth was worse.
Their father, Henry Hawthorne, had allowed doctors to study Evelyn from infancy.
She spent most of her childhood in medical institutions.
Eleanor grew up in society.
Evelyn grew up behind glass.
Sofia felt sick.
“Why didn't Eleanor tell anyone?”
“She tried.”
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“But wealthy families are very good at turning inconvenient relatives into diagnoses.”
Daniel whispered:
“Charles knew?”
“Yes.”
“Samuel?”
Evelyn laughed.
“Samuel knew me better than anyone.”
Sofia understood.
Meridian had not begun with Elias.
It began with Evelyn.
Her genetic disease.
Her treatments.
Her blood.
“What do you want?”
Evelyn looked at Sofia.
“To meet you.”
“Why now?”
“Because Samuel is losing control.”
“You worked with him.”
“For years.”
Sofia’s face hardened.
“Then you're responsible too.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That surprised her.
Evelyn continued.
“I helped design Generation Two.”
Claire stepped forward.
“You made us?”
Evelyn’s expression broke.
“Yes.”
Claire stared.
“You kept me at Blackwood.”
“I tried to get you out.”
“You failed.”
“Yes.”
Claire began crying.
Evelyn did not ask forgiveness.
Sofia respected that more than she wanted to.
Daniel asked:
“Where are the children?”
“Safe.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“Fair.”
She gave coordinates.
An old convent in Pennsylvania.
Federal agents were dispatched.
They found twelve children.
Alive.
Healthy.
Frightened.
No Samuel.
Sofia looked at Evelyn on the screen.
“You released them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Meridian ends tonight.”
Daniel frowned.
“How?”
Evelyn looked at Sofia.
“With you.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“No.”
“You haven't heard the request.”
“I've spent months being told I was created for somebody else's purpose.”
Evelyn became quiet.
Sofia continued.
“I am not your cure, your experiment, your heir, your key, or your redemption.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Good.”
Sofia stopped.
“What?”
“That is exactly why it has to be you.”
Sofia frowned.
Evelyn explained.
Meridian’s remaining assets were controlled by a genetic trust.
Charles had helped create it as a failsafe.
To dissolve the program permanently required consent from the oldest surviving Generation Two beneficiary.
Sofia.
Of course.
“Why does everything require me to sign something?”
Daniel almost laughed.
Evelyn smiled.
“Charles liked legal drama.”
Sofia did not.
“What happens if I refuse?”
“Samuel retains control.”
“And if I agree?”
“Every facility, patent, sample, and account transfers to an independent victims’ trust.”
Sofia looked at Daniel.
“That sounds too easy.”
“It isn't.”
Evelyn’s face became serious.
“You must appear in person.”
“Where?”
“Hawthorne Villa.”
Sofia stared.
“You're coming here?”
“I already am.”
The screen went dark.
Two hours later, Evelyn arrived.
No security.
No limousine.
An old sedan.
She stepped out alone.
Margaret saw her and began crying.
“Evelyn.”
Evelyn approached the wheelchair.
“Margaret.”
“You're alive.”
“So are you.”
Margaret touched her face.
For a moment, the decades disappeared.
Sofia watched.
These women had survived the same machinery in different ways.
Then Evelyn saw Isabella.
“Thank you.”
Isabella frowned.
“For what?”
“For carrying her.”
Sofia’s chest tightened.
Isabella answered:
“She was my daughter the moment I heard her heartbeat.”
Evelyn smiled.
“I know.”
No competition.
No claim.
That mattered.
They entered the west wing.
Evelyn opened a hidden safe.
Inside were legal documents.
The Meridian Dissolution Charter.
Sofia read every page.
Twice.
Daniel brought three independent attorneys.
Sofia brought four.
Victoria smiled faintly.
“Still reading the fine print?”
“Always.”
The charter appeared legitimate.
Sofia signed.
Nothing happened.
Then Evelyn signed.
Adrian signed as surviving founder.
Daniel signed as a beneficiary.
Claire signed.
The system activated.
Accounts transferred.
Research facilities locked.
Databases copied to federal authorities.
Meridian was dissolving.
Samuel had lost control.
Sofia exhaled.
For the first time, an ending seemed possible.
Then Evelyn looked toward the wall.
“He'll come.”
Daniel frowned.
“Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because there is one thing he cannot allow us to destroy.”
“What?”
Evelyn opened a small refrigerator.
Inside:
One cryogenic vial.
Sofia stared.
“What is that?”
Evelyn whispered:
“The original Meridian sample.”
“K-7?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“Generation Zero.”
Adrian went pale.
“You said it was destroyed.”
“I lied.”
Sofia sighed.
“Family tradition.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
Daniel asked:
“Whose DNA?”
Evelyn looked toward Sofia.
“The person from whom Meridian began.”
“Who?”
Before she could answer, glass shattered upstairs.
Security alarms.
Daniel drew his weapon.
Sofia grabbed the vial.
Evelyn shouted:
“Don't!”
Too late.
The label was visible.
HAWTHORNE, HENRY.
Sofia frowned.
“Eleanor’s father?”
Evelyn nodded.
“My father.”
“What was special about him?”
Evelyn’s expression became haunted.
“He wasn't sick.”
“Then why study him?”
“Because he didn't age normally.”
Silence.
Sofia almost laughed.
“What?”
“Not immortality.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Nothing supernatural.”
“Then what?”
“A rare DNA repair mutation.”
Sofia understood.
Meridian began as longevity research.
Then became reproductive experimentation.
Samuel’s obsession.
Footsteps approached.
Samuel entered.
No weapon.
Daniel aimed at him.
“Stop.”
Samuel did.
He looked at the vial in Sofia’s hand.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Sofia.”
“No.”
“That sample could cure diseases.”
“It already destroyed families.”
“Science isn't guilty.”
“People are.”
Samuel’s face hardened.
“You don't understand what you're holding.”
“Then explain.”
Samuel looked at Evelyn.
She shook her head.
“Don't.”
Samuel smiled sadly.
“She still hasn't told you.”
Sofia looked between them.
“Told me what?”
Samuel stared at her.
“Henry Hawthorne wasn't Evelyn and Eleanor’s biological father.”
Silence.
Daniel frowned.
“Then who was?”
Samuel looked toward Adrian.
Adrian closed his eyes.
Sofia’s stomach dropped.
“No.”
Samuel smiled.
“Ask him.”
Sofia stared at Adrian.
“You?”
Adrian whispered:
“No.”
“Then who?”
Adrian looked at Samuel.
“His father.”
Daniel froze.
Samuel’s father had fathered Eleanor and Evelyn.
That made Samuel their half-brother.
Which meant—
Daniel stepped backward.
“You…”
Samuel looked at him.
“Yes.”
Samuel had fathered Daniel with his own half-sister Eleanor.
Daniel looked physically sick.
Samuel raised his hands.
“I didn't know.”
Evelyn shouted:
“You knew later!”
“Later.”
“But you continued Meridian!”
“Yes.”
Daniel punched him.
Samuel collapsed.
Nobody stopped Daniel immediately.
Sofia finally grabbed his arm.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
Samuel wiped blood from his mouth.
Then laughed.
“You think that's the worst secret?”
Sofia stared.
Samuel looked directly at her.
“Ask Evelyn why she needed Isabella as a surrogate.”
Sofia turned.
Evelyn’s face changed.
“Don't.”
Samuel continued.
“Eleanor wasn't the genetic mother of M-19.”
Sofia’s heart stopped.
“Neither was Evelyn.”
Silence.
Sofia stared at the woman who had just called herself her genetic mother.
Samuel smiled.
“The egg came from someone else.”
Sofia’s voice shook.
“Who?”
Samuel looked toward Isabella.
Isabella went pale.
Sofia followed his gaze.
“Mom?”
Isabella whispered:
“No.”
Samuel smiled.
“The egg was Isabella’s.”
Sofia stopped breathing.
And suddenly the entire room understood that the woman who had carried Sofia, raised Sofia, buried her own identity to protect Sofia—
May you like
might have been her biological mother all along.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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