Chapter 18 - The Last DNA Envelope
My father’s safe contained one sealed envelope we had not opened.
Luka brought it to the kitchen table.
The label read:
PATERNITY CONFIRMATION - OPEN ONLY IF REBECCA RETURNS.
Ethan stood across from me.
Luka remained near the window.
Emma slept upstairs with Mara.
My mother sat beside me.
For the first time in my life, I had both parents in the same story.
One alive.
One speaking through handwriting.
I tore the envelope.
Inside were three pages.
The first was written by my father.
Clara,
If Rebecca Hale returns, then Meridian has reached its final phase.
She will attempt to convince you that Emma’s father is uncertain.
Do not believe any paternity result produced by Meridian.
My hands trembled.
I continued.
Your daughter was conceived naturally.
No embryo transfer occurred.
No hidden procedure created her.
She is yours in every way that matters.
I exhaled.
Then I turned the page.
The laboratory result was attached.
MATERNAL PROFILE: CLARA CARTER.
PATERNAL PROFILE: ETHAN COLE.
Probability of paternity:
99.9998 percent.
Ethan made a broken sound.
He covered his face.
Emma was his biological daughter.
The child he had refused to hold.
The baby he had abandoned because of a fake report.
He dropped to his knees beside the table.
“Oh God.”
I looked at him.
He cried openly now.
“What did I do?”
I did not comfort him.
Some consequences needed to be felt.
Luka looked away.
The second page explained the Luka result.
PROJECT EVE used predicted genetic data generated from stolen samples.
Grace existed.
But the system had intentionally attached Luka’s profile to Emma’s file to cause confusion if Meridian’s database was compromised.
Everything had been engineered to make us doubt one another.
Ethan looked up.
“I’m her father.”
“Biologically.”
I said.
His expression broke again.
He understood the distinction.
Being a father required more than DNA.
The final page contained a location.
Rebecca’s private laboratory.
Beneath an abandoned pediatric hospital in Pennsylvania.
My father had discovered it before he died.
He had also written one sentence.
Rebecca’s greatest weakness is not M-17.
It is Ethan.
Ethan read it twice.
“What does that mean?”
My mother answered.
“She loves you.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“She faked her death.”
“She also altered your childhood records to protect you from Victor.”
Elena said.
“Rebecca is capable of love.”
“She is simply capable of doing terrible things in its name.”
Ethan stared at the address.
“I can get her to meet us.”
Luka shook his head.
“That’s what she expects.”
“Yes.”
Ethan replied.
“So we give her exactly what she expects.”
He looked at me.
“You take Emma and disappear.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“No one decides where I go anymore.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“Fair.”
Then he took out his phone.
He called his mother.
Rebecca answered immediately.
“My sweet boy.”
Ethan’s voice was calm.
“I know Emma is mine.”
Silence.
“I opened the envelope.”
Rebecca sighed.
“Daniel always was sentimental.”
“I’ll bring her.”
I stared at him.
Rebecca became quiet.
“You will?”
“Yes.”
“But I want something first.”
“What?”
“I want my mother back.”
Rebecca laughed softly.
“Oh, Ethan.”
“You never lost me.”
The line ended.
Ten minutes later, Rebecca sent coordinates.
May you like
We had our invitation.
And this time, we were bringing every surviving M-17 victim with us.
