Chapter 17 - THE BOY BEHIND THE GLASS
Luca woke believing he had failed.
That was the first thought.
Not the hospital.
Not the oxygen.
Not the pain.
Maya.
He had promised to attend her planets presentation.
Friday.
He looked toward the clock.
Thursday afternoon.
Still time.
Then memory returned.
Nicholas behind the glass.
“Where is he?”
Aiden looked up.
“You were unconscious for six hours.”
“Nicholas.”
“Gone.”
“Damian?”
“Also gone.”
Luca tried to sit.
Aiden stopped him.
“No.”
“Where?”
“Zurich.”
Luca stared.
“He left?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Mostly.”
“What does mostly mean?”
“Harris put people on the flight.”
“Without telling him?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Elena entered.
Her face showed exhaustion.
“You nearly died.”
“I did not.”
“You went into ventricular arrhythmia.”
“I’m unfamiliar with the social expectations.”
“You stop talking.”
Luca almost smiled.
She sat.
Aiden left them.
For several seconds, Elena looked at him without speaking.
Then she slapped his arm.
Not hard.
He stared.
“What was that?”
“Interest.”
“In?”
“Whether I could still be angry after being terrified.”
“Result?”
“Very.”
She began crying.
Luca reached for her.
This time she allowed it.
She pressed her forehead against his shoulder.
“I cannot keep doing this.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“You keep saying you know.”
“You don’t.”
“Every door opens and there is another person who lied.”
“Every answer creates another threat.”
“Maya gets taken.”
“Tommy runs away.”
“You collapse.”
“Your mother comes back from the dead.”
She laughed through tears.
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
“I want normal.”
“So do I.”
She pulled back.
“Do you?”
Luca looked at her.
The question hurt.
“Do you know what normal is?”
“No.”
“Then how can you want it?”
He thought.
“Breakfast.”
“What?”
“Maya complaining about school.”
“Tommy eating all my food.”
“Your yellow wall argument.”
Elena’s mouth twitched.
“That is not normal.”
“It looked close.”
He took her hand.
“I want more days where nothing important happens.”
She stared at him.
“That may be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said.”
“I was not attempting romance.”
“That is why it worked.”
For a moment, the room held something gentle.
Then Harris called.
Damian landed in Zurich.
Nicholas’s message led to a private surgical center.
Closed.
The records showed Isabella died there six years earlier.
Damian entered with Harris’s men trailing at a distance.
A memorial plaque listed donors.
Bellweather.
Inside, he found a locked recovery room.
The same room Isabella occupied.
A letter waited on the bed.
Nicholas had left it.
You say you didn’t know.
Prove it.
There are six boxes in the basement.
One contains Mom’s records.
One contains Vale’s.
One contains yours.
If you choose yours first, I’ll know he was right.
Damian stood before six identical boxes.
Cameras watched.
He knew Nicholas was seeing everything.
Damian opened Isabella’s.
No hesitation.
Inside were letters.
Dozens.
Addressed to Damian.
Never sent.
Just like Elena’s letters to Luca.
The pattern repeated across generations.
Isabella had written during pregnancy.
She begged Damian to answer.
She believed he had abandoned her.
Later letters became angry.
Then resigned.
The final one was written shortly before her death.
Nicholas asks why you never came.
I tell him maybe you never knew.
Vale tells him you knew.
I don’t know which story is kinder.
If you ever find this, tell our son I tried to keep him from hating you.
Damian sat on the floor.
For a long time, he could not move.
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“You chose her box.”
Damian looked up.
Nicholas stood there.
Seventeen.
Tall.
Thin.
Dark eyes.
Isabella’s mouth.
Damian’s face.
Damian stood slowly.
“Nicholas.”
“Don’t.”
The boy’s expression was guarded.
“You don’t get to say it like you’ve been saying it my whole life.”
Damian’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t know.”
“That’s what everybody says.”
“I have proof.”
“So does Vale.”
“Where is he?”
Nicholas smiled bitterly.
“Still making this about him.”
“No.”
Damian stepped closer.
“I am trying very hard not to make this about what I want.”
“Then what do I want?”
“You tell me.”
Nicholas looked at the boxes.
“I want Mom.”
Damian’s face broke.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I loved her.”
“You left.”
“I thought she left me.”
“Convenient.”
“I was told she died.”
“Also convenient.”
Damian nodded.
“Yes.”
Nicholas seemed surprised.
Damian continued.
“Every explanation I have sounds convenient because the truth was designed that way.”
“I can show you records.”
“Letters.”
“People who knew.”
“I cannot make you believe me.”
“I cannot make seventeen years disappear.”
“But I can stand here and let you hate me until you decide what you want to do next.”
Nicholas looked at him for a long time.
Then he asked quietly.
“Did Luca know?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“How can you be sure when you didn’t know half of what was happening?”
Damian had no answer.
Nicholas nodded.
“That’s what I thought.”
Then he handed Damian a phone.
“Vale wants to talk.”
Damian took it.
Marcus Vale’s voice came through.
“You always were the emotional brother.”
Damian’s face hardened.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“You stole my son.”
“I raised him.”
“You stole him.”
“Isabella asked for help.”
“You isolated her.”
“She was safer with me.”
“You killed her.”
Silence.
Damian’s grip tightened.
“Did you?”
Vale answered calmly.
“Her surgery failed.”
“Did you cause it?”
“I did not.”
Damian looked at Nicholas.
The boy was watching.
“Why Luca?”
Vale sighed.
“Still asking the simplest version.”
“You poisoned him.”
“Enzo initiated exposure.”
“You continued it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Luca was extraordinary.”
Damian felt sick.
“In what way?”
“His neurological response.”
“The compound should have caused permanent degeneration.”
“It did not.”
“He adapted.”
“His body preserved pathways we expected to collapse.”
“You used him as an experiment.”
“I learned from him.”
“He’s a person.”
“To you.”
Vale’s answer was monstrous in its calm.
“To medicine, he was data.”
Damian looked toward Nicholas.
“And my son?”
Vale paused.
“Potential.”
“For what?”
“Genetic compatibility.”
Damian went cold.
“Compatibility with whom?”
“Luca.”
Silence.
“You trained Nicholas because you wanted him to replace Luca.”
“That was Pierce’s plan.”
“Mine was different.”
“What?”
“Regeneration.”
Damian’s stomach turned.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing irreversible.”
“Vale.”
“Ask Luca why his recovery suddenly accelerated after Maya arrived.”
Damian froze.
“What does Maya have to do with it?”
Vale laughed softly.
“Children inherit more than eyes.”
The call ended.
Nicholas watched Damian.
“What did he say?”
Damian looked at his son.
He could not lie.
“Something about Maya.”
Nicholas’s expression changed.
“Then we need to go.”
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
“Why?”
May you like
Nicholas grabbed his coat.
“Because Vale has been collecting her blood since the day she arrived.”
